Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

9 - Rigid Body Dynamics, Courtesy of Xavier

Note: I only copied the hand-written notes of Prof. Lee. It is very possible that I made some mistakes during the transcription process, so please dont blame me :) Oh and Im sorry about the crappy graphs and free body diagrams...but creating good-looking vector drawings looked like it would take even more time.

Introduction to Rigid Body Dynamics

A rigid body is a collection of mass elements distributed continuously over a nite volume of a certain geometrical shape. There is no relative motion between the mass elements. The motion of a rigid body can be thought of as a combination of translation plus rotation. For convenience, the linear motion can be thought of as the motion of the center of mass and the rotational motion is about an axis through the center of mass:

The linear momentum of the body is P = pi = mi vi P = mi r cm + ri

where vi = ri . We can also write

mi ri mi ri mi Vcm However, the center of mass is dened as rcm = , or Vcm = + . Thus, mi M M mi r = 0 and P = M Vcm . The total momentum of the rigid body is P = M Vcm and about the center of mass, the momentum is zero, ie mi r mi vi = 0. i = The time rate of change of momentum of mi is: d pi = F = Fext + Fik dt
k

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

So, dP d dVcm pi = Fext =M = dt i dt dt i

dVcm or M = Fext , where Fext is the sum of the external forces acting on the body. the sum of dt internal forces vanishes, ie. i k Fik = 0, since Fik = Fki . For the rotational motion, the angular momentum is the moment of the linear momentum, and it is dened by L = r p . Hence, dL d p = r p + r . dt dt

Since r p = 0, we get:

However, ri = r cm + ri and ri = Vcm + Vi :

and T is the torque, or the moment of the force. For a rigid body, the total angular momentum is dened as: L = Li = ri pi .

dL d p = r = r F = T dt dt

Hence, L = = ( r cm + ri ) mi Vcm + Vi r mi Vi Vcm mi ri + ri mi ri cm M Vcm + rcm

where we wrote mi ri Vcm as Vcm mi ri . From the denition of the center of mass, we note that mi ri = 0 and mi Vi = 0. Thus, L = r cm M Vcm + L

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

where L = r i mi ri is the angular momentum of the body about an axis through the center of mass. We called r Vcm as the orbital angular momentum and L as the spin angular momentum. The spin angular momentum is the internal angular momentum of the rigid body. The time rate of change of L is written as: mi Vi dL = Vi mi vi + ri d . dt dt i i

The rst term on the right vanishes. The second term can be written as: d m V i cm mi Vi ri d ri . dt dt i

Since ri = r mi ri = 0. cm + ri , hence, Vi = Vcm + Vi . The second term vanishes since Thus, the rst term can be written as: r F + F
i iext ik k

since

Fik are the lateral forces when the k th particle acts on the ith particle. Since Fik = Fki , we get: dL = ri Fiext = Text dt

dmi Vi = Fiext + Fik . dt

k

where Text is the total torque due to external forces acting on all the ith particles (ie. the rigid body). If Text = 0, then L = constant, ie. the internal angular momentum is constant.

Kinetic Energy

The kinetic energy of a system of mass elements can be written as:

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

2 Since ri = r cm + ri and Vi = Vcm + Vi , we get: mi KE = Vcm + Vi Vcm + Vi 2 or, KE = Since 1 1 2 2 mi Vcm + mi (Vi ) + mi Vi Vcm . 2 2 KE =

KE =

mi

2 vi =

mi Vi Vi . 2

mi Vi = 0, the kinetic energy is written as:

1 1 2 2 M Vcm + mi (Vi ) 2 2 Thus, the kinetic energy is composed of the kinetic energy of translation of the center of mass 1 2 2 M Vcm and the kinetic energy of the mass elements relative to the center of mass.

If the body about an axis through the center of mass, we can write vi = ri . Thus, rotates 2 since I = mi (ri sin ) , we get: 1
i

mi (Vi )

= = =

1 mi ( ri ) ( ri ) 2 i 2 2 2 1 mi ri sin 2 I 2

Alternatively, we can also write the kinetic energy as KE = 1 1 mi Vi2 = mi ( ri ) V i 2 2 4

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

and interchanging the dot and the cross product using the identity A B C = B C A , we write: mi 1 ri mi Vi ( ri ) V i = 2 2 i = 1 L 2

The moment of inertia of a rigid body can be derived as follows:

= =

ri mi V i

If we decompose the components of L in Cartesian coordinates, we obtain: Lx Ly Lz = = = Ixx x + Ixy y + Ixz z Iyx x + Iyy y + Iyz z Izx x + Izy y + Izz z

For a continuous body, we can replace the two summations by an integral, the mass element mi by dm and ri by r . Thus, we can write the angular momentum L alternatively as: L = dm ( r r ) dm ( r ) r.

