Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof.

Stefano Bruni

Lesson 1
Non-linear systems and linearization
1

Remarks on notation

In this course, large use will be made of matrix algebra, therefore a rule must be defined in order to
represent matrices and vectors (i.e. matrices with one row or with one column) throughout the
lessons. Scientific books often use bold characters to denote matrices and vectors. However, this
graphic convention cannot be applied on the blackboard during lessons; furthermore, it is useful for
didactic purposes to use a different graphic notation to denote a matrix and a vector. Thus, the
convention that will be used during lessons and in these notes is the following:
a scalar quantity (that is, a matrix 1x1) will be indicated by a letter (from the Arabic or
Greek alphabet) without any additional sign. For instance, the potential energy of a
mechanical system will be denoted by V.
a column vector (that is, a matrix with n rows and 1 column) will be denoted by a letter with
an underline sign. For instance, the vector collecting the independent coordinates of a
mechanical system will be denoted by x.
a row vector (that is, a matrix with 1 row and n columns) will normally be introduced as the
transpose of a column vector, e.g. xT.
a matrix with a generic number of rows and columns will be denoted by a capital letter into
square brackets, e.g. the mass matrix of a mechanical system will be denoted by [M].

Some useful concepts from the pre-requisites of the course

Kinematic variables: this term will be used to make reference to those kinematic quantities that are
used to define the position of the mechanical system, or other useful quantities like elongation of
springs.
The vector of the kinematic variables will be denotes by the symbol y ; depending on the particular
scope for which these variables are introduced, an appropriate subscript will be added to clarify the
meaning of the variable.
Constraints: from the kinematic point of view, a constraint is something that prevents the
mechanical system from some particular movements that could be possible if the constraint was not
present. The presence of one or more constraints acting on the mechanical system may be expressed
by a set of (generally non-linear) equations relating the values of the system kinematic variables and
their time derivatives:
f ( y, y ) 0
Holonomic constraints: for some types of constraints, the above equation may be integrated, in
the sense that it may be expressed in terms of the kinematic variables y only, without involving

their time derivatives. In this case, the constraint is called holonomic and the corresponding
constraint equation takes the form:
f ( y) 0
From the point of view of the physical interpretation, a holonomic constraint is a type of constraint
that prevents the system from assuming some configurations that would be instead possible if the
constraints were not applied.

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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

Independent coordinates: if a mechanical system whose configuration is identified by ny

kinematic variables is subjected only to holonomic constraints, expressed by nc constraint equations
(obviously, nc must be strictly lower than ny, to allow possible movements to the system) then it is
possible to use the constraint equation in the form (2) to identify a sub-set of n= ny - nc parameters x
that may freely assume any value within a specified range without violating the constraints acting
on the system (these will be called independent coordinates of the system), and to express all
kinematic variables as functions of the independent coordinates in the form:
y f ( x)
Lagranges equations: are a particular form of the Principle of Virtual Work, applied to the
dynamics of a system subjected to holonomic constraints. The form of the Lagranges equations
that will be used throughout the course is the following:
d T T D V

(2.1)

Qi
dt x i xi x i xi
where:

xi is the i-th independent coordinate of the system, with i=1,2 , n;

T is the kinetic energy of the system;

D is the dissipation function of the system, accounting for dissipative forces produced in the
system by ND linear viscous dampers and defined as:
2
1
D
c
j 1, N D 2

with j the velocity of deformation of the j-th damper, cj the damping constant of the j-th
damper in the system, ND the overall number of viscous dampers;
V is the potential energy associated to conservative forces acting on the system; its typical
form is
Np
Ns
1
2
V k j j Ph
i i
1 2
1
where j is the elastic deformation of a linear elastic component (spring) of constant

stiffness k j , Pi si Ps
i i cos i Ph
i i is the work done by the conservative force Pi due to the
displacements si of its points of application projected along the direction of the force itself
(vector dot product);
Qi is the Lagrangian component of all forces different from conservative and dissipative ones,
already accounted for by the derivatives at the left hand of the equation. The i-th Lagrangian
component is obtained as the ratio between the virtual work Wi produced by nonconservative forces applied to the system following a virtual displacement xi and the virtual
displacement itself
Wi
Qi
xi

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Non-linear equations of motion for a system with 1 degree of freedom

Let us first consider a system with a single degree of freedom (d.o.f.), whose position is expressed
by one single scalar coordinate x. In this section the complete (non-linear) equation of motion for
this type of system is derived.

3.1 Inertial terms in the equations of motion

We treat first the inertial terms of the equation, and we start by demonstrating that the kinetic
energy of a 1 d.o.f. system has the form:
T 12 m x x 2
where m(x) is called generalised mass of the system, generally a function of the independent
coordinate x.
To this end, we consider a system formed by NB rigid bodies moving in a plane (i.e. a plane 1 d.o.f.
mechanism). According to Knigs theorem, the kinetic energy of the system is:

T j 1, N

1
2

M x

2
j Gj

M j y G2 j J j j2

where xG j and y G j are the components of the velocity of the centre of mass (c.o.m.) of the j-th
body along the coordinate axes, is the angular velocity of the body, Mj and Jj are respectively the
j

mass and moment of inertia (referred to the c.o.m.) of the j-th body.
Now, since the system has 1 d.o.f., for each j-th body the position of the centre of mass Gj and the
rotation j of the body may be expressed as functions of the independent coordinate x:
xG j xG j x
yG j yG j x

j j x

and then, taking the time derivative of these relationships and considering that x=x(t):
dxG j xG j x

mj x ( x) x
xG j
x t
dt
dyG j yG j x
mj y ( x) x

yG j
x t
dt
x
d
j j j
mj ( x) x
dt
x t
where mjx, mjy and mj are the derivatives with respect to the coordinate x of the kinematic
relationships expressing the c.o.m. position and body rotations, and are called Jacobians of the
kinematic relationships.
By introducing the above equations in the expression of the kinetic energy, the following expression
is obtained:
T j 1, N 12 M j xG2 j M j yG2 j J j j2
B

12 j 1, N M j mj2 x ( x) M j mj2 y ( x) J j mj2 ( x) x 2

B

2
1
2 m( x) x

(3.1)

which is the expected expression for the kinetic energy of the system. Furthermore, the above
equation clarifies that the generalised mass of the system is obtained as the sum over the NB bodies
of the product of the inertial parameters of the body times the second power of the Jacobians. Since

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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

the Jacobians are in general functions of the coordinate x, also the generalised matrix will be a
function of x.
As a very important exception to the above consideration, it may be observed that if all kinematic
relationships expressing the c.o.m. position and rotation of all bodies are linear, then all Jacobian
functions will be constant, and thus the generalised mass of the system will not depend on the
coordinate x, but it will be a constant parameter. This case is not rare, and is particularly important
in view of the linearization of the equations of motion, as will be explained later.
Taking then the derivatives of the kinetic energy as prescribed by Lagranges equations, it is easy to
verify that:
d T T
dm 2

m( x ) x 12
x
dt x i xi
dx

3.2 Other terms in the equations of motion

We start recalling that the dissipation function D is defined as:
D j 1, N

1
2

2
c j j

(3.2)

since the system has one d.o.f., the dilatation of each j-th damper may be expressed as a function of
the single independent coordinate x by a proper kinematic relationship:
j j (x)
and, by taking the time derivative:
d j d j x
j

rjx ( x) x
dt
x t
which introduced into expression (3.2) gives:
2
D j 1, N 12 c j j 12 j 1, N c j r2j ( x) x 2 12 c( x) x 2
D
D

and, by applying the derivative prescribed by the Lagranges equation:

D
c( x) x
x

As far as the terms associated with conservative forces are concerned, we start from the observation
that for a 1 d.o.f. system the potential energy V will be a generic (normally non linear) function of
the single independent coordinate x:
V V (x)
when we will go into detail concerning the linearization of the system equation(s), it will be
necessary to examine the different conservative forces that may be acting on the system (in
particular, elastic and gravitational forces). For the time being however, it is sufficient to observe
that the derivative of the potential energy V(x) with respect to the independent coordinate x,
prescribed by the Lagranges equation, will be a generic (often non-linear) function of x, that takes
the physical meaning of the Lagrangian component of the conservative forces along the coordinate
x:
V
Qc ( x)
x

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Finally, the Lagrangian component Qt of the non-conservative and non dissipative forces acting on
the system has to be computed. Assuming that these forces are explicit function of time t, their
virtual fork may be expressed as:
W j 1, N Fj (t ) S j
F

where Fj(t) is the j-th time dependent force, Sj is the component along Fj of the virtual
displacement of the point which Fj is applied to.
All virtual displacement components may be expressed as a function of the coordinate x and its
virtual variation x:
S j S j ( x)

S j

S j

x Fj ( x)x
x
where Fj (x) is the Jacobian of the function Sj(x).
The virtual work may be then expressed as:

W j 1, N Fj (t ) S j j 1, N Fj ( x) Fj (t ) x

and
Qt ( x, t )

W
j 1, N Fj ( x) F j (t )
x
F

3.3 Final form of the equation of motion for a 1-d.o.f. system

By collecting the expressions of the different terms in the Lagranges equation (2.1) the equation of
motion of a 1-d.o.f. system is obtained in the form:
m x
x 12

dm 2
x c( x) x Qc ( x) Qt ( x, t )
dx

(3.3)

where at the left hand side the first two terms derive from the derivatives of the kinetic energy in the
Lagranges equation, and thus represent the inertial terms, the third term represents the effect of
dissipative forces and the last term represents the effect of conservative forces. The single term at
the right hand side of the equation represents the effect of time-dependent forces acting on the
system.
It may be observed that, though this result has been obtained under the assumption of plane motion
of the system, the same equation is valid also for a 1 d.o.f. system in the case of spatial motion.

