ENERGY METHOD

Principles of Energy
Method
Dynamics - BDA 20303
 Principle of Energy Methods

Principles of work and energy relates between the change in

position of an object to the change in its velocity..
If an object is displaced, it will have work or a certain level of
energy to move. During the displacement process, unbalance
force occur.
When the unbalanced force is considered, 2 cumulative
results happen. The first one leads to the development of
equations of work and energy. 2nd one leads to the
development of impulse and momentum equation
 Work

Work relates the vector force F with the displacement vector

s as in Figure 1. In mathematical definition work is obtain by
performing dot matrix multiplication of 2 vectors.
The multiplication can be performed in this form to obtain
the scalar magnitude of work;
Fx U FTs
F
Fy sx

U Fx Fy
sx s y
s
s y U F .s Fx s x Fy s y

Unit or work is Nm or J (Joule)

 Work

In curvilinear motion, the work F during a small dr

displacement of a moving particle, shown in Figure 2.
dU F .dr
 Work

In s small displacement, dr can be replaced with ds in

tangential direction, where finite work is expressed in
dU Ft ds

Ft is tangential force component in line with ds. The

representation of dU is as in Figure 3
 Work

If the particle move from initial position s1 to its new

position s2 , then total work
s2

U Ft ds
s
F 1
When the force is as a function of displacement, the
t

integration means calculation of area under the graph will

represent distance s
 Work In Linear Spring

If a particle is attached to one end of a fixed spring as in

Figure 4, without any pulling force applied to the spring, the
spring is unstretched. Applying pulling force will cause the
spring stretched to a distance.
For linear spring, the pulling force linearly corresponds with
the extension of spring as in Figure 4(a) with constant k value
that is the spring constant in N/m.
The work s2 s2

U Fds k sds
s1 s1

1

U k s22 s12
2

Work in Linear Spring
 Work of Weight

When the altitude variations of a displaced particle is small, the

acceleration due to gravity can be considered constant. Figure
5 shows the particles displaced to a new location from 1 to 2.
The work of weight purely depending on the vertical distance,
while horizontal movement do not contribute to work.
Work
s2

U mgds
s1

U mg s 2 s1

The work done is independent

of the path motion, but relies on the height difference.
 Kinetic Energy

Figure 6 shows a particle moves as an external force applied

to it. The work of the moving particle following a curvilinear
path can be defined as;
s2 s2

U Ft ds mat ds
s1 s1

Expand it in terms of velocity

s1 s2
dv dv ds
U m ds m ds
s2
dt s1
dt ds
v2

U mvdv
v1
 Kinetic Energy
1 2 1 2
Finally expressed as; U12 mv2 mv1 T2 T1
2 2

1
Kinetic energy is then defined; T mv 2
2

Figure 7 illustrates a car (particle)changes the velocity from v1

to v2. The changing velocity is due to the work done to the
car resulting kinetic energy alteration.

1 2 1 2
U12 mv2 mv1 T2 T1
2 2
 Kinetic Energy

In other words, the particle's initial kinetic energy plus work

done by all forces acting in the particle as it moves from
initial to final position is equal the particle's final kinetic
energy.
T1 U12 T2
 Potential Energy

Particle of mass m in in earth surface will experience earth

gravitational constant , the conservative gravitational
potential energy Vg is defined as the work done of the
weight to elevate a particle from initial height h1 to final
height h2 . Refer Figure 8
 Potential Energy

The change of potential energy Vg mgh2 h1

The work done on the elastic spring to deform as in Figure 10,
is stored in the spring and its called conservative elastic
potential energy.
The change in potential energy is calculated based on the
final stretched x2 and the inital stretched x1 of the linear
elastic spring. The unstretchewd length is used for reference.
If deformation, compressive of tensile, the change of
potential energy of the spring is

1 2 2
Ve k x2 x1
2

Potential Energy
 Non Conservative Work & Energy Equation

When a particle is acted upon by a system both non

conservative (external) and conservative (related to gravity,
velocity and elastic spring), the principle of work and energy
will be;
U12 T Vg Ve

U12 : Work of all external non conservative forces

Vg : Potential energy change due to gravity (vertical dir)

Ve : Potential energy change due to spring deformation

T : Potential energy change due to velocity alteration

 Energy Equation

Previous equation if written in terms of its states,

T1 Vg1 Ve1 U12 T2 Vg 2 Ve 2
This equation tells that the state of initial total energy will be
changed if a non conservative work, due to external force is
applied to the system.
 Conservation Of Energy

Consider the state energy equation as previous,

T1 Vg1 Ve1 U12 T2 Vg 2 Ve 2

When no nonconservative forces (external)are applied to the

particle, the non conservative work U12 does not exist.
U 1 2 0
T1 V g 1 V e1 T2 V g 2 V e 2

It can be stated that in the absent of non conservative force,

the sum of all energies in the system is always constant. This
is the principles of Conservation Of Energy. K = constant
T V K
 Power

The capacity of system is measured by the time rate at which

it can do work or deliver energy. In another word, power is
equals to the time rate of doing work.
dU dr
P F.
dt dt
P F .v
F : force applied to the system
v : velocity of the system
Unit is Nm/s = J/s = Watt = W
Another unit is Horse Power (HP)
746W 1HP
 Efficiency

Mechanical devices involve moving parts, there will always

be some loss of energy due to negative work of kinetic
friction forces.
Poutput
mechanical
Pinput
In addition to energy loss, some other effcicency loss may
occur that is electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency must be
taken into account

total mechanical electricalthermal

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