Highly accurate analytic formulae for projectile

motion subjected to quadratic drag

by Mustafa Turkyilmazoglu; Eur. J. Phys. 37 (2016) 035001 (12pp)

Joseph Isaiah Miralles

NIP

February 27, 2017

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 1 / 25

Outline

1 Introduction
Background of study
Problem Diagram
Problem Analysis

2 Methodology
Explicit Approximations

3 Results and Discussion

Limiting Cases
Comparison of Results with Previous Studies and Numerical
Analysis
Generated Trajectories

4 Conclusion

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 2 / 25

Background of Study

The study of two-dimensional motion of a particle have an enumerable

real life practical applications in science and engineering:
Bullet in ballistics 1

Sports science 2 3 4 5

Rockets in war machines 6

Sand in various environments 7

1
Okunev B N 1943 Ballistics (Moscow: Voyenizdat)
2
Lindemuth J 1971 The effect of air resistance on falling balls Am. J. Phys. 39 7579
3
Erlichson H 1983 Maximum projectile range with drag and lift, with particular
application to golf
4
de Mestre N 1990 The Mathematics of Projectiles in Sport (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press)
5
Timmerman P and Weele J P V 1999 On the rise and fall of a ball with linear or
quadratic drag Am. J. Phys. 67 53846
6
Timoshenko S and Young D H 1948 Advanced Dynamics (New York: McGraw-Hill)
7
Timmerman P and Weele J P V 1999 On the rise and fall of a ball with linear or
quadratic drag Am. J. Phys. 67 53846
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 3 / 25
Background of Study

Solutions for projectile motion subjected to drag force with linear

dependence on the speed of the object and for particles
experiencing no resistance are readily available on previous
literatures 8 9
For more realistic analysis of two-dimensional motion of a particle
moving at relatively high speeds, a quadratic drag force was
introduced 10
A quadratic resistive force introduces difficulty in derivation of
exact trajectories setting aside numerical approaches

8
Stewart S M 2005 Linear resisted projectile motion and the Lambert W function Am.
J. Phys. 73 199199
9
Morales D A 2005 Exact expressions fot the range and the optimal angle of a projectile
with linear drag Can. J. Phys. 83 6783
10
Parker G W 1977 Projectile motion with air resistance quadratic in the speed Am. J.
Phys. 45 60610
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 4 / 25
Background of Study

Methods previously done include:

Short and large time approximation 11

Calculations for low, high and split angle trajectory regimes 12

Low angle trajectory approximation 13

Homotopy analysis method 14

Integration of quadratures 15

11
Parker G W 1977 Projectile motion with air resistance quadratic in the speed Am. J.
Phys. 45 60610
12
Warburton R D H, Wang J and Burgd orfer J 2010 Analytic approximations of
projectile motion with quadratic air resistance J. Service Sci. Manag. 3 98105
13
Belgacem C H 2014 Range and flight time of quadratic resisted projectile motion using
the Lambert W function Eur. J. Phys. 35 055025
14
Yabushita K, Yamashita M and Tsuboi K 2007 An analytic solution of projectile
motion with the quadratic resistance law using the homotopy analysis method J. Phys. A:
Math. Theor. 40 840316
15
Chudinov P 2002 The motion of a heavy particle in a medium with quadratic drag
force Int. J. Nonlinear Sci. Numer. Simulat. 3 1219
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 5 / 25
Problem Diagram

Figure 1: Diagram for projectile motion analysis

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 6 / 25

Problem Analysis
Motion of a point mass launched at an angle 0 with an initial
speed V0 encountering a quadratic resistance force Fs with drag
coefficient k0

Fs = mgk0 V 2 (1)
The equations of motion are given by:
dV
m = mg sin mgk0 V 2 ; V (t = 0) = V0 (2)
dt
d
= mg cos ; (t = 0) = 0
mv (3)
dt
Horizontal and vertical distances relation with projectile motion
dx
= V cos (4)
dt
dy
= V sin (5)
dt
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 7 / 25
Problem Analysis

For the non-dimensional form we introduce the following variables:

V
U= (6)
V0

gt
= (7)
V0
gx
X= (8)
V02
gy
Y = (9)
V02

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 8 / 25

Problem Analysis

Thus, we have the following non-dimensional form of the equations of

motion:
dU
= sin pU 2 (10)
d
where U ( = 0) = 1; p = k0 V02

d
U = cos (11)
d
where ( = 0) = 0
dX
= U cos (12)
d
dY
= U sin (13)
d

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 9 / 25

Explicit Approximations

Extracted explicit analytic estimates without any limitation on the

parameter 0 and p
Solving for (10) to calculate the exact solution for the speed of the
object by using (11)

1 dU d
= tan + pU 2 sec (14)
U d d
dU
= U tan + pU 3 sec (15)
d
dU
U tan = pU 3 sec (16)
d

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 10 / 25

Explicit Approximations

Notice that (16) is a Bernoulli differential equation of the form,

dy
+ p(x)y = q(x)y n (17)
dx
Hence, we divide both sides of (16) by U 3 and applying the change
of variable v = 1/U 2

dv
+ 2v tan = 2p sec (18)
d
Introducing the integrating factor n:
Z 
n = exp 2 tan d (19)

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 11 / 25

Explicit Approximations

Multiplying both sides of (18) by the integrating factor and solving for
the resulting ODE:

