EBME 309 – Modeling of the skeletal sub-system

Dynamics of interconnected rigid bodies - Kinematics

Most of the segments of animal bodies can be

modeled as rigid bodies (sometimes called segments
Trunk
or links) that are connected to each other at joints.
The system moves under the action of internal Hip Joint

(muscle, ligaments, etc.) and external (ground, Thigh

Knee Joint
environmental, etc.) forces. The full description of this
Shank
system could be incredibly complex if all biological,
Ankle Joint
anatomical and physiological details have to be Foot
accounted for. Conceptual Model
Actual System

Conceptual Models – Assumptions, Simplifications and Idealizations

To simplify the study, we use assumptions, simplifications and idealizations to create what
are called conceptual models. These are
representations of the parts of the human body
with simpler engineering elements. The ability to
deduce the conceptual models of actual biological
systems is an art that every student of engineering
must learn. In biomechanics, we use rigid links

Ball and (assumption) to represent the various segments such

Socket
(Hip and as the thighs, shanks, upper arm, etc. The joints
Shoulder)
that connect most of the segments of the human
body could be modeled by a variety of ideal
mechanical rotary joints (idealization) such as ball-
Hinge
(Knee and
elbow) and-socket (for hip and shoulder joints), universal
(for ankle and wrist joints) and pin or hinge (for
Universal
(Wrist and elbow and knee joints). The allowable motion by
Ankle)
each joint defines the degrees-of-freedom of the
motion of one body relative to another. For this
class, we will only deal with one degree-of-freedom (hinge joints) defining the rotation of
bodies relative to each other about single axes. This is a reasonable assumption for what is
called planar motion or motion in one plane (simplification).
The Study of the motion of bodies without taking cognizance of the forces involved is called
kinematics. If the forces are taken into account, then it is called kinetics. The combined
study of kinematics and kinetics is called dynamics.

Kinematic of motion of connected bodies

We will start by studying kinematics

of motion alone and will later
examine what happens when we
want to also incorporate the forces
that mediate the motion. Rectilinear Translation

Motion of Bodies

Generally, bodies undergo two types

Pure rotation about an axis
of movement: translation and
rotation or a combination of the
two. In translation, the movement Curvilinear Translation

of the body is described by

translational variables such as displacement, velocity and acceleration; while in rotation the
movement is described by rotational variables such
as angle, angular velocity and angular acceleration.
Trunk
However, points on rigid bodies that are in pure

Hip rotation could also have translational motion

Joint attributes relative to other points in space. Thus it

Thigh is important to understand the concept of both

translational motion and rotational motion for
connected rigid body systems. While rectilinear
Knee
Joint translation can be seen to occur along straight lines,
curvilinear translation and pure rotation occur in
Shank the plane. To make sure we can accommodate all
motions, we assume the existence of a coordinate
reference frame with a fixed origin in space and
When a person walks, trunk has
two axes (x and y) in the plane with the third axis
rectilinear translation and both shank
(z-) perpendicular to the plane. For this
and thigh have combined rotation and
translation. arrangement, all axes of rotation are along z-axis.
The reference frame is of fundamental importance in z
dynamics as it gives us a reference from which to
reckon all movements. It also helps us to decompose y
the motion into simpler components (along each of the
Plane of Motion
axes). The primitive quantity in any motion is the O
displacement. Taking the derivative of the
x
displacement gives the velocity while taking the second
derivative gives the acceleration. To keep track of all
the composite elements of the motion with respect to
the various axes of the reference frame, we represent the various quantities as vectors.
Since all motion is in 3D space, the size of the vector for each quantity is at most 3. For
this class, we will concentrate on rotational motion of bodies relative to each other.

Translation Motion of Bodies

Since all points in translation of a body move along parallel paths, knowing the translation
motion of one point is enough to know that of all other points on the same body. Hence
describing the translation motion of a body is the same as describing the motion of one
point on that body. A summary of the translation equations of motion for one point is
given below:

Rectilinear translation

A A'
Let x = displacement of point A

on a rigid body measured from O x x
O along linear axis O ξ . Since
only one variable is required to
define this motion, it is said to
be a one degree-of-freedom motion. By differentiating the change in the single motion
variable, we get:
x dx
v  L im   x (1)
t  0 t dt

This quantity is called the velocity of the body and equation (1) is the first kinematic
equation of motion. The velocity equation (1) also constitutes one of the first kinematic
equations of the body. Another important variable is obtained by differentiating the
velocity equation – giving what is called the acceleration of the body:

v dv
a  L im   v (2)
t  0 t dt

As we shall see later, accelerations are the links between the kinematic (motion) and the
kinetic (motion + forces) aspect of the overall motion behavior of the rigid body.

