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When an rectangular object is put on a slope, it is exerted by the gravitational force downwards, and a
friction force parallel to the surface of slope, noted as
, and in the direction against the motion. A support
force perpendicular to the slope surface equals to the perpendicular component of the object's gravity in
magnitude. This support force is called normal force. Fundamentally, the normal force comes from the
repulsive forces of interaction between atoms on the bottom surface of the object and those on the supporting
surface.
Elastic force
1
1
T mc vc2 I c 2 .
2
2
(1)
The first term is called translation energy corresponding to the translation velocity and mass; the second is
called rotation energy corresponding to the angular velocity and the moment of inertia about the centre of
the mass.
Potential energy
The most common potential energy is the gravitational potential energy. As is called, the gravitational
potential involves with gravity. If the coordinate is defined as in Figure 4, then a mass m in the gravity field
has a gravitational potential energy of
V X mgX ,
Fg
eX V X mg eX
X
where eX is the unit direction vector.
Another example of potential energy is elastic potential energy. It can be written as
1
V X kx 2
2
where x is the stretched or compressed length of spring from its natural length. Again, elastic force is a
conservative force. It is related to the elastic potential energy by:
Fe
ex V X kx ex .
X
Constraints and generalized coordinates
Constraints refer to the geometric relations between the degrees of freedom (DoF) of an object (or a group of
objects). As a result, the number of independent DoF may be less than the original total number of DoF.
Considering the examples in Figure 5 and 6.
Example 1
xi
yi
R cos
R sin
Originally, three coordinates X c , Yc , is needed to describe the position of the cylinder. However, since
no-slip condition is assumed, coordinates X c and are no longer independent from each other. This give
rise to another constrain X c t a t .
Thus the system of rotating cylinder on a wedge with no slipping has 1 DoF.
Generalized coordinates
, qs such that
x1 x1 q1 , q2 ,
, qs , t
(2)
x2 x2 q1 , q2 ,
, qs , t ,
(3)
xn xn q1 , q2 ,
, qs , t ,
(4)
indicating that the original n coordinates can be adequately described by generalized coordinates and time.
dt qi qi
The reason we want to talk about Lagrange function and equations is that it can help us overcome some
difficulties introduced by the concept of force, and often save time and effort during force analysis. Moreover,
in some cases, the motion/dynamics of a system is not represented by displacement, but voltage, temperature,
angular momentum, volume, polarization or even some dimensionless quantities. In those areas people no
longer analyse the dynamics of their system with the classical force analysis rather with the energy method.
It is necessary to note that this course covers only systems with conservative potentials, such as gravitational
potential and elastic potential. If not all forces acting on the system are derivable from a potential, then
Lagrange's equations can always be written in a general form [2]
d L L
(7)
Qi i 1, 2,, s
dt qi qi
where L contains the potential of the conservative forces as before, and Q i represents the generalized forces
which cannot be generated by a potential function. One can refer to Ref. [2] for details about how to deal
with systems involving with dissipation (say friction or damping).
Tutorial 2.1
Use both force and energy methods to find out the natural frequency of a pulley system as shown in Figure
7. The moment of inertial of the wheel is I c . The rope is massless and unstrechable.
Solution 1
The energy method:
Constraints:
x
x
mg
y
a
k y
where x is the displacement (positive down-wards) of the mass from the equilibrium position and y is the
displacement (positive up-wards) of the up-end of the spring from the equilibrium position. y is the static
stretch of the spring.
The kinetic energy has the first term associated with mass and linear velocity and second term with the
angular velocity of the pulley:
1
1 x
T mx 2 I c
2
2 a
V1 mgx
1
2
V2 k y y
2
Thus the Lagrange function is:
2
1
1 x
1
2
L T V mx 2 I c mgx k y y
2
2 a
2
d L L
0, yields
dt q q
Ic
d L d L
m 2 x,
dt q dt x
a
6
L L
mg k x y kx.
q x
Thus we have
Ic
m 2 x kx 0,
a
k
I
m c2
a
Solution 2
Force analysis:
On the mass and the pully, the equilibrium of forces are expressed as:
mx mg T1 ,
I c T1a T2 a,
Using the constraint (Newtons third law):
T2 k x y ,
thus
T1
Ic
x k x y .
a2
mx mg
Ic
x k x y .
a2
k
I
m c2
a
1's result.
Tutorial 2.2
Using the energy method to find out the system equations of the spring-pendulum (note: the mass and string
are always in one straight line and the natural length of the pendulum is l0 )
Solution
The translation energy of the mass:
1
1
T mr 2 m r
2
2
The potential energy:
V1 mgr cos
1
2
V2 k r l0
2
1
1
L mr 2 m r
2
2
1
2
mgr cos k r l0 .
2
(8)
d L
mr
dt r
L
mr 2 mg cos k r l0
r
For generalized coordinate
d L
2
mr
dt
L
mgr sin
Finally we obtain the Lagrange's equations with respect to the generalized coordinates r and :
mr mr 2 mg cos k r l0 0
(9)
mr 2 mgr sin 0
(10)
While we are able to solve these equations numerically, approximation in the case of small amplitude
oscillation can be made by simplifying the spring-pendulum problem into two independent spring
oscillating problems.
8
For the first case, we assume that angular displacement and velocity are negligible: t 0 , t 0 .
Then Eq. (9) becomes
mg
(11)
mr k r l0
0.
k
Letting r l0
mg
, Eq. (11) can be rewritten as:
k
m k 0 .
(12)
mg
0 , then Eq. (10) is simplified as
k
mg
l0
g 0
k
(13)
k
for vibration in the r direction, and
m
g
for vibration in the direction.
mg
l0
k
References
[1]http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/forces/funfor.html#c3
[2]H. Goldstein et al, Classical Mechanics 3 rd Edition, Section 1.5 and 6.5, Addison-Wesley, 2001.