Impact of Horse Hoof Wall with Different Solid Surfaces

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of a horse hoof wall on three solid surfaces: steel, concrete and asphalt. Impact experiments were conducted for different impact angles and different initial impact velocities. The effect of impact surfaces, impact angles and initial impact velocities on the coefficient of restitution and the effective coefficient of friction were tested using one-way ANOVA. Analytical and numerical modeling of the impact were developed. The impact interval was divided into two phases: compression and restitution. For compression, a contact force with a damping term was used. The restitution was characterized by an elastic contact force. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the contact force were estimated from the normal impacts. The simulated velocities after the oblique impacts were compared to the velocities in the in vitro investigation. The coefficient of restitution varied significantly on different surfaces. The effective coefficient of friction was lower on steel compared to concrete and asphalt. The model presented in this study can be applied to refine the impact simulation of the equine hoof during locomotion.

Keywords

• impact
• hoof wall
• friction
• horse