Restitution Factor for CMS Bodies Used in RBD — Lesson 10

What should be the restitution factor value when CMS bodies are present in a rigid body dynamics model?

It depends on the situation, but most of the time, a restitution factor of zero is recommended when working with CMS bodies.

A restitution factor >0 supposes instantaneous energy/velocity redistribution. When a flexible CMS body is present in a model, it experiences phases (i.e., there is a compression phase followed by an expansion phase) that are not instantaneous due to flexibility. Hence, it is contradictory to mix CMS with a restitution factor >0.