Lecture-XVI

Rigid body motion

General motion of a rigid body
Euler’s theorem: Any general displacement of a rigid body, one point of which is fixed,
is a rotation about some axis passing through the fixed point.

Two coordinate systems will be used: one is fixed in space , an inertial frame and the
other is fixed with the body. The later is a non-inertial frame and is called body frame.

Fixed frame: solid lines

Body frame: dotted lines

Three coordinates are required to specify the rotation of the body: 2 coordinates are
required to specify the direction cosines of the axis of rotation passing through the
fixed point and one more coordinate is required to specify the orientation of the body.
The Vector Nature of Angular Velocity and Angular Momentum

Finite rotation is not a vector Infinitesimal rotation is a vector

Although rotations through finite angles

do not commute, infinitesimal rotations
do commute, so that
represents a true vector.

For fixed axis rotation, L = Iω, and it is

tempting to suppose that the general
relation is L = I ω, where I is a scalar, that
is, a simple number. However, this is not
always true for a rigid body rotation about
an arbitrary axis passing through a fixed
point.
An example: Rotating Skew Rod
Consider a simple rigid body consisting of two particles of
mass m separated by a massless rod of length 2l. The
midpoint of the rod is attached to a vertical axis which
rotates at angular speed ω. The rod is skewed at angle α, as
shown in the sketch. The problem is to find the angular
momentum of the system.

ω and L are not parallel.

Angular momentum of a rotating rigid body
Consider a rigid body composed of N particles with ω
masses m1, m2, . . . , mj, . . . , mN. One of the points Z
O of the body is fixed and the body is rotating
about an arbitrary axis passing through the fixed rj
point with an angular velocity ω. z y

Take XYZ and xyz are the fixed and body frames O
Y
X
respectively with common origin at O. Then, the x
coordinates of the jth point mass are same in the
body and fixed frames. Let us tale it as rj. XYZ: Fixed frame, xyz: Body frame

The velocity vj of the jth particle in the fixed frame is

 drj   drj 




vj =   =  + ( ω × r j ) = ω × rj
 dt fix  dt rot


 drj 
  = 0, in a rigid body.
 dt rot
The angular momentum L about O is then

In the body frame,

Let us compute one component of L, say Lx. Temporarily dropping the subscript j,

Another way:

Hence,
Let us introduce the following symbols:

Ixx is the moment of inertia of the body about the x-axis of the body frame and Ixy and
Ixz are called products of inertia. The products of inertia are symmetrical; for example,
All the three components of angular momentum are given by:

For fixed axis rotation about the z-direction, , Lz reduces to

However, angular velocity in the z-direction can produce angular momentum about
any of the three coordinate axes. For example, if , then Lx = Ixzω and Ly = Iyzω.

In fact, the angular momentum about one axis depends on the angular velocity about
all three axes.

Both L and ω are ordinary vectors, and L is proportional to ω in the sense that
doubling the components of ω doubles the components of L.

However, L does not necessarily point in the same direction as ω.

Kinetic energy

The sum in the last term is the angular momentum L. Therefore,

Moment of Inertia Tensor
The nine components of MI can be tabulated In a 3 X 3 array:

 I xx I xy I xz 
  
I =  I yx I yy I yz 
 I zx I zy I zz 


I is called the moment of inertia tensor.

Ixx, Iyy, Izz are the MI about the x,y and z-axis of the body frame respectively. Off-
diagonal terms are the product of inertia.

Since Iyx = Ixy , Izx = Ixz, and Iyz = Izy , out of the nine components, only six at most are
different and the matrix is symmetric.

The angular momentum and the kinetic energy can be expressed as


1

1


L = I ⋅ω and T = ω ⋅ L = ω ⋅ I ⋅ω
2 2
Rotating Skew Rod


1

1


e3 e2 L = I ⋅ω and T = ω ⋅ L = ω ⋅ I ⋅ω
2 2


ω = ( 0, ω cos α , ω sin α )
e1
In order to calculate the moment of inertia tensor,
consider a body fixed coordinate system (e1,e2,e3)
corresponding to body x, y and z axes.

I xx = 2ml 2 , I yy = 2ml 2 , I zz = 0 All other product of inertia are also zero, because
x and y coordinates of the point masses are
always zero in the body frame.

 2ml 2 0 0 0   0 

    
L= 0 2ml 2 0   ω cos α  =  2ml 2ω cos α 
 0
 0 0   ω sin α   0 

As we have seen before.
Rotation of a square plate
Consider rotation of a square plate of side a and mass M about an axis in the plane
of the plate and making an angle α with the x-axis. What is the angular moment L
about the origin?
Consider a body fixed coordinate system (x,y,z) as shown in
the figure.
z  ω cos α 



 
y L = I ⋅ ω , with ω =  ω sin α 
 0 
 
x α In order to estimate the moment of inertia tensor, one
a
needs to calculate the moments of inertia about x, y, and
ω z-axis and the products of inertia.
a a
1 4 1 2
I xx = ∫ ∫ σ y dxdy = σ a = Ma = I yy , I zz = I xx + I yy = Ma 2
2 2

x =0 y =0
3 3 3
a a
1 1
I xy = − ∫ ∫
x =0 y =0
σ xydxdy = − σ a 4 = − Ma 2 = I yx , I xz = I zx = I yz = I zy = 0
4 4
  2 1 1  
 Ma ω  cos α − sin α  
 3 4  
 Ma 3 − Ma 4
2 2
0   ω cos α 

 2 2    2  1 1 
L =  − Ma 4 Ma 3 0   ω sin α  =  Ma ω  − cos α + sin α  
 2      4 3 
 0 0 2 Ma 3  0   0 
 
 

ω
For α = 45 ,

y L
ω 2 

 

 1 x
1 
L= 2
Ma ω , Ma ω , 0  and ω =  ω 2 
2

 12 2 12 2   
 0 
 
For θ =45 , they are parallel to each other.
Principal axes and Moment of Inertia
If the symmetry axes of a uniform symmetric body coincide with the coordinate axes,
the products of inertia are zero. In this case the tensor of inertia takes a simple
diagonal form:

For a body of any shape and mass distribution, it is always possible to find a set of
three orthogonal axes such that the products of inertia vanish. Such axes are called
principal axes. The tensor of inertia with respect to principal axes has a diagonal form.
Principal axes of different symmetric bodies:

In the principal axes system:

Lx = I xxω x ,
Ly = I yyω y ,
Lz = I zzω z ,