Linearization of the equation of motion for a system with 1 degree of

freedom

Equation (3.3) describes the general motion of the 1 d.o.f. system under the action of given forces
and prescribed initial conditions:
x t 0 x 0
x t 0 x 0
where x0 , x 0 are given constants indicating the initial position and velocity of the system time t=0.
The solution of equation (3.3) with the above initial conditions (what is called a Cauchy problem
in the theory of differential equations) would give the exact motion of the system under study.
However, with the exception of a very limited category of systems (essentially, those that will be

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called hereafter linear systems), an exact solution cannot be obtained by analytical means. For
instance, even the solution of the equation of motion of a 1 d.o.f. free and undamped having the
form:
m 2 mg sin 0
under general initial conditions, cannot be computed exactly, but can only be approximated by
means e.g. of perturbation techniques, (see e.g. Meirovitch, Fundamentals of Vibration, chapter 11),
at the cost of very complicated and cumbersome calculations. When the complexity of the system
increases (in particular, when the system has more than 1 d.o.f.), the use of these perturbation
techniques or of other semi-analytical methods to treat non-linear equations of motion becomes
almost unfeasible, and the only practical mean to obtain an approximated solution for non-linear
equations of motion is to use time step integration methods (like the Runge-Kutta methods, to cite
one of the most popular).
However, there are a number of disadvantages in using time step integration to solve the equation(s)
of motion of a mechanical system:
a computer hardware and a specific solution algorithm will be needed;

the accuracy of the solution will depend on the numerical method applied and on the size of
the time step adopted;

in some cases, divergency of the numerical method may result, thus requiring specific
knowledge of numerical methods to obtain a reliable solution;

most important of all, the solution will be obtained in the form of a sequence of discrete
values instead of an analytic expression: this means for instance that it will be almost
impossible to understand the effect on the solution of a variation of one parameter (e.g. mass
of the system) and/or of the initial conditions applied to the system.
Thus, a numerical solution may be used to solve an analysis problem (that is, define how a known
system will behave under known forcing conditions), but will be of very poor help to solve a design
problem (that is, set the proper value to the parameters of the system to obtain the desired dynamic
behaviour).
More often than not, the motion characteristics in the neighbourhood of special solutions are of
particular significance. The special solutions are known as equilibrium points and they are much
easier to determine than general solutions. Then, considerable information concerning the system
behaviour can be gained by studying the equations of motion linearised about equilibrium points.
An equilibrium point is defined as:
d (n) x
0 holds true for n 0 ,
Static equilibrium, when x=const. for which the condition
dt ( n )
i.e. all the derivatives with respect to time are null;
d ( n) x
Steady state motion, when a motion occurs at a constant velocity x const. and ( n ) 0 is
dt
true for n 1 ;
Uniformly accelerated motion, when a motion occurs at a constant acceleration
x const.
(n)
d x
and ( n ) 0 is true for n 2 .
dt
In most cases, when an equilibrium point is found, it is of interest to study the possible small motion
of the system around this point. Then, it is possible to assume that the motion of the system is so
small that, using a series expansion of the equation of motion, terms higher than the first order may
be neglected as higher order infinitesimals. In this way it is possible to obtain a linear differential
equation of motion (normally, with constant parameters) that may be solved quite easily by
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analytical methods. Of course, the solution of the linearised equation will be only an approximation
of the exact solution, but still it will be representative of the actual motion of the system, provided
of course that the assumption of small motion around the reference condition is respected.
More in detail, in order to transform the complete non-linear equation into its linearised form, the
following procedure must be followed (in the following it is assumed that the equation of motion is
linearised around a steady state configuration like e.g. a static equilibrium position):
i.

ii.

define the independent coordinate x so that x=0 represents the position of equilibrium around
which the equation is being linearised. If a different choice has been made, and thus the
equilibrium position is defined by a non-zero value x0 of the coordinate, it is possible to
change the independent coordinate to a new one x defined by the relationship: x x x0 .
Using this new coordinate, the considered equilibrium position is obviously represented by
x 0.
expand each term of equation (3.3) in series of power with respect to x, x , x and neglect all
terms of order higher than 1. Also the product of a time-dependent force F(t) times the
coordinate x, if present in the Qt term of equation (3.3) has to be neglected.

Though apparently simple, the above described linearization procedure is worth some attention and
some remarks, and is described below for each term in equation (3.3)

4.1 Linearization of the inertial terms

Let us first expand in series the inertial terms. They correspond to the non linear function
d T T
dm 2

m( x ) x 12
x
dt x i xi
dx
By linearizing with a series expansion and by considering linear terms only we have
f ( x, x , x)

f ( x, x ,
x) f ( x, x ,
x) 0
m( x)
x 0 12

f
f
f

x
x
x
x 0
x 0

x0

dm 2
dm
d 2m
dm

x
x x 12 2 x 2 x
x x m( x) 0
x
dx 0 dx 0
dx
dx
0
0

m(0)
x
being x 0 x 0 x 0 0 as assumed in the neighbourhood of the equilibrium position.

The linearization of the inertial terms may be easily obtained by replacing the exact expression of
the generalised mass as a function of coordinate x with its value in the equilibrium position around
which the equation is linearised.
This observation has an important consequence: since the dependence of the generalised mass from
the coordinate x is due to the dependency of the Jacobian functions appearing in equation (3.3), then
the linearization of the inertial terms of the equations of motion may be obtained a priori by
replacing the exact Jacobian functions appearing in the expression of the kinetic energy with their
value in the equilibrium position, i.e. using the linear approximation of the kinematic relationships
between the velocities (of the c.o.m. and of the angular velocities of the bodies) and the time
derivative x of the independent coordinate. This conclusion is really important, because in many
cases the linear approximation of this kinematic relationships may be found in a much easier way
than their complete non linear expression. Examples will be given in the exercises.

