Two Mass Spring System
Two Mass Spring System
This is a guide for problem 2 of the homework. These blocks are called coupled oscillators, or coupled
mass-spring systems.
You may find videos on the web:
This one is called Lecture 8c. Coupled mass-spring system. (Derek Thomas). It looks blurry, but it is
enlightening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Un46wVQjs
This one is called Eigenvectors (Steve Spicklemire). We saw it in class and it has very nice animations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ZkKPtgTeA
This video from IIT is called Lecture 7 Coupled Oscillations by prof. S. Bharadwaj.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHZZm2r4DK4
To see the first and second natural mode of oscillation (energy trading) see this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyOUJUOUvso
1. x1 will measure the displacement of mass m1 from its equilibrium (i.e. resting) position and x2 will
measure the displacement of mass m2 from its equilibrium position.
2. As noted in the figure above all displacement will be assumed to be positive if it is to the right of
equilibrium position and negative if to the left of the equilibrium position.
3. All forces acting to the right are positive forces and all forces acting to the left are
negative.
4. The spring constants, k1 , k2, and k3 , are all positive and may or may not have the same value.
5. The surface that the system is sitting on is frictionless and so the mass of each of the objects will not
affect the system in any way.
Before writing down the system for this case, recall that the force exerted by the spring on the each mass
is the spring constant times the amount that the spring has been compressed or stretched and well need to
be careful with signs to make sure that the force is acting in the correct direction.
We will now write the system of differential equations for the spring and mass system:
To help ourselves, let us first take a look at the situation in which both masses have been moved. Refer to
figure 2:
Next, we need to talk a little about how the middle spring will behave as the masses move. Here are all
the possibilities that we can have and the affect each will have on x2 x1. Note that in each case the
amount of compression/stretch in the spring is given by | x2 x1 | although we wont be using the
absolute value bars when we set up the differential equations.
1. If both masses move the same amount in the same direction then the middle spring will not have
changed length and well have x2 x1 = 0 .
2. If both masses move in the positive direction then the sign of x2 - x1 will tell us which has moved
more. If m1 moves more than m2 then the spring will be in compression and x2 x1 < 0 . Likewise, if m2
moves more than m1 then the spring will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 .
3. If both masses move in the negative direction well have pretty much the opposite behavior as #2. If
m1 moves more than m2 then the spring will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 . Likewise, if 2 m moves
more than 1 m then the spring will be in compression and x2 x1 < 0 .
4. If m1 moves in the positive direction and m2 moves in the negative direction then the spring will be in
compression and x2 x1 < 0 .
5. Finally, if m1 moves in the negative direction and m2 moves in the positive direction then the spring
will have been stretched and x2 x1 > 0 .
Now, well use the figure above to help us develop the differential equations (the figure corresponds to
case 2 above) and then make sure that they will also hold for the other cases as well.
Lets start off by getting the differential equation for the forces acting on m1 . Here is a quick sketch of
the forces acting on m1 for the figure above.
m2 x2 = - k3 x2 - k2 ( x2 - x1 ) + F2 ( t )
Well leave it to you to verify that this differential equation does in fact hold for all the other cases.
Putting all of this together and doing a little rewriting will then give the following system of differential
equations for this situation.
m1 x1 = - ( k1 + k2 ) x1 + k2 x2 + F1 ( t )
m2 x2 = k2 x1 - ( k2 + k3 ) x2 + F2 ( t )
This is a system to two linear second order differential equations that may or may not be
nonhomogeneous depending whether there are any external forces, F1 ( t ) and F2 ( t ) , acting on the
masses.
We have not talked about how to solve systems of second order differential equations. However, it can be
converted to a system of first order differential equations as the next example shows and in many cases
we could solve that.
In the next delivery, we will talk about the next steps. We will change the notation slightly. This part was
supposed to give you enough tools to get started.
This is the notation that you will be using. (This is the left mass equation).
m
d2
dt
y1 = k y1 k(y1 y2)
or
m
d2
dt
y1 + 2ky1 = ky2
I will be with you as you solve this example. It is a learning experience in itself.