Hello:

You are trying to simulate a Non-linear dynamic event that can very well be done in SolidWorks Simulation Premium. Before going into the details of your simulation, let us say, for the moment, that you are trying to capture this event in the physical world.

Then you would have a camera that would capture the event in terms of frames per second, right? More the number of frames per second, the better the resolution of the time steps to capture the event more 'smoothly,' right? Here in lies the answer. You choose the time duration of the event, extract the results and then post-process the same. There are two types of integration schemes, namely, explicit and implicit. From the picture you have shared, I am inferring that you can try and estimate the time of impact using Newton's laws of motion. Up until contact happens, you can use explicit integration for faster computation. Just before the impact, say, 10 milli seconds before impact, you can stop the analysis and restart with implicit integration scheme and extract results, say every 1 milli-second or lesser (yes, lesser. Some times it happens to be in micro seconds). If you monitor the reaction at the wall, you will see a delayed reaction increase, indicating shock wave propagation.

Remember, the stability and accuracy of the result depends on the edge length of the element (translating into wavelength of the wave) and instabilities in solution can occur with wrong choice of element, integration and contact schemes. This is a close-to-natural-phenomena simulation and you need to be careful about it. Also keep in mind that contact, if defined without friction (first try it without friction and then introduce friction) would be simulating impact between two polished surfaces. Damping is also an important criteria to get proper results. Good luck on your simulations,

Let me know if there issues that remain unresolved,

Regards
Nat

Natarajan Ramamoorthy
Design Engineering Consultant
www.egsindia.com