Chapter 2.

A Generalized Approach to Modeling

2.1 Modeling of Mechanical Systems

JU
15,Nov.2016
DMS

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Modeling techniques for mechanical systems are discussed in
this chapter.

Mechanical systems are in either translational or rotational

motion, or both

Mechanical elements, include mass elements, spring

elements, and damper elements.

For rotational systems, moment equations are used to obtain

dynamic models.

For systems involving both translational and rotational

motions, equations of motion can be derived using the
force/moment approach based on Newtonian mechanics or
the energy method based on analytical mechanics.
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A mathematical model of a mechanical system can
be constructed based on physical laws(such as
Newton’s laws and the conservation of energy) that
the elements and their interconnections must obey.

Elements can be broadly divided into three classes

according to whether element forces are
proportional to accelerations, proportional to
displacements, or proportional to velocities.

Correspondingly, they can be divided into elements

that store and release kinetic energy, store and
release potential energy, and dissipate energy.

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 A. Mechanical Elements
a. Mass element ( The force element is proportional to the acceleration)

Fig 1.A mass traveling with a velocity v.

The basic variables used to describe the dynamic behavior

of a translational mechanical system are the acceleration
vector a, the velocity vector v, and the position vector r. They
are related by the time derivatives

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According to Newtonian mechanics, the resulting force f acting on
the mass is equal to the time rate of change of momentum. For a
constant mass, Newton’s second law is expressed as

Mass elements store mechanical energy. The energy

stored in a mass is kinetic energy if the mass is in motion.
The kinetic energy is expressed as

which implies that the mass stores kinetic energy as its

velocity increases, and releases kinetic energy as its
velocity decreases.

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If a mass has a vertical displacement relative to a reference
position, the energy stored in the mass is potential energy
given by

For rotational mechanical systems, the basic variables used

to describe system dynamics are the angular acceleration
vector α, the angular velocity vector ω, and the angular
position vector θ.

The direction of an angular vector can be determined using

the right-hand rule as in fig.2.

The sense of rotation follows the curve of the four fingers,

and the rotational vector points in the direction of the thumb.

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Consider the rigid bodies that are constrained to rotate
about only one axis. Then in scalar form, we have

Fig 2.

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 Fig.3. shows a disk rotating about an axis through a
fixed point O.

The relation between the torque τ about the fixed point O and
the angular acceleration α of the disk about O is

Similar to a translational mass, a rotational mass can store

kinetic energy and potential energy. The kinetic energy for a
rotational mass about a fixed point O is expressed as

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The potential energy for a rotational mass has the same form as in the
previous .

b. Spring element ( The force is proportional to the displacement)

Consider the following figures.

Fig.4

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Fig.4. is subjected to a tensile (or compressive) force f at the
other end. The spring has a free length x o, and the deflection
of the spring caused by the force f is denoted by x.

Assume that the spring is massless, or of negligible mass. For

a linear spring, Hooke’s law states that

where k is the spring stiffness.

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When the two ends of a spring are displaced by x 1 and x 2 ,
as shown in Figure 4b, the forces at the two ends are equal in
magnitude but opposite in direction.
If x 2 > x 1 > 0, the spring is under elongation, and the force
applied to the spring is

where x rel = x 2 − x 1 is the relative displacement between

the two ends of the spring.
When a spring is stretched or compressed, potential energy is
stored in the spring and is given by

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Fig.5

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 For a torsional spring as shown in Figure 5a, we have

where τ is the applied torque, K is the torsional spring stiffness

in units of N·m/rad or ft·lb/rad, and θ is the angular deformation
of the spring.

 Figure 5b shows a torsional spring with both ends twisted.

Assume that θ 1 and θ 2 are the angular displacements of
respective ends corresponding to
the applied torque. If θ 2 > θ 1 > 0, then

, andthe spring is twisted in the counterclockwise

direction when viewed from the right-hand side.
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 The potential energy stored in a torsional spring element is expressed
as

C. Damper element (Reaction force is directly proportional to velocity)

Consider the following system in fig.

Figure 6

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Figure 6 shows a mass is subjected to a friction force
generated between the two surfaces, and the friction caused
by the liquid is called viscous damping.

The direction of the damping force is opposite to the direction

of the motion and its magnitude depends on the nature of fluid
flow between the two surfaces.

 The exact viscous damping force is complex; thus, for

modeling in system dynamics, we use a linear relationship

where the symbol b is used to denote the viscous damping

coefficient in units of N·s/m or lb·s/ft.

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•The viscous friction can be modeled using a viscous damper
(or a dashpot).
The symbol in Figure7a is the representation of a viscous
damper.

If v 2 > v 1 > 0, then the right end of the damper moves to
the right with respect to the left end. The force applied to the
right end is dependent on the relative velocity v rel = v 2 − v 1
. The force has a magnitude of

Fig.7

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For a torsional damper as shown in Figure 8a, the linear
relationship between the externally applied torque and the
angular velocity is given by:

where B is the rotational viscous damping coefficient in

units of N·m·s/rad or ft·lb·s/rad.