Curvilinear translation

Planar curvilinear motion is not along a straight line; but it happens within the plane. Thus
any point on the path of the motion must now be defined by the components along the 2
orthogonal (rectilinear) directions. The 
position of any point O on the body (only
one point on the body suffices for
translation motion) requires specification of
two variables – x and y for instance which

define the position vector rO of the point O.
Thus there are two motion variables in O
rO
curvilinear translation – this type of motion y

is said to be a two degree-of-freedom 

x
motion (in the plane). The derivatives of the
two motion variables x and y define the
velocity of the body, and decomposing that along the two axes, we get:

dx
 x  v x
dt

dy
 y  v y
dt
(3)
The velocity equations can be differentiated to obtain the acceleration equations:

dv x
 v x  ax
dt
dv y
 v y  ay (4)
dt
Relative translation of bodies

So far all the translation motions we have described are with respect to the fixed origin of
the reference frame. Of interest also is the concept of relative motion of one point with
respect to any other point – both of which are moving with respect to a fixed reference
frame.

One-dimensional relative motion

Consider two bodies moving along a straight line and let A and B be the two points
describing the translation of the bodies. To an observer at the starting point O (which is
fixed and not moving with the two
A B
bodies), A’s displacement is x A and B’s
xB/A 
displacement is xB . But to an observer O xA
on A, B’s displacement can be defined as
xB
xB/ A . xB/ A is called the displacement of
B relative to (or with respect to) A.
From the geometry of the motion, we see that

xB/ A  xB  x A
or
xB  x A  xB/ A (5)

By differentiating equation (5) we get the relative velocity and acceleration equations:

v B  v A  vB/ A (6)
aB  aA  aB/ A (7)

Here v B/ A and aB/ A are called the relative velocity and relative acceleration of B w.r.t.
(with respect to) A respectively.

Two-dimensional relative motion

The same idea as above applies for curvilinear translation except that now we split the
planar motion into its components along the axes. Consider the more general case when
the two bodies are moving (each going in
its own path) and let A and B be the

representative points on each of the
bodies. As before, to an observer at O, A

is at a displacement rA at a certain B
instance in time while at the same rB

instance, B is at displacement rB . We rB/A
want to know what is the displacement
of B as seen by an observer at A. Clearly
this is the vector rB/ A . From the triangle A
defined by OAB, we see that (recall
rA
triangle of vectors from High School):

O

  
rB  rA  rB/ A (8)

Therefore, we can say that

  
rB/ A  rB  rA (9)

By differentiating equation (8) once and twice, we get the velocity and acceleration
relationships.
  
v B  v A  vB/ A (10)

  
aB  aA  aB/ A (11)

We will find these relationships useful in finding the movement of one point on a rigid body
relative to another point on the same rigid body or on another rigid body.
Potential Application 1: Recall that to be able to calculate the
length and velocity of a muscle, we must know the absolute 1 2 3

displacements and velocities of its origin and insertion points.

y
The human body consists of several bones connected together at
Reference Configuration
the joints. We can approximate the bones as simple rigid bodies
or links. In such an interconnected system, the joints play a x
e(0)
crucial role because bodies must share the same motion
characteristics at a joint that connects them. This is enforced by
1
2
the constraint nature of the joint. For instance, a hinge joint
3
allows the two bodies it connects to rotate in their individual
ways about its pin, but they must translate together always. In y
solving the kinematics of connected rigid body problems, it is
important to start by defining a reference configuration for the General Configuration
x
system. This is the position/orientation of the bodies at which e(0)

you will consider the angles to be zero. After that configuration,

y the system can assume different positions and

B orientations. For the system in the figure, one reference
x
1 e(0)
θ2
configuration could be the one shown. Now suppose we
y 3
place small clones of the fixed reference frame at each
θ1
y
D
A joint, then we can use them to perceive how each of the
θ3
x
e(0) 2
x
e(0)
bodies has rotated away from its position in the reference
y C
rA configuration. As a convention, we have the angles being
zero with the bodies aligned with the x-axis; hence that
x axis must serve as the reference axis for the rotation of
e(0)
each body. Another convention (which satisfies the right
hand rule) is that counterclockwise rotations are
considered positive; while clockwise rotations are negative. Now, once we know the angles and the position
vector of one point on the system (say A) relative to the fixed reference frame e (0), we can find the position
vector of any other point on the system in e(0) using the relative displacement equations. For instance, to get
r cos θ 
 AB 1

the position of B in e(0), we use: rB  rA  rB/ A ; Where: rB/ A  rAB sin θ1 
 0 
 
Just as for B, we can use a similar equation to find the position of any other point on Body 1. Once we know
rB , we can use another relative displacement equation to find the position of C in e(0) and for any other point
on Body 2, etc. For example, suppose a muscle is connected
between points R and T on Bodies 2 and 3 respectively as B
R
shown. If we know the absolute positions of B and C (as rB and 1
K

rC ) , then we can find rR and rK using: A

D
2
rR  rB  rR /B and rK  rC  rK/C rR 3
y C
With these pieces of information, we can compute the length of rK
the musculotendon as:
rK  rR  rK /R  rK/R  rK  rR e(0)
x

