MAK449 MODELLING AND DYNAMICS OF ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

HOMEWORK NO. 2 *
Due on February 13, 2024

1. The landing strut for an aircraft contains a variable area orifice which allows the hydraulic fluid to pass
from one side to the other at a rate which depends on the position of the piston and the load on the strut.
Figure 6 shows the structure and the desired deceleration-vs.-time curve. At the end of 2 sec the vertical
motion has stopped.

a. What is the force-position curve for this shock absorber? Assume that there are two wheels on the
aircraft, the weight is 500,000 N and there is just 500,000 N of lift acting.

b. For the strut in Figure 1, what is the curve of volume-flow rate vs. position?

c. For the flat region of the deceleration-time curve, what would the desired pressure-difference versus
position curve?
Qoil
=K 1 ( the
d. Depending on the design P2−P 1 ) two limits are possible:
A orifice of orifice,

(viscous fluids)
Qoil 1/2
=K 2 ( P2−P 1 )
A orifice

(thin fluids)

In these expressions, K1 and K2 are functions of the geometry and fluid properties. For the flat region of
the deceleration curve, discuss which characteristics are best for the orifice. What considerations would
determine which characteristics would be chosen?

Tapered Orifice Variable area Deceleration

insert Orifice

F F 1
Oil Oil
0 1 2
Time, sec
P2 P1
Piston Area Curve of deceleration vs time

Figure 1

* Problemlems are from “Introduction to System Dynamics, SHEARER, MURPHY, RICHARDSON” .

2. An electrical transmission line consists of two parallel wires 30 cm apart extending for 10 km. The wire
is No. 6 copper, has a diameter of 4 mm, and has a resistance of 1.2 ohm/km. Compute the inductance
and resistance, assuming that the wires are connected at one end.

3. In the system of problem 6, a sinusoidally varying current I = 10sinωt amp is caused to flow through
the lines. A voltage difference which is the sum of the voltage drops caused by the inductance and by the
resistance will appear at the terminals. Compute the frequency at which the magnitude of the inductive
voltage becomes equal to the magnitude of the resistive voltage drop.

4. A simple hydraulic pump (a source of fluid power) consists of two meshing gears contained in a close-
fitting housing (Figure 2). As the gears rotate, each tooth space captures a nearly constant amount of
fluid at the inlet and carries it around to the outlet. At the meshing region the gear teeth contact and
seal the outlet. Ideally, Q = constant through the device and the pressure rises from 0 to Ps,.

a) Qualitatively discuss how Q is related to the gear-tooth size, the speed Ω, and the width w of the
gears.

b) If there are no energy losses, how are Q,, PS, T, and Ω related?

c) The above pump is connected to a fluid system. During operation, Q = const = 40 lt/min and the
outlet pressure Ps is found to vary sinusoidally about a mean pressure of 30 bar. That is,
Ps =30+60sin 20 πt

Determine the average power delivered to the system.

Volume
displaced per Ω = Speed
tooth
per tooth T = Torque

Q Q SYSTEM

P=0 Ps = Outlet
Inlet pressure

Figure 2
3. Consider an open reservoir being filled with water. The pressure in the tank bottom varies as
shown in Figure 3. Sketch curves of the flow rate Q into the tank and the height H of the water
in the tank vs. time.

⃗
g
P=0

A
H
Q  = density

P
 P Figure 3
2P0

P0

P0/2

T 2T 3T 4T t

6. A conduit, called a penstock, which leads water from a dam to the inlet of a hydraulic
turbine driving an electric generator has a diameter of 1.5 m and a length of 200 m.
Assuming that the conduit is rigid, compute the inertance of the fluid. During full load
operation the average flow velocity in the pipe is 20 m/s For this condition, find energy
stored in the fluid inertance and determine how long a 100-watt light bulp could operate
from this amount of energy.

7. A circular tube has a gradual uniform taper, so that its internal diameter decreases linearly
from D2 at the left end to D1 at the right. The tube is rigid and has length L.
a) Assuming that an incompressible fluid of density  flows from left to right in the tube,
compute the fluid inertance.
b) If the fluid flows from right to left, how does the inertance change?
c) If the taper is uniform, how will this affect the inertance, assuming that D2 and D1 do
not change?

o
8. A water storage tank has a conical shape (Figure 4). Assuming that α =30 , Ho = Do and the
tank is rigid, compute and sketch a curve of stored volume V vs. pressure P for
0< H < H
o.
Skecth a curve of stored energy vs. P. For small changes of P about a mean value Po the
tank is approximated by an ideal capacitance. Skecth a curve of capacitance vs. Po.
α
⃗
g

Do

Figure 4
Ho
H Water Q

9. The inner surface of a thick hollow cylinder is at temperature i and has diameter Di. The
outside, of diameter Do, is in contact with air, and there is an over-all coefficent of heat
transfer Ch between this surface and the surroundings, which are at temparature o.
a) Determine an expression for the total thermal resistance between i and o.

b) Does the resistance Rt continue to increase as more insulation is added (Do increases)?
If not, find the optimum Do which maximizes Rt.