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Advanced Dynamics
Understanding rotations
1
Outline
Angular acceleration
2
Recap
3
Active vs passive interpretation
4
Active vs passive illustration
To illustrate the difference between an active and a passive interpretation of
the matrix R, consider a vector ~ r and two reference frames A and B with
bases eAi and eBj , respectively.
5
Passive rotation
6
Passive rotation of the vector
r{A ARB~
~ r{B (2)
fi fi
cos sin 0 r
sin cos 0fl 0fl (3)
0 0 1 0
fi
r cos
r sin fl (4)
0
7
Active rotation of the vector
9
When the rotation of the coordinate system is through a negative
angle, the minus sign goes down and to the left, cyclically, of the
1 in the matrix. This takes a coordinate system B and turns
it into the system A. The matrix that represents this transform
is, as above:
fi
cos sin 0
R sin cos 0fl ARB (6)
0 0 1
In this interpretation, we can say that what the transform is doing
is rotating the B coordinates through an angle to become
the A coordinates. This last interpretation, as a rotation of the
coordinate system, is one that we will use when talking about
Euler angles, a sequence of rotations that describe the attitude
of a rigid body.
10
Positive rotation rule
For use with Euler angles, it will be handy to use the convention
of the minus sign going up and to the right for a positive rotation
of the axes.
11
Summary
12
Example of finite vs infinitesimal rotation
Consider the cube in the figure, and compare the effects of ap-
plying the following rotations:
I) finite rotations
a) first 90 about e1 then 90 about e2
b) first 90 about e2 then 90 about e1
14
Sequence of infinitesimal rotations of dice
15
Finite vs Infinitesimal rotations
16
Finite rotation
~
r rnn ` rtt (10)
rn ||~
r||p1 cos q q (11)
rt ||~
r|| sin q (12)
17
Finite rotation, contd
Thus ~
r can be expressed as
~
r ||~
r||p1 cos q qn ` ||~
r|| sin q t (13)
19
Sequential finite rotations
Similarly for ~
r21 (just switch the indices!) we get
q12 q22
~ r21 q2p1 qpk2 ~ rq ` q1p1 pk1 ~
rq (22)
2 2
1 2 2 1 2 2
`q1q2 k1 pk2 ~rqq pq1 ` q2 q1 q2 ~r (23)
2 2
The difference ~
r12 ~ r21 is
`
~
r12 ~
r21 q1q2 k2 pk1 ~
rq k1 pk2 ~
rq
Thus,
r12 dq1pk1 ~
d~ rq ` dq2pk2 ~
rq (24)
Similarly for d~
r21
r21 dq2pk2 ~
d~ rq ` dq1pk1 ~
rq (25)
which shows that d~ r12 d~
r21 infinitesimal rotations always
commute. They follow the same addition rules as standard vec-
tors (which is not the case for finite rotation!)
22
Eulers Theorem
23
Eigensystem of a rotation matrix
24
Geometrical interpretation of angular velocity
When applying an infinitesimal rotation dq about axis k to a rigid
body B, the corresponding displacement of a vector ~ r fixed in
RB is given by
d~
r dq k r (28)
i.e., by taking only the terms that are linear in q from Eq. (16).
A
~C A
~ B ` B
~C
26
Proof of addition theorem
Claim:
A
~B A
~ A1 ` A1
~ A2 ` ...An
~B (31)
where A1, ...An are auxiliary reference frames.
Proof: For any ~b fixed in B, the Golden Rule for vector differen-
tiation tells us:
Ad
~b A
~ B ~b (32)
dt
A1 d
~b A1
~ B ~b (33)
dt
Ad A1 d
~b ~b ` A~ A1 ~b (34)
dt dt
27
Substitute to get:
A
~B ~b A1
~ B ~b ` A~ A1 ~b (35)
p A1
~ B ` A~ A1 q ~b (36)
A
~ B pA1
~ B ` A
~ A1 q ~b 0 (37)
But since this equation must be satisfied for all vectors ~b fixed
in B, then
A
~B A1
~B ` A
~ A1 (38)
Ad
A
~B A
~B
dt
If we express A
~ B using the ai basis vectors, then A
~ B is expressed
as
3 3
A
~B 9 aiai aiai (41)
i1 i1
28
Properties of angular acceleration
If on the other hand we express A ~ B using the bi base vectors,
then A~ B is expressed as
3 Ad
A
~B 9 bibbi ` bi bi (42)
i1
dt
3
3
bibi ` bi A
~ B bi (43)
i1 i 1
3
: 0
A
bibi ` B
~
A
B
~ (44)
i1
3
bibi (45)
i1
Ad
A
~B
dt
Bd
A
~B
dt
in a given basis.
The last term in this equation usually does not vanish and rep-
resents the rate of change of the rotation axis orientation.
A
~B 9 k k
32