Lecture 2 - Modelling of Mechanical Systems - Part A

Last time

• Administration material

• Brief introduction to SMA ... and the excitement

• What contents are we covering

Today

• Objective: State-space representation of a system ... a generalized form to study dynamics

• Free body diagrams

• Equations of motion

Steps we will follow...

1. Assign variables such as x and θ that are both necessary and sufficient to describe an arbitrary
point of the object.

2. Draw a free-body diagram (FBD) of each component. Indicate all forces acting on each body
and their reference.

3. Apply Newton’s law in translation and/or rotation to get equations of motion (EOM).

4. Combine all EOMs and eliminate internal reaction forces.

5. Write EOM in state-space form. This takes the higher order DE to an equivalent first order
DE representation.

Shipping Container Crane

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1. Assign variables such as x and θ that are both necessary and sufficient to describe an arbitrary point
of the object.

Assume a rigid cable, the cart M is constrained to move only in the x direction and that M and m are
both point masses.
(This becomes Example 4.17 on page 229.)

Pendulum

2(a-pendulum). Draw a free-body diagram (FBD) of each component. Indicate all forces acting on each
body and their reference.

2
3(a-pendulum). Apply Newton’s law in translation and/or rotation to get equations of motion (EOM).
Newton’s Laws For 2D problems the forces and moment equations are:

X
Fx = max
X
Fy = may
X
Mz = Jα

Here ax and ay are the accelerations in the x and y direction, α is the

angular acceleration and J is the moment of inertia. Only appropriate
for 2D problems, 3D problems is out of the scope of the course.
The right hand rule tell us the direction of moment.
For pendulum

X d2
Fx = m (px ) (1)
dt2
X d2
Fy = m 2 (py ) (2)
dt
X d
Mz = Jα = J (ω) (3)
dt

Geometry and variables

px = x + L sin θ
py = y − L cos θ = −L cos θ
ω = θ̇
J =0

Moment of inertia at the centroid of a point mass is zero.

Refining (1)

X d2
Fx = m (px )
dt2
2
d
Rx = m 2 (x + L sin θ)
dt
d
= m (ẋ + Lθ̇ cos θ)
dt
= m(ẍ − Lθ̇2 sin θ + Lθ̈ cos θ)

Moment of inertia at the centroid of a point mass is zero.

d
Note: dt f (x) = dx d d
dt dx f (x) = ẋ dx f (x)
Refining (2)

X d2
Fy = m (py )
dt2
d2
Ry − mg = m 2 (−L cos θ)
dt
d
= m (Lθ̇ sin θ)
dt
= m(Lθ̈ sin θ + Lθ̇2 cos θ)

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Refining (3)

X d
Mz = J (ω)
dt
−Rx L cos θ − Ry L sin θ = 0.θ̈
Rx cos θ + Ry sin θ = 0

4(a-pendulum). Combine all EOMs and eliminate internal reaction forces.

So far we have

Rx = m(ẍ − Lθ̇2 sin θ + Lθ̈ cos θ)

Ry = m(Lθ̈ sin θ + Lθ̇2 cos θ + g)
Rx cos θ + Ry sin θ = 0

Substitute first two equations into second...

   
m(ẍ − Lθ̇2 sin θ + Lθ̈ cos θ cos θ + m(Lθ̈ sin θ + Lθ̇2 cos θ + g) sin θ = 0
ẍ cos θ − Lθ̇2 sin θ cos θ + Lθ̈ cos2 θ + Lθ̈ sin2 θ + Lθ̇2 cos θ sin θ + g sin θ = 0
ẍ cos θ + Lθ̈(cos2 θ + sin2 θ) + g sin θ = 0

First equation of motion

ẍ cos θ + Lθ̈ + g sin θ = 0

When things go wrong...

4
Cart

2(b-cart). Draw a free-body diagram (FBD) of each component. Indicate all forces acting on each body
and their reference.

3(b-cart). Apply Newton’s law in translation and/or rotation to get equations of motion (EOM).

Newton’s Laws

For 2D problems the forces and moment

equations are:

X
Fx = max
X
Fy = may
X
Mz = Jα

Only appropriate for 2D problems, 3D problems

is out of the scope of the course.
The right hand rule tell us the direction of
moment.

X
Fx = M ẍ
X
Fy = 0 (Fixed in plane)
X
Mz = 0 (Fixed in plane)

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 P
Refining Fx

f (t) − Rx − kx − bẋ = M ẍ (4)

4(b-cart). Combine all EOMs and eliminate internal reaction forces.
Recall from pendulum dynamics

Rx = m(ẍ − Lθ̇2 sin θ + Lθ̈ cos θ) (5)

so substituting (5) into (4) gives

M ẍ + mẍ − mLθ̇2 sin θ + mLθ̈ cos θ + bẋ + kx = f (t)

(M + m)ẍ − mLθ̇2 sin θ + mLθ̈ cos θ + bẋ + kx = f (t)

The pendulum and cart Equations of Motion (EOM)

ẍ cos θ + Lθ̈ + g sin θ = 0

(M + m)ẍ − mLθ̇2 sin θ + mLθ̈ cos θ + bẋ + kx = f (t)

5. Write EOM in state-space form
This takes the higher order DE to an equivalent first order DE representation.

How?