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4.2 Linearization of the dissipative terms

In section 3 it was shown that the (generally non linear) dissipative term in the equation of motion
of a 1 d.o.f. system is:
D
c( x) x
x
we now expand the function c( x) x g ( x, x ) in series of power, obtaining:
g ( x, x )
g ( x, x )
c( x) x g ( x, x ) g ( x, x ) 0
x
x
x 0
x 0
c
x x c( x) 0 x c( x) 0 x c(0) x
x 0
therefore, as with the inertial terms, a simple rule may be defined to linearize the dissipative terms
in the equation of motion, i.e. replace the function c(x) with the value of this function in the steady
state position around which linearization is performed.
c( x) x 0

4.3 Linearization of the terms related to conservative forces

First of all, we observe that the linear approximation of the term Qc(x) around the position x=0 is
obviously:
Q
Qc
Qc x Qc 0 c x Qc 0 k x with k
x 0
x 0
in the above expressions, the term k is called generalised stiffness of the system along the
coordinate x. Thus, in principle, it could be possible to derive the exact expression of the
Lagrangian component of all conservative forces and then obtain the generalised stiffness through
the definition above.
However, there are at least two cases of conservative forces that deserve special attention and will
be treated later on.

4.4 Linearization of the terms related to non-conservative forces

To treat the point of the linearization of non-conservative forces, we recall that in this course we
have confined ourselves to the case where the considered forces are only function of time.
Moreover, for the sake of simplicity in the following expressions, we consider the case of a single
force Fj(t); the general case may be easily obtained by extending (i.e., summing over the forces) the
result below.
In section 3., we have demonstrated that the Lagrangian component of a concentrated force Fj(t)
acting on the system may be expressed as:
S j
Qe ( x, t ) F j (t )
x
where Sj(x) is the function expressing the displacement of the point of application of the force along
the direction pointed by the force. Additionally, we consider the force Fj(t) as a zero-mean function
of time (if this is not the case, Fj may be splitted into a zero-mean function of time and a constant
force equal to the mean value of Fj, and this latter component may be treated as a conservative
force).
S j
in series of power of the coordinate x:
Next, we expand the function
x
S j S j
2S j
3S j 2
1

x
2
x
x 0 x 2
x 3
0

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finally, in order to derive a linearised, constant coefficient equation of motion for the system, we
have to state that the product of Fj(t) times any power of coordinate x is negligible with respect to
the other linear terms of the equation (which means that also Fj(t) is considered small in some
sense). Thus, only the constant term in the above expansion must be retained, and the linearised
expression of the time-dependent force is obtained as:
S
Qe ( x, t ) F j (t ) j F j (t )Fj (0)
x 0

were Fj represents the value of the Jacobian of the relationship Sj(x) in the equilibrium position
around which linearisation is performed.

4.5 Final expression of the linearised equation of motion for a 1 d.o.f. system
By collecting the results of the above paragraphs, it is possible to state that the linearised form of
the equation of motion will assume the expression:
mx cx k x F (t )
where, also considering the result in formula (3.3) the linearised generalised mass m is:
m m(0) j 1, N M j 2mjx (0) M j 2mj y (0) J j 2mj (0)
B

The linearised generalised damping c is:

c c(0) j 1, N c j 2rj x (0)
D

The linearised generalised stiffness k is:

Qc
x 0
which will be further specified in the next paragraph, illustrating the quadratic forms of the different
energy functions.
Finally, the expression of the generalised, time dependent force F (t ) (for a general number NF of
time dependent forces acting on the system) is:
F (t ) j 1, N F j (t ) F j (0)
k

Obtaining a linear equation of motion by reducing systems energy functions

to quadratic forms

As can be seen, the application of Lagranges equation to a system whose energies are quadratic
forms of the independent variable leads to a linear equation. So, another way to approximate the
energy expressions in order to produce a linear equation of motion is to expand a non quadratic
energy expression into a power series, retaining only the terms up to the second order.
Kinetic energy
As previously seen, the kinetic energy is a function T ( x, x ) 12 m( x) x 2 , generally non quadratic. An
approximation is introduced by a quadratic form TL obtained by
TL T 0

T
T
2T
2T
2T
x
x 12 2 x 2
xx 12 2 x 2
x 0
x 0
x 0
xx 0
x 0

and calculated at the equilibrium point where x 0 x 0 0 .

By substituting the expression previously indicated we have
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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

T
T
2T 2 2T
2T 2
1
1
TL T 0
x
x 2 2 x
xx 2 2 x
x 0
x 0
x 0
xx 0
x 0
12 m( x ) x 2 12
0

dm( x ) 2
d 2 m( x ) 2 2 d 2m( x )
x x m( x ) x 0 x 12
x x
xx xx 12 m( x ) 0 x 2
2
dx
dx
dxdx
0
0
0

12 m(0) x 2
all terms of the expansion being null with the exception of the last one.

Dissipation function
The dissipation function has the general form already seen:
2
c j j 12 j 1, N c j r2j ( x) x 2 12 c( x) x 2
D
D

Following the same procedure indicated for the kinetic energy, the quadratic form DL 12 c(0) x 2 is
obtained.

D j 1, N

1
2

Potential energy
Let us have a closer look at the terms composing the potential energy.

