MECH4426: DYNAMICS, VIBRTAION AND SOUND

(Dynamics Lecture Note 2)

In the last lecture, we talked about kinematics, treating only the motion of objects regardless of the reason of
the movement. Newtons second law of motion explained that the causes of the change in the momentum of
an object are the forces and moments
Forces
Forces, essentially, are the interactions between objects. There are four fundamental forces. The strong and
weak forces act only at very short distances (thus cannot be observed directly in macroscopic world). The
electromagnetic force acts between electric charges, and the gravitational force acts between masses.

Figure 1 Four fundamental forces [1].

Non-fundamental forces
All of the forces in the universe are based on those four fundamental forces. Sometimes, Non-fundamental
forces, the idealized model of the consequences of fundamental forces, can be adopted to greatly simplify
the problem without losing the key point of the problem.
Normal force

Figure 2 Normal Force

When an rectangular object is put on a slope, it is exerted by the gravitational force downwards, and a
friction force parallel to the surface of slope, noted as
, and in the direction against the motion. A support
force perpendicular to the slope surface equals to the perpendicular component of the object's gravity in
magnitude. This support force is called normal force. Fundamentally, the normal force comes from the
repulsive forces of interaction between atoms on the bottom surface of the object and those on the supporting
surface.
Elastic force

Figure 3 Elastic Force.

Another example is the elastic force which acts to return a spring to its natural length. Such forces push
when spring is contracted and pull when extended. In the spring-mass system shown in Figure 3, elastic
force acting on the mass always make sure that it comes back to the equilibrium position. At the equilibrium
position ( x 0 ), the gravitational force mg and the spring's elastic force are equal in magnitude ( mg k L )
and opposite in direction, which results in a stationary mass at x 0 .
Energy
Energy of a system is a measurement of its capacity of doing works. The energy of a physical system
consists of the kinetic energy and potential energy. While the kinetic energy of a system results from the
motion, the potential energy is a measure how much work needs to be done if an object is moved in the
potential field from one location to another.
Kinetic energy of a rigid body
When a rigid body moves, it has translation velocity and angular velocity. Thus the kinetic energy of a rigid
body can be expressed as:

1
1
T mc vc2 I c 2 .
2
2

(1)

The first term is called translation energy corresponding to the translation velocity and mass; the second is
called rotation energy corresponding to the angular velocity and the moment of inertia about the centre of
the mass.
Potential energy
The most common potential energy is the gravitational potential energy. As is called, the gravitational
potential involves with gravity. If the coordinate is defined as in Figure 4, then a mass m in the gravity field
has a gravitational potential energy of
V X mgX ,

Figure 4 Coordinate for defining the gravity field.

Where the minus sign means gravitational energy decreases as X increases. As gravity field is a conservative
field, the relation between conservative gravity force and the conservative field is,

Fg
eX V X mg eX
X
where eX is the unit direction vector.
Another example of potential energy is elastic potential energy. It can be written as
1
V X kx 2
2
where x is the stretched or compressed length of spring from its natural length. Again, elastic force is a
conservative force. It is related to the elastic potential energy by:

Fe
ex V X kx ex .
X
Constraints and generalized coordinates
Constraints refer to the geometric relations between the degrees of freedom (DoF) of an object (or a group of
objects). As a result, the number of independent DoF may be less than the original total number of DoF.
Considering the examples in Figure 5 and 6.

Example 1

Figure 5 Point i on a circle with radius R.

If the position of the point i (2DoF) is described by a constraint equation: xi2 yi2 R 2 , it means that the point
i has to move on a circle with a radius of R . How many independent DoF does the point i have?
Because

xi
yi

R cos
R sin

The motion of the point can be described by 1 DoF, i.e. .

Example 2 Rotating cylinder on a wedge (no slipping)

Figure 6 Rotating cylinder on a wedge (no slipping).

If the centre of mass of the cylinder is X c t , Yc t , and a the radius of the cylinder. One obvious
constraint of this system is Yc t a .

Originally, three coordinates X c , Yc , is needed to describe the position of the cylinder. However, since
no-slip condition is assumed, coordinates X c and are no longer independent from each other. This give
rise to another constrain X c t a t .
Thus the system of rotating cylinder on a wedge with no slipping has 1 DoF.

Generalized coordinates

If a dynamic system has n DoF as x1 , x2 ,

, xn and m constraints, then it will have s n m independent

DoF, which is defined as generalized coordinate q1 , q2 ,

, qs such that

x1 x1 q1 , q2 ,

, qs , t

(2)

x2 x2 q1 , q2 ,

, qs , t ,

(3)

xn xn q1 , q2 ,

, qs , t ,

(4)

indicating that the original n coordinates can be adequately described by generalized coordinates and time.