Introduce new variables to reduce higher order derivative to lower order derivatives. So
 
x  
x1

 ẋ 
  x2 

 ẍ  −→ ? −→ X = 
  x3
 (State vector)

 θ 
x4
θ̈

with
Higher order DE Lower order DE
ẋ1 = f1 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
g1 (x, ẋ, ẍ, θ, θ̈) = 0 −→ ? −→ ẋ2 = f2 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
g2 (x, ẋ, ẍ, θ, θ̈) = u(t) ẋ3 = f3 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
ẋ4 = f4 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )

Note: In our specific problem there is actually x, ẋ, ẍ, θ, θ̇ and θ̈ in the EOM but this will not always be
the case that every lower order derivative appears in the original EOM.

Why are we doing this new representation? This is a standardised form of analysis and computation,
e.g., in matlab.

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 dn x
How should we define X? In a way that reduces the highest derivative dtn to ẋi ...

x1 := x

 
x
x2 := θ
 ẋ 
  d d
 ẍ → and ẍ = (ẋ) = ẋ3 , θ̈ = (θ̇) = ẋ4

 θ

 dt dt
x3 := ẋ
θ̈

x4 := θ̇

Note: Eventhough, a lower order derivative, e.g. θ̇, may not appear in the problem it still needs to have
a state varaible x4 = θ̇ defined.
Then
Higher order ODE Lower order ODE
ẋ1 = x3
g1 (x, ẋ, ẍ, θ, θ̈) = 0 −→ ? −→ ẋ2 = x4
g2 (x, ẋ, ẍ, θ, θ̈) = u(t) ẋ 3 = f3 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
ẋ4 = f4 (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )

Steps to go from EOM to State-space Model

1. Group highest order derivatives on one side of the EOM

dθ dn−1 θ
2. For a nth DE, define variables x1 , x2 , . . . , xn as x1 := θ, x2 := dt , . . . , xn := dt etc.
3. Substitute into EOM and write first order DE

Back to our Crane EOM

Equations of Motion (EOM)

ẍ cos θ + Lθ̈ + g sin θ = 0

(M + m)ẍ − mLθ̇2 sin θ + mLθ̈ cos θ + bẋ + kx = f (t)

1. Group highest order derivatives on one side of the EOM
      
cos θ L ẍ g sin θ 0
+ =
M +m mL cos θ θ̈ −mLθ̇2 sin θ + bẋ + kx f (t)
   −1  
ẍ cos θ L −g sin θ
=
θ̈ M +m mL cos θ f (t) + mLθ̇2 sin θ − bẋ − kx

 −1  
−1 a b d −b 1
Recall: A = =
c d −c a det(A)
    
ẍ 1 mL cos θ −L −g sin θ
=
θ̈ mL cos2 θ − L(M + m) −(M + m) cos θ f (t) + mLθ̇2 sin θ − bẋ − kx

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Expand

1   
ẍ = −mL cos θg sin θ − L f (t) + mLθ̇2 sin θ − bẋ − kx
mL cos2
θ − L(M + m)
1 
2

= −m cos θg sin θ − f (t) − mL θ̇ sin θ + bẋ + kx
m cos2 θ − (M + m)

and

1  
2

θ̈ = (M + m) g sin θ + cos θ f (t) + mL θ̇ sin θ − b ẋ − kx
mL cos2 θ − L(M + m)
1 
2

= (M + m) g sin θ + f (t) cos θ + mLθ̇ sin θ cos θ − b ẋ cos θ − kx cos θ
mL cos2 θ − L(M + m)

dθ dn−1 θ
2. For a nth DE, define variables x1 , x2 , . . . , xn as x1 := θ, x2 := dt , . . . , xn := dt etc.

1  
ẍ = −m cos θg sin θ − f (t) − mLθ̇2 sin θ + bẋ + kx
m cos2
θ − (M + m)
1 
2

θ̈ = (M + m) g sin θ + f (t) cos θ + mL θ̇ sin θ cos θ − bẋ cos θ − kx cos θ
mL cos2 θ − L(M + m)

Let
x1 = x
x2 = θ
x3 = ẋ
x4 = θ̇

3. Substitute into EOM and write first order DE

1
−m cos x2 g sin x2 − f (t) − mLx24 sin x2 + bx3 + kx1


ẋ3 =
m cos2
x2 − (M + m)
1
(M + m) g sin x2 + f (t) cos x2 + mLx24 sin x2 cos x2 − bx3 cos x2 − kx1 cos x2


ẋ4 =
mL cos2 x2 − L(M + m)
ẋ1 = x3
ẋ2 = x4

Why again? Standarised method of analysis and standardised computation. Next lecture we will see how
to the computation/simulation using Matlab.