Conditions for Dual Compression in Perfectly Elastic Three-Dimensional Collisions

The jamb (self-locking) process in single-point three-dimensional rough collisions in multibody systems may lead to a dual compression: a second compression phase develops after an initial compression-expansion one. In such a case the usual energetical restitution coefficient e_w is ill defined. This article presents a thorough analysis, by means of the incremental Routh ’s model, of the conditions leading to dual compression in the case of perfectly elastic collisions. For a given general collision configuration and for each value of the friction coefficient greater than the threshold value for jamb, there is always a domain of directions of the incident velocity leading to dual compression. An application example is presented.