Elastic forces: elastic stiffness and second order elastic stiffness

Elastic forces are a particular case of conservative forces. In this course, only linear elasticity will
be considered; moreover, in the first part of the course elastic deformation will be treated with
reference to lumped elements (springs) whose inertia will be neglected. Thus we will confine in this
lesson to the concept of linear lumped spring, e.g. a massless deformable body for which the
force-deformation relationship is expressed by the linear equation:
Fel k j j
where kj is the stiffness of the spring (constant) and j is the variation of length in the spring
produced by the elastic deformation ( =0 in the undeformed state of the spring, that may be
different from the equilibrium position x=0). Let us consider the simple case of the elastic force
generated by a single j-th concentrated spring. To deform an elastic element of constant stiffness k
up to a certain extension x the deformation work is
x
x
1
Lel Fel d kd kx 2 Vel
0
0
2
equal to the increase of the potential energy, changed in sign.
By indicating the deformation of the j-th elastic element in a more general form as j , the
corresponding potential energy Vel has the form:
Ns

Vel x 12 k j 2j ( x)
1

As for all other kinematic variables, each j may be expressed as function of the independent
coordinate x.
In order to obtain a linearised expression for:

Vel x
x
it is necessary to approximate the elastic potential energy with a quadratic form in x, which means
expand Vel in series of power and neglect all terms of power greater than two. To this end, we first
expand to the second order the function relating the deformation of the spring j with the
Qcel

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independent coordinate x (we also recall that expansion must be performed around the zero value of
the independent coordinate, which represents the equilibrium position of the system):
j
2 j
1
j ( x) j (0)
x 2
x 2 j 0 kj (0) x 12 kj (0) x 2
2
x x 0
x
x 0

where kj and kj are respectively the Jacobian (first derivative) and Hessian (second derivative) of
the kinematic relationship j j ( x) , evaluated in the equilibrium position x=0.
The second stage of the approximation is then to substitute the above expanded expression of the
spring dilatation into the elastic potential energy and, after substitution, to neglect all the powers
greater than two in x, i.e. containing x3 , x 4 .and so on:
Ns

Vel x 12 k j j 0 kj (0) x 12 kj (0) x 2

Ns

12 k j 2j 0 k j j 0 kj (0) x 12 k j kj (0) 2 x 2 12 k j j 0 kj (0) x 2

1

Vel x 0

dVel
d 2Vel 2
x 12
x
dx 0
dx 2 0

the above expression can be further simplified by observing that:

the first term is constant and will then disappear after the derivation prescribed by the

Lagranges equation, it can then be neglected;

if the total potential energy of the system is of elastic nature only, the second term (linear in x)
is null, due to the theorem of stationarity of the potential energy: this theorem states that a
system subjected to conservative forces is in equilibrium in all and only those positions where
the first derivative of the total potential energy is zero. Since we have set x=0 as our position
of equilibrium, to have there a zero valued derivative of the potential energy we must require
that the coefficient of the first order term in the power expansion of the total potential energy
is zero. Of course, if this does not apply, the linear term in Vel is not zero, because the total
potential energy will be the sum of other different terms, due to different conservative forces
(e.g. elastic and gravitational). However, when Vel will be summed with the terms due to the
other position forces to form the total potential energy, the first order term in Vel will be
necessarily cancelled by the first order term due to other forces (e.g. by an opposite first order
term in the gravitational potential energy Vg ). We will then neglect the first derivative from
now onwards.
By these simplifications, the expression of the elastic potential energy becomes:
Vel x 12 k j 2kj (0) k j j 0 kj (0) x 2 12 k el x 2
Vel
k el x
x
where k el represents the equivalent stiffness due to all elastic forces along the single coordinate x of
the system.
Before concluding this section, it is important to spend some words on the form of the equivalent
elastic stiffness k el , which is in general the sum of two terms.
The first term k j kj (0) 2 depends upon the first order approximation of the non-linear relationship
Qcel

j (x) relating the elongation of the spring with the independent coordinate: in fact it contains the
Jacobian kj of this relationship. The second term k j j 0 kj (0) depends upon the second order
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component of the non-linear relationship j (x) , as it contains the Hessian kj . For this reason,
it is sometimes referred as the second order elastic stiffness of the system. However, this should
not lead to the conclusion that this term will necessarily be small compared to the first order
elastic stiffness k j kj (0) 2 : there are cases where the effects of the two terms are comparable. For
instance, in the suspensions of a railway vehicle, it is well know that the lateral stiffness of the
suspension is higher in the tare condition than in the full load condition (a circumstance that is
called by railway people the souplesse effect, after a French word): this is due to the presence of a
negative second order stiffness whose importance is of course greater for a greater load acting on
the carbody, that produces a higher static deformation of the suspension j 0 .
It is important to observe that this second contribution to the equivalent elastic stiffness k el
disappears in all cases where at least one of the following conditions hold:
i. the spring is unloaded (and thus undeformed) in the considered equilibrium position x=0, so
that j 0 0 ;
ii. the Hessian of the kinematic relationship j (x) is zero in the considered equilibrium
position, so that kj (0) 0 . This second condition applies in particular to all cases where the
relationship j (x) is linear (in these cases the Hessian is zero for all values of x, not only
in the steady state position).
Gravitational forces: the gravitational stiffness
To examine the effect of gravitational forces, we consider the simple case of one single j-th body
subjected to the effect of gravity. The corresponding potential energy Vg has the form:
V g x m j gh j (x)
where mj is the (gravitational) mass of the body, g is the gravity acceleration and hj is the
elevation or vertical displacement of the body centre of mass above a given fixed reference.
In order to obtain a linearised expression for:
V g x
Qc g
x
it is necessary to approximate the gravitational potential energy with a quadratic form in x and,
since mj and g are constant, this means to expand hj(x) to the second order:
h j
2hj
1
h j ( x) h j (0)
x 2
x 2 h0 gj (0) x 12 gj (0) x 2
x x 0
x 2
x 0

where a notation of the same type as that introduced for the elastic terms has been used.
By substituting this expression into the gravitational potential energy, it is obtained:
V g x m j gh0 m j g gj (0) x 12 m j g gj (0) x 2

where again simplifications may be introduced by observing that:

the first term is constant and will then disappear after the derivation prescribed by the