Using the vector identity for the triple cross product A B C = A C B A B C , we write: L = mi ( ri ri ) mi ( ri ) ri

r i mi ( ri )

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

This notation incorporates the notion of tensor. Thus, the components of the inertia tensor Iij in the previous equations are: Ixx Ixy Ixz Iyx Iyy Iyz Izx Izy Izz = = = = = = = = = 2 2 mi yi + zi mi xi yi mi xi zi mi yi xi 2 mi x2 i + zi mi yi zi mi zi xi mi zi yi 2 mi x2 i + yi

Thus, Iij has 9 components and is a second order tensor quantity. We also note that the angular momentum in the x-direction involves not only the component of f in the x-direction, but also in the y- and z- directions. For a continuous distribution of mass elements, we replace the summation by an integral. Note that the inertia tensor is symmetrical, ie. Ixy = Iyx . Also, if the body is symmetrical about the axis of rotation, the o-diagonal term vanishes. If we choose the orientation of the axis such that the o-diagonal term vanishes, the axis is called the principal axis. For principal axes, the angular momentum reduces to: L = Ixx x ex + Iyy y ey + Izz z ez .

Moments of Inertia

Most of the problems we will be doing are two-dimensional problems where the rotation is in the xy, yz or zx plane and the rotational axis is perpendicular to the plane of rotation. If we are interested in the diagonal components of the inertia tensor (ie. Ixx , Iyy , Izz ), the angular momentum vector will be Lz = Izz z (or Lx = Ixx x , or Ly = Iyy y ). Lets obtain the moment of inertia for simple shaped objects.

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

3.1

Uniform Rod

Consider an uniform rod of length L and density per unit length. Lets assume the rotation is in the xy-plane:

Izz =

Where M = L is the mass of the rod. If the rotation is about an axis at one end of the rod, ie.

x2 + y 2 dm =

L 2

r2 dr =

L 2

L 3 M L2 = 12 12

then the moment of inertia about that axis will be: Izz =
L 0

3 L r M L2 x2 + y 2 dr = = 3 o 12 7

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

3.2

Hula Hoooooop

Consider next a hula hoop.

The moment of inertia about the z-axis is: Izz =

2 0

dR x2 + y 2 = 2 R3 = M R2

3.3

Simple Disc

Consider a simple disc:

The moment of inertia about an axis through the center is: Izz =
2

d
0

R 0

2R4 M R2 x2 + y 2 rdr = = 4 2 8

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MECH 220: Mechanics 2

where M = R2 is the mass of the disc.

3.4

Plain Sphere
dm 2 y : 2

For a sphere, we consider a thin disc where the moment of inertia is

Since dm = y 2 dx, we can calculate the moment of inertia about an axis going through the spheres center: Izz = where M =
+R 2 R 2

2 2 +R 2 R x2 y 2 8 2 dx y 2 = dx = R5 = M R2 R 2 2 15 5 2

4 3 R is the mass of the sphere. 3

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

3.5

Parallel Axis Theorem

There is a theorem called the parallel axis theorem, which states that the moment of inertia about any arbitrary axis is equal to the moment of inertia about an axis parallel to it passing through the center of mass of the body, plus, the mass of the body times the square of the perpendicular distance between the two axes:

Applying this theorem to a thin rod, the moment of inertia about an axis at one end coud be:

Iaxis = ICM

M L2 + MD = +M 12
2

For a disc, the moment of inertia about an axis at the rim is:

2 L M L2 = 2 3

Iaxis = ICM + M D2 =

M R2 3 + M R2 = M R2 2 2

10

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

Similarly, for a sphere, the moment of inertia about an axis at the surface is:

I = ICM + M D2 =

2M R2 7 + M R2 = M R2 5 5

3.6

Rectangular Plate

Finally, we want to demonstrate that the angular momentum vector is not generally in the same direction as the angular velocity vector . To do so, consider a thin uniform rectangular plate of dimensions a 3a spinning about an axis through the diagonal:

has components x ex and y ey . The angular momentum vector L can be written as: Lx Ly = = Ixx x + Ixy y Iyx x + Iyy y

The components of the moment of inertia can be evaluated readily:

11

Winter 2010

MECH 220: Mechanics 2

Ixx Ixy Iyy Iyx where M =

= = = =

a 0

sqrt3a

0 a sqrt3a 0 sqrt3a 0

y 2 dydx = M a2 3M a2 xydydx = 4 x2 dydx = M a2 3

Ixy

3M a2 = 4

3a2 is the mass of the plate. The angular momentum can thus be written as:
2

3M a 2 Lx = Ixx x + Ixy y = M a x y 4 3M a2 M a2 Ly = Iyx x + Iyy y = x + y 4 3 a 3a 3 Since x = cos = = and y = sin = = , we can write the angular 2a 2 2a 2 momentum components as: 1 3 3 M a2 Ma = 2 4 2 8 31 1 3 3M a2 M a2 + = 2 2 3 2 24
2

Lx Ly

= =

Ly 3 Thus, tan = = and = 29.98 30 . However, makes an angle = arcsin 23 = Lx 3 60 . Thus, and L are not in the same direction:

If we consider a square plate of size (a a), we can readily show that and L coincide. For linear motion, the linear momentum vector P is always in the same direction as the linear velocity V since P = m V . 12