   
2
 0 
v = p cos sec 0 tan 0 + ln tan
 +
2 4 
2
   
2
  cos
p cos sec tan + ln tan +  + (20)
2 4  cos2 0

2 cos2
v = p cos [f (0 ) f ()] + (21)
cos2 0
  
 
where f () = sec tan + ln tan +
2 4 

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 12 / 25

Explicit Approximations

Substituting back to U :
cos 0 sec
U=p (22)
1 + p cos2 0 [f (0 ) f ()]

where U is the exact solution for the speed of the object

Solving for the quantities , X, and Y from equations (11), (12)
and (13)
Z 0
U
= 0
d0 (23)
0 cos
Z 0
X= U 2 d0 (24)
0
Z 0
Y = U 2 tan 0 d0 (25)
0

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 13 / 25

Explicit Approximations

The integrals seems to be not integrable analytically so the

interpolating function fa () is introduced as an approximation for
the f ()
fa () = tan + tan2 (26)
then the constants and were solved such that fa () connects
smoothly with f (). i.e.

fa (0 ) = f (0 ) (27)

fa0 () = f 0 () (28)
at = 0
Equations (23), (24) and (25) are now integrable.

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 14 / 25

Explicit Approximations

The following integrals can now be evaluated analytically using

equation (26)
" #
Z 0
1 cos 0 sec 0
= 0
p d0
cos 1 + p cos2 0 [fa (0 ) fa ()]
" #
0
sec2 0
Z
cos 0
= p d0 (29)
1 + p cos2 0 [fa (0 ) ( tan + tan2 )]
Z 0 " #2
cos 0 sec 0
X= p d0
1 + p cos2 0 [fa (0 ) fa ()]

0
cos2 sec2 0
Z  
0
X= d0 (30)
1+ p cos2 0 [fa (0 ) ( tan + tan2 )]

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 15 / 25

Explicit Approximations

0
cos2 0 sec2 0 tan 0
Z
Y = 2 2 d0 (31)
1 + p cos 0 [fa (0 ) ( tan + tan )]

Thus, combining equations (29), (30) and (31) with Chudinovs

results yields the time of maximum ascent, range of maximum
ascent and the maximum height, respectively.
" p #
A2 k 2 (A3 + A4 )
cos 0 ln
k 2 A3
a = (32)
k



A 1 (A 2 + )
2 A1 cos2 0 arctan
1 + A1 A2
Xa = (33)
k

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 16 / 25

Explicit Approximations



 
A1 (A2 ) A3
cos2 0 2 A1 arctan + ln
1 + A1 A2 A3 + A4
H= (34)
2k

where k = p cos2 0 and

k
A1 = ; A2 = + 2 tan 0
k2 4 4kf (0 )

A3 = 1 kf (0 ) and A4 = kfa (0 )

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 17 / 25

Results and Discussion

Justifying the results obtained, we evaluate some limiting cases:

 2 
sin 0 sin 20
(H, Xa , a ) = , , sin 0 ; p 0
2 2
(H, Xa , a ) = (0, 0, 0); p
(H, Xa , a ) = (0, 0, 0); 0 0
 
ln(1 + p) arctan p
(H, Xa , a ) = , 0, ; 0
2p p 2

The equations above show that the results obtained are consistent with
classical analysis.

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 18 / 25

Results and Discussion

Table 1 presents data for the motion of a baseball with 0 = 45o and
p=1

The approximation used were also justified by taking note of absolute

errors in U between the exact and present approximation with p = 1
for different angles

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 19 / 25

Results and Discussion

Figure 2: Plots for absolute error vs. final angle for different initial angles 0

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 20 / 25

Results and Discussion

The resulting quantities for H, Xa and a can beused to derive

quantities of interest such as motion time T = 2 2H, the velocity
at the trajectory apex Ua = U ( = 0), the flight range L = Ua T ,
the impact angle with respect to the horizontal
LH
1 = tan1 2
and the final velocity U1 = U (1 ) 16
(L Xa )
In comparison with Chudinovs results which deviates from
numerical results for increasing p, Turkyilmazoglus calculations
are in closed agreement with those from numerics

16
Chudinov P 2014 Approximate analytical description of the projectile motion
with a quadratic drag force Athens J. Natural Formal Sci. 1 97106
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 21 / 25
Results and Discussion

Figure 3: Comparison of trajectories obtained from Chudinov (continuous

line), Turkyilmazoglu (dotted lines) and numerics (dashed lines)
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 22 / 25
Results and Discussion

The equation for the trajectory is given by 17

HX(L X)
Y = ; X [0, Xa ] (35)
Xa2 + (L 2Xa )X

A better approximation is suggested to compensate for the

shortcomings of the trajectories shown in Figure
 2.The
 speed V was

estimated over the whole physical interval , 0 with a better
2
approximating function

fa () = tan + tan2 , fa (0 ) = f (0 ) (36)

 
1
where turns out to be = cot 0 ln tan ( + 20 ) + sec 0 tan 0
4
17
Chudinov P 2014 Approximate analytical description of the projectile motion
with a quadratic drag force Athens J. Natural Formal Sci. 1 97106
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 23 / 25
Results and Discussion
Using the approximating function (36) in (22), we can derive
expressions for X and Y in terms of from which a family of
trajectories can be generated

Figure 4: Comparison of trajectories including the results using the new

approximating function (dot-dashed line). Solid line from Chudinov, dotted
line from previous approximation and dashed line from numerical results
Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 24 / 25
Conclusion

Highly accurate analytical approximations for the maximum

height, time of ascent and range of maximum height were derived
from this study using two approximating functions
The results were found to be closer to numerical calculations
compared to Chudinovs results who also analyzed particle
projectile motion subjected to quadratic drag
The formulas obtained in this study can also estimate the
maximum range and the time of descent of the projectile resulting
to generation of projectile trajectories closer to those obtained
from numerical calculations compared with previous studies

Joseph Isaiah Miralles (NIP) Physics 196 February 27, 2017 25 / 25