Lagranges equation, it can then be neglected from the beginning;

the second term (linear in x) must disappear due to the theorem of stationarity of the potential
energy: this term will be indeed the one that will cancel the linear term in the elastic potential
energy.
by these simplifications, the expression of the elastic potential energy becomes:

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V g x 12 m j g gj (0) x 2 12 k g x 2
Qc g

V g x

kgx
x
where k g represents the equivalent stiffness due to gravitational forces along the single coordinate
x of the system, or simply the gravitational stiffness. As for the second order elastic stiffness, the
gravitational stiffness has non-zero values only in those cases where the Hessian of the kinematic
relationship h j (x) has a non-zero value in the equilibrium position around which the equation of

motion is linearised. otherwise, no gravitational force will appear in the final linearised equation of
motion. It can then be stated the following important conclusion:
If for a given system all kinematic relationships expressing the elevation of the c.o.m. of all bodies
are linear in the independent coordinate(s), and if x=0 is chosen as the equilibrium position of the
system, then gravitational forces will not appear in the equation(s) of motion of that system.
The linearised generalised stiffness constant k is then the sum of three terms:
k k elI k elII k g
and, by generalising the results of sections 4.3 and 4.4 to the presence of a general number NS of
springs and NB of bodies subjected to gravitational forces:
k elI j 1, N k j kj (0) 2
S

k el II j 1, N k j j 0 kj (0)
S

k g j 1, N m j g gj (0)
B

5.1 Linear systems

We close this section by treating a particular class of system, where all kinematic relationships are
linear by nature, which means that for a system of this type all the Jacobian functions defined in the
paragraphs above are constant and all Hessian functions are identically zero . Owing to the above
considerations, it is clear that a linear system will have the following properties:
1.
the equation(s) of motion of the linear system will be linear, not only for small motion around
a steady state position, but eventually also for large motion;
2.
the second order elastic stiffness of any spring element will be zero, regardless the preload
of the spring;
3.
the gravitational stiffness will also be zero, and gravitational forces will not appear in the
equation(s) of motion of the system, provided that the independent coordinate(s) is chosen so
that x=0 represents the equilibrium condition of the system1;

Generalisation to systems with n>1 degrees of freedom

If we come next to consider a multi-degree of freedom system, whose configuration has to be

described by means of n>1 independent coordinates, the considerations and conclusions already
reported in sections 3 and 4 may be quite easily extended.
The only tricky point with this generalisation is the notation: in fact it would be quite cumbersome
to make extended use of sums over the independent coordinates, and treating the n equations of
motion on a one-by-one basis (that is, applying the Lagranges equation in the form of equation
(2.1) separately for each independent coordinate xi) would lead to problems in handling the
equations. The solution to this problem is represented by the extensive use of matrix algebra and
1

We observe by the way that a linear system will have one and only one equilibrium position. In fact, equilibrium
configurations have to be stationary points for the total potential energy, but for a linear system the total potential
energy will be exactly a quadratic function of the coordinate x, and thus will have one single stationary point

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notation: in order to follow this way of proceeding, we need first to introduce in section 5.1 some
definitions concerning the operation of derivation with respect to a vector. Based on these
definitions, it will be possible then to derive the complete non linear and linearised equations of
motion for a multi-d.o.f. system.

6.1 Derivation with respect to a vector

We define the derivative of a mathematical entity with respect to a vector x as the product of that
generic mathematical entity times a row (matrix) vector formed by the partial derivatives with
respect to the elements x1, x2, of x:

x
x n
x1 x 2
let us explain this definition by some examples:
Derivative of a scalar w.r.t. a vector: let us consider a scalar V, function of x1, x2, , xn, this can
be denoted by: V=V(x), then the derivative of V with respect to x takes the form:
V V V
V
(6.1)

x x1 x 2
x n
this definition brings immediately an important advantage: the scalar form of the Lagranges
equations for a system with n d.o.f. is:
d T T D V

Q1
dt x1 x1 x1 x1

d T T D V

Q2
dt x2 x2 x2 x2

d T T D V

Qn

dt xn xn xn xn
now, with the above definition of the derivative of a scalar w.r.t. a vector we observe that the n
scalar equations above may be expressed by a single matrix equation, that takes the name of matrix
form of the Lagranges equations:
T

d T T D V

dt
x
x

x x

(6.2)

where obviously Q is the vector containing the Lagrangian components of time dependent forces
along all the coordinates of the system, and thus is defined by the matrix expression:
W x T Q
Derivative of a vector w.r.t. a vector: let us consider a vector y, whose elements y1, y2, , ym are
function of the elements x1, x2, , xn of another vector x this can be denoted by: y=y(x), then the
derivative of y with respect to x is an m by n matrix with the form:
y1
y1 y1

x
x n
y 1 x 2

x
y m y m y m
x1 x 2
x n

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this matrix is usually called the Jacobian matrix (or simply Jacobian) of the relationship between
y and x.
A remarkable result: we conclude this section by applying the above definitions to the calculation
of the following derivative:

