Department of Applied Mechanics

AM 1100 Engineering Mechanics

Tutorial 8a- Plane kinematics of rigid bodies

1. At the instant represented in Figure 1, the velocity of point A of the 1.2𝑚 bar is 3𝑚/s to the
right. Determine the speed 𝑣𝐵of point B and the angular velocity 𝜔 of the bar. The diameter
of the small end wheels may be neglected.

Figure 1

2. The crank AB of length 100 mm rotates anticlockwise at a constant rate of 3000 rpm. This
causes the connecting rod BC of length 300 mm to push a piston P horizontally inside a
cylinder as shown in Figure-2. Determine (a) the angular velocity and angular acceleration of
the rod BC and (b) the velocity and acceleration of the piston P for the position
corresponding to (i) θ = 90o and (ii) θ = 0o

Figure 2
 Tutorial 8b- Lagrangian dynamics

1. Conveyor belt. Consider a block of wood on a moving conveyor belt with some initial
velocity (𝑣0 ; 0), in a cartesian coordinate system. A person exerts a force on the block
(Fx , Fy ), for simplicities sake, we'll assume that there is no rotation and that Fx , is in the
opposite direction of the initial velocity so that the block does not move any further along the
x-axis under the influence of this force. A schematic representation of the problem is shown
in Fig.Q1.

Fig.Q1: Schematic representation of the problem

Assuming that the approximate relation between the coefficient of friction and the relative
velocity of the block follows the Bouchet (1860) model in equation (a), find the governing
equations of motion using Hamilton’s principle.
μ −μ
μ v = 0 f + μf (a)
1+av
Where, μ0 , μf and a are positive constants and v is the resultant velocity.

2. Atwood Machine: Determine the motion of a simple (single pulley) Atwood machine
3. Consider a double pendulum having two masses m1 and m2 that are suspended with rigid
links, each of length r1 and r2 as shown in Figure Q3. The pendulum swings under the
action of gravity, acting vertically downwards.

Fig Q3. Double pendulum with rigid links.

a) Write down the expressions for the kinetic energy, potential energy, and the
Lagrangian for this system.
b) Derive the equations of motion corresponding to θ1 using Lagrange’s equations.
c) Simplify the above equations for small oscillations.
d) Observe the equations obtained in (c) above and comment on the nature of solution
that is expected for this system.