Lagrange function and Lagrange's equations

With the kinetic energy of a rigid body in Eq. (1), as well as the relation between conservative force and
conservative potential energy, one can transform the Newton's second law of motion into another form
involving with energy and generalized coordinates. Historically, this was first done by Lagrange.
The Lagrange function is defined as:
L T V
(5)
where the first term is the kinetic energy of the system and the second term the potential energy.
The Lagrange's equations, which are equivalent to Newton's second law of motion, has the following form
d L L
(6)
0 i 1, 2,, s

dt qi qi
The reason we want to talk about Lagrange function and equations is that it can help us overcome some
difficulties introduced by the concept of force, and often save time and effort during force analysis. Moreover,
in some cases, the motion/dynamics of a system is not represented by displacement, but voltage, temperature,
angular momentum, volume, polarization or even some dimensionless quantities. In those areas people no
longer analyse the dynamics of their system with the classical force analysis rather with the energy method.
It is necessary to note that this course covers only systems with conservative potentials, such as gravitational
potential and elastic potential. If not all forces acting on the system are derivable from a potential, then
Lagrange's equations can always be written in a general form [2]
d L L
(7)
Qi i 1, 2,, s

dt qi qi
where L contains the potential of the conservative forces as before, and Q i represents the generalized forces
which cannot be generated by a potential function. One can refer to Ref. [2] for details about how to deal
with systems involving with dissipation (say friction or damping).

Tutorial 2.1
Use both force and energy methods to find out the natural frequency of a pulley system as shown in Figure
7. The moment of inertial of the wheel is I c . The rope is massless and unstrechable.

Figure 7 Pully system and force analysis.

Solution 1
The energy method:
Constraints:
x
x
mg

y
a
k y

where x is the displacement (positive down-wards) of the mass from the equilibrium position and y is the
displacement (positive up-wards) of the up-end of the spring from the equilibrium position. y is the static
stretch of the spring.
The kinetic energy has the first term associated with mass and linear velocity and second term with the
angular velocity of the pulley:
1
1 x
T mx 2 I c
2
2 a

The potential energy is:

V1 mgx
1
2
V2 k y y
2
Thus the Lagrange function is:
2

1
1 x
1
2
L T V mx 2 I c mgx k y y
2
2 a
2

Substituting L into the Lagrange's equations

d L L
0, yields

dt q q

Ic
d L d L
m 2 x,
dt q dt x
a
6

L L

mg k x y kx.
q x
Thus we have

Ic

m 2 x kx 0,
a

So that the natural frequency of the system is:

k
I
m c2
a

Solution 2
Force analysis:
On the mass and the pully, the equilibrium of forces are expressed as:
mx mg T1 ,

I c T1a T2 a,
Using the constraint (Newtons third law):

T2 k x y ,

thus

T1

Ic
x k x y .
a2

Substitute T1 into the first equation, we have:

mx mg

Ic
x k x y .
a2

Therefore the natural frequency obtained by force analysis is 0

k
I
m c2
a

, which is identical to Solution

1's result.

Tutorial 2.2
Using the energy method to find out the system equations of the spring-pendulum (note: the mass and string
are always in one straight line and the natural length of the pendulum is l0 )

Figure 8 Spring-pendulum for tutorial question 2.2

Solution
The translation energy of the mass:

1
1
T mr 2 m r
2
2
The potential energy:

V1 mgr cos
1
2
V2 k r l0
2

Thus the Lagrange function is:

1
1
L mr 2 m r
2
2

1
2
mgr cos k r l0 .
2

(8)

For generalized coordinate r

d L
mr
dt r
L
mr 2 mg cos k r l0
r
For generalized coordinate

d L
2

mr
dt
L
mgr sin

Finally we obtain the Lagrange's equations with respect to the generalized coordinates r and :
mr mr 2 mg cos k r l0 0
(9)

mr 2 mgr sin 0

(10)

While we are able to solve these equations numerically, approximation in the case of small amplitude
oscillation can be made by simplifying the spring-pendulum problem into two independent spring
oscillating problems.
8

For the first case, we assume that angular displacement and velocity are negligible: t 0 , t 0 .
Then Eq. (9) becomes
mg

(11)
mr k r l0
0.
k

Letting r l0

mg
, Eq. (11) can be rewritten as:
k
m k 0 .

For the second case, we assume r l0

(12)

mg
0 , then Eq. (10) is simplified as
k

mg

l0
g 0
k

indicating the system oscillates with one natural frequency of r

another natural frequency of

(13)

k
for vibration in the r direction, and
m

g
for vibration in the direction.
mg
l0
k

References
[1]http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/forces/funfor.html#c3
[2]H. Goldstein et al, Classical Mechanics 3 rd Edition, Section 1.5 and 6.5, Addison-Wesley, 2001.