T
(6.3)
z ( x ) A y ( x )
x
where [A] is a constant-valued, square and symmetric matrix of order n, while y and z are two

column vectors of length n. As with the derivative of scalar quantities, the derivative of a product is
the sum of two terms, one containing the derivative of y w.r.t. to x, the second containing the
derivative of z w.r.t. to x. The first of these two terms can be easily obtained, since y is at the right
hand side of the triple product, and thus may be multiplied by the differential operator defined in
formula (6.3). In order to obtain the other derivative, one must observe that the triple product

z ( x) T Ay ( x)
is a scalar quantity (i.e. a 1x1 matrix) and thus it coincides with its transpose:

z ( x) T Ay ( x) z ( x) T Ay( x)

y ( x)

A
T

z ( x)

in this way, the z vector is transferred at the right hand side of the product and the second term of
the derivative may be computed:

z( x) A y( x) z( x) A x y( x) A
T

z
x

(6.4)

This result leads to an important observation: in the case that y = z = x, we consider that by
definition the derivative of the vector x with respect to the same vector is an identity matrix of order
n; if we recall that [A] is a symmetric matrix, (so that [A]T= [A]) then:

T
T
T
T
( x)T A x x A I x A I 2 x A
x

In what follows it will be demonstrated that, after taking the approximations needed to linearise the
equations of motion of an n-d.o.f. system around a steady state position, the kinetic energy,
dissipation function and potential energy take the following matrix forms:

T
T 12 x M x ;

T
D 12 x C x ;

V 12 x K x
T

considering the above result and applying the matrix form of the Lagranges equations it is easy to
observe that:
T

d T T
D
V
;

M x

C x ;
Kx
dt x x
x
x
and thus that the Lagranges equations for the considered system will take the matrix form:

M x C x K x Q(t )

(6.5)
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where it is important to point out that this result applies regardless to the number of degrees of
freedom of the system and (even more important !) that no derivative has actually to be performed
in order to derive these equations: it is enough to derive the matrix expression for the kinetic
energy, dissipation function and potential energy and then use the result above: we start then to see
the possibility to use a matrix formalism to write the (linearised) equations of a n-d.o.f. system in a
semi-automated way, thus minimising the possibility of errors and with the possibility to implement
(at least partly) the procedure into a computer code.

6.2 Systematic approach to writing the equations of motion for a n-d.o.f. system
By the use of Lagranges equations and of a matrix formalism, it is possible to define a systematic
approach to writing the equations of motion of a multi-d.o.f. system, in the sense that these
equations may be obtained by a fixed sequence of operations, regardless to the type of system
considered (number of bodies, number and type of constraints, number of degrees of freedom). In
the case that linearised equations of motion are sought (or in the case of a linear system), the result
of this systematic procedure is a system of linear, second-order differential equations with the form
(5.2).
Kinetic energy and derivation of the inertial terms in the equations of motion
For a general, multi-d.o.f. system formed by rigid bodies moving in a common plane, the kinetic
energy will have the form:
T j 1, N 12 M j xG2 j M j y G2 j J j j2
B

we may rewrite this expression using a matrix notation by defining a vector of kinematic variables
y M and a matrix of inertial parameters [mF] with the following expressions:
xG1

y G1

y M 1


N B

M F diag m1

m1

J1 J N B

it is then easy to recognise that, by the usual rule of matrix products, the above scalar expression
of the kinetic energy (based on a sum over the bodies) may be rewritten as the following matrix
product:
T
T 12 y M M F y M
then, we observe that the kinematic variables contained in vector y M are the time derivatives of the
coordinates and angles of rotation of all bodies in the system, and that these quantities may be
expressed by proper kinematic relationships (case by case, linear or non-linear):
xG1x
y
G1x

y M 1

N B

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and thus, by taking the time derivative of this vector (and remembering the definition of the
Jacobian matrix as the derivative of vector y M w.r.t. vector x:
yM d x
M ( x ) x
dt
x dt
where [M] is the Jacobian matrix of the kinematic relationships, and in case of non-linear
relationships is a function of x (while in the linear case the Jacobian is a constant matrix).
By substituting the above result in the matrix expression of the kinetic energy, we obtain:
y M

d yM

T
T
T
T
T 12 y M M F y M 12 x M ( x) M F M ( x)x 12 x M ( x)x

If we want to linearise the equations of motion, as demonstrated in section 4.1, we need to

approximate the configuration-dependent mass matrix [M(x)] with a constant matrix obtained by
substituting x=x0, that is the constant value of the system coordinates in the steady state
configuration around which linearization is performed (we easily observe that if the system is
linear, the mass matrix will be constant, and no approximation will be needed). Thus:

T
T
T
T
T 12 x M (0) M F M (0)x 12 x M (0)x 12 x M x

and, by applying the Lagranges equations in their matrix form (and remembering the results
obtained in eq. (6.4)):
T

d T T

M x
dt x x

It is important to remark that in the above procedure the only non-automated step is to write the
kinematic relationships that define the vector y M y M ( x) or directly the Jacobian of these
relationships (which normally may be more easily computed directly by using the kinematics of
rigid bodies than by defining vector y M and then taking a lot of derivatives). Also important is to
observe that if the linearised equations are sought, than it is not necessary to derive the Jacobian
matrix as a function of the independent coordinates x, but instead only its value in the steady state
configuration considered for the linearization. Since steady state / equilibrium positions are notable
configurations of the system (e.g., for a simple pendulum, equilibrium positions will correspond to
a vertical alignment of the pendulum) it may be much easier to define the Jacobian directly in the
required position.
Elastic potential energy and derivation of the elastic part of the stiffness matrix
If the system includes a generic number Ns of springs, the elastic potential energy will be:

Vel j 1, N

1
2

k j 2j

if the system is non-linear, and the complete equations of motions are sought, then the use of a
matrix formalism will be of very little help (or even more cumbersome). However, if the system is
linear or if the linearised equations are sought, then it is possible to follow a matrix approach. To
this end, as with the kinetic energy, we rewrite the scalar expression of the elastic potential energy
by defining a vector of kinematic variables y K and a diagonal matrix [KF] formed by the stiffness
parameters of Ns of springs in the system:

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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

yK

Ns

K F diag k1

and thus:

kN s

Vel 12 y K K F y K
T

now, from this matrix expression, it is easy to obtain the first order component of the elastic
stiffness matrix, which depends (see section 4.2) upon the Jacobian of the relationships relating the
elongations of the springs y K with the independent coordinates x. To this end we linearise the
relationship y K y K ( x) around the considered equilibrium position:
y K ( x ) y K ( 0)

yK
x

x y K (0) K (0)x
0

and, by substituting in the matrix expression of the potential energy (see eq. (6.3)):
Vel 12 y K K F y K 12 y K 0 K F y K 0 y K 0 K F K (0)x 12 x K (0) K F K (0)x
T

considering the above result, it is clear that the first term is constant and may thus be neglected, the
second term is linear in the independent coordinates and will then disappear when summed into the
total potential energy (provided as usual that the coordinates are chosen so that x=0 is the
equilibrium position), and the only term to be retained is the third one that may be rewritten as:
Vel 12 x K (0) K F K (0)x 12 x K elI x
T

K elI K (0)T K F K (0)

with

and by applying the Lagranges equations:

T

Vel

K elI x
x
however, one should be very careful about the above result because, as demonstrated by the case of
the 1-d.o.f. system, the matrix K elI obtained by the above procedure does not represent the whole
elastic stiffness matrix, but only the first order component. A second order component has to be
summed in all cases where at least one spring in the system has a non-zero static load in the
equilibrium position and the kinematic relationship expressing its elongation as function of the
independent coordinates x has a non-zero Hessian matrix in the equilibrium position.
Unfortunately, since the calculation of the Hessian matrix involves the evaluation of the second
derivatives of the kinematic relationship, the use of a matrix notation to generalise the case of the 1d.o.f. system is not straightforward. However, it may be demonstrated that the second order
component of the elastic stiffness matrix assumes the form:

K elII j 1, N

j (0)k j kj (0)

where kj (0) is the Hessian matrix (nxn) containing the second derivatives of the relationship
j j (x) . Examples of the procedure to be followed in order to define the second-order
component of the elastic stiffness matrix will be given in the exercises.
Gravitational potential energy and derivation of the gravitational part of the stiffness matrix

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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

If the system includes a generic number NB of bodies (normally, all subjected to gravitational
forces), the gravitational potential energy is:
V g j 1, N m j gh j ( x)
B

if the system is non-linear, and the complete equations of motions are sought, then the use of a
matrix formalism turns out to be almost unuseful. If instead the linearised equations are sought, then
it is possible to treat this term as the second order component of the elastic potential energy and thus
to derive a second order approximation of the gravitational potential energy in the form:
T
V g 12 x K g x

with:

K
g

j 1, N S

m j g hj (0)

where kj (0) is the Hessian matrix (nxn) containing the second derivatives of the relationship
h j h j (x) . Examples of the procedure to be followed in order to define the second-order
component of the elastic stiffness matrix will be given in the exercises.
By the way, it is observed that for a linear system, where the relationships h j h j (x) are linear for
all the NB bodies, the gravitational stiffness matrix is zero.
Lagrangian components of the time-dependent forces acting on the system
Considering the case where NF time dependent forces are acting on the system, the corresponding
virtual work will be:
W j 1, N S j F j (t )
F

as usual, we rewrite this sum in matrix form by defining:

S1
F1

and
F
S
S
F
NF
NF
and thus:
W S T F (t )
then, we take the differential of the kinematic relationship S=S(x):
S
x F x x
x
where F x is a NF by n rectangular matrix representing the Jacobian of the kinematic
relationship S=S(x). If we want then to obtain linear, time independent equations of motion, we
approximate this relationship by replacing the complete approximation of the Jacobian matrix with
its value in the equilibrium position around which linearization is performed:

S F 0 x
and, by replacing this result into the matrix expression of the virtual work:

W S T F xT F 0 T F (t ) xT Q(t )
with:

Q(t ) F 0 F (t )
T

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Mechanical Systems Dynamics (5 Credits) Prof. Stefano Bruni

thus, the Lagrangian components of the time-dependent forces acting on the system may be easily
obtained by evaluating in the equilibrium position the Jacobian relating the displacements of the
points of application of the forces with the independent coordinates and then performing the matrix
product reported above.

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