PHYS20401 Lagrangian Dynamics Terry Wyatt

Summary of Coupled Oscillations and Normal Modes using Lagrangian

Methods (Lectures 1519)
1 Introduction
In the lectures we have considered a system of two identical pendulums (mass m and length l ) coupled by a
spring with spring constant k. This is a very simple example, but it has allowed us to develop most of the
essential results and techniques we need.
In terms of position coordinates x
1
, x
2
In terms of normal mode coordinates q
1
, q
2
q
1
=
1

2
(x
1
+ x2) , q
2
=
1

2
(x
1
x
2
)
L =
m
2
_
x
2
1
+ x
2
2
_

k
2
(x
1
x
2
)
2

mg
2l
_
x
2
1
+ x
2
2
_
L =
_
m
2
q
2
1

mg
2l
q
2
1
_
+
_
m
2
q
2
2

1
2
_
2k +
mg
l
_
q
2
2
_
L does not decouple into separate x
1
, x
2
terms Lagrangian decouples: L = L
1
(q
2
1
, q
2
1
) + L
2
(q
2
2
, q
2
2
)
Equations of motion:
m x
1
= k (x
1
x
2
)
mg
l
x
1
q
1
=
g
l
q
1
_
SHO with
2
1
=
g
l
_
m x
2
= k (x
1
x
2
)
mg
l
x
2
q
2
=
_
2k
m
+
g
l
_
q
2
_
SHO with
2
2
=
2k
m
+
g
l
_
When a system oscillates in a particular normal mode, i, all the masses, k, oscillate with the same angular
frequency,
i
. Therefore, we can write
x
k
= C
k
e
i
i
t
and x
k
=
2
i
C
k
e
i
i
t
=
2
i
x
k
. (1)
Substituting into the equations of motion for x
k
and x
k
from Equation 1 provides one general method for solving
the system.
2 Matrix Form
Another general method for solving systems is to write the equations of motion in matrix form
M

X = KX =
2
MX
or
M
1
KX =
2
X, (2)
where, for our example system we can write
M =
_

_
m 0
0 m
_

_
, K =
_

_
k +
mg
l
k
k k +
mg
l
_

_
, X =
_

_
x
1
x
2
_

_
, and M
1
=
adj M
det M
=
_

_
1
m
0
0
1
m
_

_
.
Equation 2 is an eigenvalue equation for the matrix
M
1
K =
_

_
k
m
+
g
l

k
m

k
m
k
m
+
g
l
_

_
.
We can associate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the matrix M
1
K

2
1
=
g
l
,
2
2
=
2k
m
+
g
l
Q
1
=
1

2
_

_
1
1
_

_
, Q
2
=
1

2
_

_
1
1
_

_
with the normal mode frequencies and coordinates of the system.
The eigenvectors Q
i
are orthonormal: Q
T
j
Q
k
=
jk
.
The Lagrangian can be written in matrix form
L =
1
2

X
T
M

X
1
2
X
T
KX.
3 Transforming Matrix Form to the Normal Mode Basis
We can form a matrix, B, whose columns are the eigenvectors of the matrix M
1
K. For our example system this
is given by
B =
1

2
_

_
1 1
1 1
_

_
.
We shall also need the inverse matrix
B
1
=
adj B
det B
=
1

2
_

_
1 1
1 1
_

_
,
which in this particular case is identical to B.
We can use the matrix B to transform our matrix treatment from the x
1
, x
2
basis into the q
1
, q
2
basis
B
1
X =
1

2
_

_
1 1
1 1
_

_
_

_
x
1
x
2
_

_
=
_

_
1

2
[x
1
+ x
2
]
1

2
[x
1
x
2
]
_

_
=
_

_
q
1
q
2
_

_
= Q.
In this basis, all of the matrices and matrix equations have a very simple diagonal form
_
M
1
K
_

= B
1
_
M
1
K
_
B =
_

_
g
l
0
0
2k
m
+
g
l
_

_
, i.e., a diagonal matrix of the eigenvalues,
M

= B
1
MB = M =
_

_
m 0
0 m
_

_
, K

= B
1
KB =
_

_
mg
l
0
0 2k +
mg
l
_

_
.
Muliplying from the left by B
1
and inserting B B
1
= I (the unit matrix), the equations of motion become
B
1
_
M
1
K
_
B B
1
X =
2
B
1
X, or
_
M
1
K
_

Q =
2
Q,
or
_

_
g
l
0
0
2k
m
+
g
l
_

_
_

_
q
1
q
2
_

_
=
2
_

_
q
1
q
2
_

_
.
The Lagrangian can be rewritten in this basis in the following way
L =
1
2

X
T
M

X
1
2
X
T
KX =
1
2

X
T
BB
1
MBB
1

X
1
2
X
T
BB
1
KBB
1
X =
1
2

Q
T
M

Q
1
2
Q
T
K

Q,
or
L =
1
2
_
q
1
q
2
_
_

_
m 0
0 m
_

_
_

_
q
1
q
2
_

1
2
_
q
1
q
2
_
_

_
mg
l
0
0 2k +
mg
l
_

_
_

_
q
1
q
2
_

_
.