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Rigid body dynamics

Study of the effects of forces on undeformable bodies

  • 14 min read
  • 6 chapters
Sketch showing a steam engine designed by Boulton & Watt , England, 1784. Labelling: B steam valves (input), C steam-cylinder, E exhaust steam valves, H Connecting rod link to beam N cold water pu
Robert Henry Thurston (1839–1903) · Public domain

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Through Physical object, Force and Statics

The dynamics of a rigid body system is described by the laws of kinematics and by the application of Newton's second law (kinetics) or their derivative form, Lagrangian mechanics. The solution of these equations of motion provides a description of the position, the motion and the acceleration of the individual components of the system, and overall the system itself, as a function of time. The formulation and solution of rigid body dynamics is an important tool in the computer simulation of mechanical systems.

Planar rigid body dynamics

If a system of particles moves parallel to a fixed plane, the system is said to be constrained to planar movement. In this case, Newton's laws (kinetics) for a rigid system of N particles, Pi, i=1,...,N, simplify because there is no movement in the k direction. Determine the resultant force and torque at a reference point R, to obtain F=∑i=1NmiAi,T=∑i=1N(ri−R)×miAi,

where ri denotes the planar trajectory of each particle.

The kinematics of a rigid body yields the formula for the acceleration of the particle Pi in terms of the position R and acceleration A of the reference particle as well as the angular velocity vector ω and angular acceleration vector α of the rigid system of particles as, Ai=α×(ri−R)+ω×(ω×(ri−R))+A.

For systems that are constrained to planar movement, the angular velocity and angular acceleration vectors are directed along k perpendicular to the plane of movement, which simplifies this acceleration equation. In this case, the acceleration vectors can be simplified by introducing the unit vectors ei from the reference point R to a point ri and the unit vectors ti=k×ei, so Ai=α(Δriti)−ω2(Δriei)+A.

This yields the resultant force on the system as F=α∑i=1Nmi(Δriti)−ω2∑i=1Nmi(Δriei)+(∑i=1Nmi)A, and torque as T=∑i=1N(miΔriei)×(α(Δriti)−ω2(Δriei)+A)=(∑i=1NmiΔri2)αk+(∑i=1NmiΔriei)×A,

where ei×ei=0 and ei×ti=k is the unit vector perpendicular to the plane for all of the particles Pi.

Use the center of mass C as the reference point, so these equations for Newton's laws simplify to become F=MA,T=ICαk,

where M is the total mass and IC is the moment of inertia about an axis perpendicular to the movement of the rigid system and through the center of mass.

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