Exact Solution For The Nonlinear Pendulum
Exact Solution For The Nonlinear Pendulum
645-648, (2007)
www.sbsica.org.br
Notas e Discussoes
Exact solution for the nonlinear pendulum
(Soluc ao exata do pendulo nao linear)
A. Belendez
1
, C. Pascual, D.I. Mendez, T. Belendez and C. Neipp
Departamento de Fsica, Ingeniera de Sistemas y Teora de la Se nal, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Recebido em 30/7/2007; Aceito em 28/8/2007
This paper deals with the nonlinear oscillation of a simple pendulum and presents not only the exact formula
for the period but also the exact expression of the angular displacement as a function of the time, the amplitude
of oscillations and the angular frequency for small oscillations. This angular displacement is written in terms
of the Jacobi elliptic function sn(u;m) using the following initial conditions: the initial angular displacement
is dierent from zero while the initial angular velocity is zero. The angular displacements are plotted using
Mathematica, an available symbolic computer program that allows us to plot easily the function obtained. As
we will see, even for amplitudes as high as 0.75 (135
dt
2
+
2
0
sin = 0, (1)
where is the angular displacement, t is the time and
0
is dened as
0
=
_
g
l
. (2)
Here l is the length of the pendulum and g is the ac-
celeration due to gravity. Because of the presence of
the trigonometric function sin, Eq. (1) is a nonlinear
dierential equation.
We consider that the oscillations of the pendulum
are subjected to the initial conditions
(0) =
0
_
d
dt
_
t=0
= 0 (3)
where
0
is the amplitude of the oscillation. The sys-
tem oscillates between symmetric limits [-
0
,+
0
]. The
periodic solution (t) of Eq. (1) and the angular fre-
quency (also with the period T = 2/) depends on
the amplitude
0
.
Equation (1), although straightforward in appear-
ance, is in fact rather dicult to solve because of the
nonlinearity of the term sin. In order to obtain the
exact solution of Eq. (1), this equation is multiplied by
d/dt, so that it becomes
d
dt
d
2
dt
2
+
2
0
sin
d
dt
= 0 (4)
which can be written as
d
dt
_
1
2
_
d
dt
_
2
2
0
cos
_
= 0 (5)
Equation (5), which corresponds to the conservation
of the mechanical energy, is immediately integrable,
taking into account initial conditions in Eq. (3). From
Eq. (5) we can obtain
_
d
dt
_
2
= 2
2
0
(cos cos
0
) (6)
which can be written as follows
_
d
dt
_
2
= 4
2
0
_
sin
2
_
0
2
_
sin
2
_
2
__
, (7)
where we use the trigonometric relation
cos = 1 2 sin
2
_
2
_
. (8)
Now let
y = sin(/2) (9)
and
k = sin
2
(
0
/2). (10)
From Eqs. (3), (9) and (10) we have
y(0) =
k. (11)
It is easy to obtain the value of d/dt as a function
of dy/dt as follows. Firstly, from Eq. (10), we have
dy
dt
=
dy
d
d
dt
=
1
2
d
dt
cos(/2) (12)
and secondly
_
dy
dt
_
2
=
1
4
cos
2
_
2
__
d
dt
_
2
=
1
4
_
1 sin
2
(/2)
_
d
dt
_
2
=
1
4
_
1 y
2
_
_
d
dt
_
2
.(13)
Then, we have
_
d
dt
_
2
=
4
1 y
2
_
dy
dt
_
2
. (14)
Substituting Eqs. (9), (10) and (14) into Eq. (7), one
get
4
1 y
2
_
dy
dt
_
2
= 4
2
0
_
k y
2
_
, (15)
which can be rewritten as follows
_
dy
dt
_
2
=
2
0
k(1 y
2
)
_
1
y
2
k
_
. (16)
We do dene new variables and z as
=
0
t and z =
y
k
. (17)
Then Eq. (16) becomes
_
dz
d
_
2
= (1 z
2
)(1 kz
2
), (18)
where 0 < k < 1, and
z(0) = 1
_
dz
d
_
=0
= 0. (19)
Solving Eq. (18) for d gives
d =
dz
_
(1 z
2
)(1 kz
2
)
. (20)
Exact solution for the nonlinear pendulum 647
The time to go from the point (1,0) to the point
(z,dz/d) in the lower half plane of the graph of dz/d
as a function of z is
=
_
z
1
d
_
(1
2
)(1 k
2
)
(21)
Equation (21) can be rewritten as follows
=
_
1
0
d
_
(1
2
)(1 k
2
)
_
z
0
d
_
(1
2
)(1 k
2
)
, (22)
which allows us to obtain as a function of z and k as
(z) = K(k) F(arcsinz; k), (23)
where K(m) and F(;m) are the complete and the in-
complete elliptical integral of the rst kind, dened as
follows [13]
K(m) =
_
1
0
dz
_
(1 z
2
)(1 mz
2
)
(24)
F(; m) =
_
0
dz
_
(1 z
2
)(1 mz
2
)
(25)
and z = sin.
The period of oscillation T is four times the time
taken by the pendulum to swing from = 0 (z = 0) to
=
0
(z = 1). Therefore
T = 4t(0) =
4(0)
0
=
4
0
K(k) =
2
T
0
K(k), (26)
where
T
0
=
2
0
= 2
l
g
(27)
is the period of the pendulum for small oscillations.
Equation (23) can be written as follows
F(arcsinz; k) = K(k) (28)
which can be written in terms of the Jacobi elliptic
function sn(u;m) [14]
z = sn(K(k) ; k). (29)
In terms of the original variables and taking into ac-
count Eqs. (9), (10), (17) and (26), Eq. (29) becomes
sin(/2) = sin
0
2
sn
_
K
_
sin
2
0
2
_
0
t ; sin
2
0
2
_
(30)
which allows us to express as a function of t as
(t) = 2 arcsin
_
sin
0
2
sn
_
K
_
sin
2
0
2
_
0
t; sin
2
0
2
__
(31)
In Figs. 1-6 we have plotted the exact angular dis-
placement as a function of
0
t (Eq. (31)) for dier-
ent values of the initial amplitude
0
. Plots have been
obtained using the Mathematica program. In these g-
ures we have also included the angular displacement
(t) = 2 arcsin
_
sin
0
2
sn
_
K
_
sin
2
0
2
_
0
t ; sin
2
0
2
_
.
As we can see, for amplitudes
0
< 0.75 (135
) it
would be possible to use the approximate expression
(t) = 2 arcsin
_
sin
0
2
sn
_
K
_
sin
2
0
2
_
0
t ; sin
2
0
2
__
(32)
for the angular displacement of the pendulum and
Eq. (32) corresponds to a simple harmonic oscillator,
but with the following exact expression for the angular
frequency
(
0
) =
0
2K
_
sin
2
[
0
/2]
_. (33)
However, for larger initial amplitudes it is easy to see
that the angular displacement does not correspond to
a simple harmonic oscillator and the exact expression
must be considered.
Figure 1 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.1. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
Figure 2 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.25. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
648 Belendez at al.
Figure 3 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.5. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
Figure 4 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.75. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
Figure 5 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.9. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
Figure 6 - Angular displacement as a function of
0
t for
0
= 0.99. Equation (31), bold line. Equation (32), thin line.
We can conclude that for amplitudes as high as 135