 Lmt  rK/R
Rotation Motion of Bodies about axes perpendicular to the plane of motion

Rotation Variables

Pure rotation is motion of a body where there exists a point (say, O) within the body and a
line passing through that point such that all other points on the body move so that they
define circular paths with centers of those paths lying on that line. The fundamental
displacement variable in rotation is angular displacement  . From this we derive others as
follows:
d
Angular velocity:    ω (12)
dt

dω
Angular acceleration:  ω  α
dt
(13)
A Axis of
rotation
AA' Equation (12) is the kinematic equation for rotation
of a rigid body about an axis in the plane. The
points in the body

quantity ω is called the angular acceleration of the

Paths defined by

rigid body and is often given the symbol α .

Velocities and accelerations of points during pure

rotation motion
O
Note that since points on a rigid body in rotation
A' move around circles with different radii, they
possess instantaneous velocities and accelerations
P'
which differ from point to point. Consider the
d P
planar case and one such arbitrary point P which

has a velocity v P . We can show that the formula for
da
tum
(st  
v P in terms of the angular velocity of the body is
art
ing
line given by
)
  
v P  ω x rP (cross product!) (14)
  
Since ω is a vector perpendicular to the plane of motion and rP is within the plane, the
  
vector v P is perpendicular to the plane containing ω and rP . Hence a careful observation

z


Top View
v P?
vP?
?
y rP
P y
?
O x rP P
x
O

  
will show that v P is perpendicular to rP . Another physical reasoning for direction of v P is
related to definition of a rigid body – if the body is rigid, P cannot have a component of
its velocity along OP, hence it must always be perpendicular to OP. By differentiating
equation (14) we obtain acceleration of P, by the chain rule as:

     
aP  v P  ω x rP  ω x rP

 
Recall that rP  vP

          
 aP  v P  ω x rP  ω x v P  ω x rP  ω x (ω x rP ) (15)


i.e., Assuming plane of motion is (x, y) and if k is a unit vector along the z- or 3-
direction, we have:

    
α  ω  αk  ω k  
 k (16)

Thus the acceleration equation can be written as:

         
aP  α x rP  ω x (ω x rP )  α x rP  ω x vP (17)

From these equations we deduce that the acceleration of P has two components – one
component normal to OP and the other perpendicular to it. The 2 components are:
   
(aP )t  αk x rP (tangential component)
   
(aP )n  ω x (ω x rP ) (normal component)

y
(Note: Use vector algebra rules to convince yourself that vP
 
the directions of (aP )t and (aP )n are as shown). at

an P
Since both angular velocity vector and angular acceleration
r
vector are pointing along the perpendicular z-axis, we can x
     O
write them as: ω  ωk and α  ω  αk where now ω
and α can be viewed as scalar quantities defining the
magnitudes of the angular velocity and angular acceleration respectively.

Potential Application 2: In a similar way as for relative displacement, we can use the concept of relative
velocity to determine the velocities of points on moving bodies. Suppose we know fully the velocity of point A on
Body 1 in e(0). Suppose we also know the angular velocities of Bodies 1, 2 and 3 about joints A, B and C
respectively. For example, if we know the velocity of A in e(0), we can compute the velocity of B in e (0) using the
relative velocity equation:

v B  v A  v B/ A ; where: v B/ A  ω1 x rB/ A .

We know ω1 is a vector pointing in positive vR

z-direction and can be written as: B
0 v K/R
  K
ω1   0  and we have already known R
θ  1
 1 
2 D
how to compute rB/ A from the displacement A
3
analysis. Applying a similar relative velocity
ω2 vR
equation, we can compute the velocity of C
C
using v C  v B  v C /B where ω3 vK

v C /B  ω 2 x rC /B , etc. We can also use

similar relative velocity equations to calculate the velocities of the origin K and the insertion R of the

musculotendon crossing joint C: v R  vB  v R /B and v K  v C  v K/C . Where the relative velocity terms
are obtained using the cross products of the angular velocity vectors and the position vectors rR and rK using:
v R  vB  v R /B and v K  v C  v K/C
With these pieces of information, we can compute the velocity of the musculotendon as:

v K  v R  v K/R  v K /R  v K  v R