Fig.8

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The symbol in Figure 8b represents a rotational viscous
damper, which can be used to model the viscous friction
between two rotating surfaces separated by a film of liquid.
If ω 2 > ω 1 > 0, the magnitude of the applied torque is:

Note that the damping dissipates the energy of the

system. Besides viscous damping, there are two other types
of damping in engineering mechanics: Coulomb damping
associated with dry friction and structural damping.

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 B. Equivalence
In many mechanical systems, multiple springs or
dampers are used. In such cases, an equivalent
spring stiffness constant or damping coefficient can
be obtained to represent the combined elements.
a. Springs in Parallel

Fig.9
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Because of parallel interconnection, the bottom ends of the
springs are attached to the same fixed body, and their top ends
are also attached to a common body. This implies that both
springs have the same deflection x. Assume that the forces
applied to the two springs are f 1 and f 2 , respectively.
Because the system is in static equilibrium, the total force is
given by

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b. Springs in Series Refer to Fig. 10 next slide.

or

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 Fig.10

The result can also be extended to n springs as.

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Springs are the most familiar elastic elements. However,
many engineering applications involving elastic elements do
not contain springs but other mechanical elements, such as
beams and rods, which can be modeled as springs. The
equivalent spring constants can be determined using the
results from the study of mechanics of materials

Equivalent Spring Constant of a Cantilever Beam

Consider a uniform cantilever beam of length L, width b, and
thickness h in Fig.11. Assume that a force f is applied to the
free end of the beam, and the corresponding deflection is x.
Derive the equivalent spring constant k eq

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 2-24
Fig.11
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 2. TRANSLATIONAL SYSTEMS
A translational mechanical system can be modeled as a system
of interconnected mechanical elements.

 The dynamic behavior of the system must obey the physical

laws, and

dynamic equations of motion can be obtained by applying these

physical laws, such as Newton’s second law or D’Alembert’s
principle.

 The number of equations of motion is determined by the

number of degrees of freedom of the system.

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In many mechanical systems more than one simultaneous
differential equation is required to describe the system.
In mechanical systems, the number of equations of motion
required is equal to the number of linearly independent
motions.

Linear independence implies that a point of motion in a

system can still move if all other points of motion are held still.
Another name for the number of linearly independent motions
is the number of degrees of freedom

In a mechanical system with two degrees of freedom, one

point of motion can be held still (at rest, motionless) while the
other point of motion moves under the influence of an applied
force.

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In order to work such a problem, we draw the free-body
diagram for each point of motion and then use superposition.
For each free-body diagram we begin by holding all other
points of motion still and finding the forces acting on the body
due only to its own motion. Then we hold the body still and
activate the other points of motion one at a time, placing on the
original body the forces created by the adjacent motion.
Using Newton's law, we sum the forces on each body and set
the sum to zero. The result is a system of simultaneous
equations of motion.

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 A mechanical system
with (a) displacement
as the generalized
coordinate and
(b) mixed types
of generalized
coordinates.

When generalized coordinates are independent,

they are equal in number to the degrees of free-
dom.
 If generalized coordinates are dependent, then
the number of degrees of freedom is the difference
between the number of dependent coordinates and
the number of constraints. 2-29
 Examples
Example 1: Automobile Shock Absorber

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Example2. Three body diagram

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Example 3: The quarter-car
model

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The equation of the dynamic system is the given as a system of equations

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Similarly from the second equation we obtain d/dx(x4) as follows

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Therefore, rewriting the state-variable equations obtained
above in a matrix Form we obtain

These last two equations gives as the state space form of the quarter car model

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If the output of the system is the displacement of mass m 2 ,
then the output equation can be expressed in the matrix format
as

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 Example 4

Find the transfer function, X 2 (s)/F(s), for the system of Figure below).

a. Two degrees-of-freedom translational mechanical

system;
b. block diagram

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The system has two degrees of freedom, since each mass
can be moved in the horizontal direction while the other is
held still. Thus, two simultaneous equations of motion will be
required to describe the system. The two equations come
from free-body diagrams of each mass.

The forces on M1 are due to (1) its own motion and(2) the
motion of M2 transmitted to M1 through the system. We will
consider these two sources separately.

See blackboard

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1

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2

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The Laplace transform of the equations of motion can
now be written from Figures 2.18(c) and 2.19(c) as

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Notice in the above example that the equations developed
have a form of :

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Example 5.The pattern shown in the above example should
now be familiar to us.
Let us use the concept to write the equations of motion of a
three-degrees-of-freedom mechanical network by inspection,
without drawing the free-body diagram.

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The system has three degrees of freedom, since each of the
three masses can be moved independently while the others
are held still. For M1,

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M1 has two springs, two viscous dampers, and mass
associated with its motion.
There is one spring between M1 and M 2 and one viscous
damper between M1 and M 3 .

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 Example on Transfer Function

Example 6 Mass-Spring-Damper

Form Newton’s Second Law

r  by  ky  my
K
d2y dy
b m 2  b  ky  r
m dt dt
Take Laplace Transfrom both sides
y (t ), y (t )
r (t ) ms 2Y ( s)  bsY ( s)  kY ( s)  R( s)
Transfer Function

Y ( s) 1 p( s )
G( s)   
R( s ) Ms 2  bs  k q( s )

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