MENG 124N:

Advanced Mathematics for Mechanical Engineering

CASE STUDY 2

“APPLICATION OF SPLINE INTERPOLATION TO DISTANCE IN A GIVEN TIME

INTERVAL OF A ROCKET”

JOHN MIKO M. JAVIER

BSME-5

ENGR. AYRTON JOHN BANTAY

Instructor

January 18, 2020

 I. INTRODUCTION

Rockets are remarkable collections of human ingenuity that have their roots in the
science and technology of the past. They are natural outgrowths of literally thousands
of years of experimentation and research on rockets and rocket propulsion. Distance
of a rocket can be calculated or described using methods of mathematics.

Using numerical methods especially the spline interpolation for obtaining a

certain distance in order for us to obtain the most possible accuracy for the speed with
less errors.

II. PROBLEM

The upward velocity of a rocket is given as a function of time in shown in the figure
below. Find the distance covered when it travels from 11 to 16 seconds in the
atmosphere by using linear splines.

Time in (sec) Velocity(t) in (m/s)

0s 0 m/sec
10 s 227.04 m/sec
15 s 362.78 m/sec
20 s 517.35 m/sec
22.5 s 602.97 m/sec
30 s 901.67 m/sec
III. METHODOLOGY

Root finding: Linear spline interpolation

Algebraic solution:
➢ Using the average speed method: since the speed is not provided at t = 11
and speed at t = 16, so we can use the range of [11, 16] to find the average
speed within that interval of time but in our given we have an interval of [10,
20]s and we can use it to find the distance at t = 16s.

Numerical solution: Spline interpolation

• We need to choose 4 data points closest to t = 16s and do the 3rd
order polynomial to start solving.

IV. SOLUTION, PRESENTATION & FINDINGS

t0 = 10, t1 = 15, t2 = 20 and t3 = 22.5

𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑡 + 𝑎2 𝑡 2 + 𝑎3 𝑡 3
𝑣(10) = 𝑎0+ 10𝑎1 + 100𝑎2 + 1000𝑎3 = 227.04
𝑣(15) = 𝑎0 + 15𝑎1 + 225𝑎2 + 3375𝑎3 = 362.78
𝑣(20) = 𝑎0+ 20𝑎1 + 4000𝑎2 + 8000𝑎3 = 517.35
𝑣(22.5) = 𝑎0+ 22.5𝑎1 + 506.25𝑎2 + 11381𝑎3 = 602.87
 1 10 100 1000 𝑎0 227.04
1 15 225 3375 𝑎1 362.78
[ ] [𝑎 ] = [ ]
1 20 4000 8000 2 517.35
1 22.5 506.25 11381 𝑎3 602.87
𝑎0 = −4.2540
𝑎1 = 21.266
𝑎2 = 0.13204
𝑎3 = 0.0054347
Then,
𝑣(16) = −42540 + 21.266(16) + 0.13204(16)2 + 0.0054347(16)3
𝑚
𝑣(16) = 392.19
𝑠
For 2nd polynomial,
𝑚
𝑣(16) = 392.06
𝑠
For 3rd polynomial,
𝑚
𝑣(16) = 392.06
𝑠
392.06 − 392.19
𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑥. 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | 𝑥 100%
392.06
𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑥. 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = 0.033269 %

To find the distance(s),

𝑣(𝑡)= = −42540 + 21.266𝑡 + 0.13204𝑡 2 + 0.0054347𝑡 3
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 10 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 22.5

∫ 𝑑𝑠 = ∫ 𝑣(𝑡)𝑑𝑡
16
= ∫ (−42540 + 21.266𝑡 + 0.13204𝑡 2 + 0.0054347𝑡 3 )𝑑𝑡
11
2
0.13204𝑡 3 0.0054347𝑡 4 16
= [−42540𝑡 + 21.266𝑡 /2 + + ]11
3 4
𝒔 = 𝟏𝟔𝟎𝟓 𝒎
The distance travelled by the rocket from t = 11 to t = 16 sec is 1605 m

IV. CONCLUSION

I conclude that spline interpolation is one of the best methods to use than the
polynomial interpolation because the interpolation error can be made small even if
we’ll just use a low degree polynomial for the spline. Spline interpolation also helps to
avoid problems especially when using a higher degree polynomial.
V. CITATIONS

http://nmbooks.eng.usf.edu/ebooks/07int_discrete/textdocs/int_07
https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Mathematics/Numerical_Methods_(
Chasnov)/05%3A_Interpolation/5.03%3A_Cubic_Spline_Interpolation
https://www.sjsu.edu/me/docs/hsu-
Chapter%2010%20Numerical%20solution%20methods.pdf