MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING

ME 652
Mobile Robotics
Handout #3:
Vehicle Dynamics

Spring, 2020
Jinwhan Kim
KAIST
 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

6-DOF Motion of a Vehicle

surge

roll

pitch sway

yaw

heave

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 2

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Inertial and Body-Fixed Frames

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 3

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Fundamental Laws of Motion

• Fundamental laws of motion
Translational EOM :
Rotational EOM :

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 4

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Geometry of Mass
• The motion of a rigid body
or a system of a particles is
influenced by
– Forces
– Moments
– Geometry of the system’s
mass

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 5

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Center of Mass
• For a discrete system

• For a continuous system

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 6

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Inertia Matrix
• Also called “inertia tensor” or “inertia dyadic”
• Defined about a set of reference axes

• Matrix Form:

Moments of Inertia Products of Inertia

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 7

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Principal Axes
• The principal axes of a body are defined as a set of
axes about which the products of inertia are zero.
• Such axes can always be found by calculating the
eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the inertia matrix.
• In many case, all (or some) of the principal axes of a
body can be found from the geometry.
– The axis of a normal vector to a plane of symmetry is a
principal axis.
– The axis of symmetry is a principal axis, and any axis
normal to the axis of symmetry is also a principal axis.

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 8

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Time Derivative of a Vector

• Evaluate the time derivative of a vector a in a
rotating frame w.r.t. a fixed frame

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 9

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Time Derivative of a Unit Vector

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 10

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Time Derivate in a Rotating Frame

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 11

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Standard Symbols
• Physical quantities in the body-fixed frame

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 12

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Dynamic Equations of Motion

• EOM w.r.t. the mass center and principal axes
Surge :
Sway :
Heave :
Roll :
Pitch :
Yaw :

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 13

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 14

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Dynamic Equations of Motion

• Generalized EOM with an arbitrary reference point

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 15

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

External Forces and Moments

• Decomposition of forces and moments
– Marine vehicle
𝐅 𝐅H 𝐅A 𝐅G 𝐅B 𝐅Con
= + + + +
𝐌 𝐌H 𝐌A 𝐌G 𝐌B 𝐌Con
– Ground vehicle
𝐅 𝐅A 𝐅G 𝐅R 𝐅Con
= + + +
𝐌 𝐌A 𝐌G 𝐌R 𝐌Con
– Aerial vehicle
𝐅 𝐅A 𝐅G 𝐅Con • Control
= + + • Hydrodynamic
𝐌 𝐌A 𝐌G 𝐌Con
• Aerodynamic
– Space vehicles • Gravitational
𝐅 𝐅G 𝐅Con • Buoyancy
= + • Reaction
𝐌 𝐌G 𝐌Con

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 16

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Functional Approximation
• Taylor series expansion
where

• Approximate forces & moments

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 17

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Stability Derivatives
• Physical interpretation

• Reduce the number of unknowns

– Motions are small and the effect of higher order
terms are negligible.
– Geometric symmetry
[Images from Google]

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 18

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

How to Compute Motion

• From forces/moments to position/orientation
Linear & Linear & Linear &
Forces & Position and
Angular Angular Angular
Moments Orientation
Accelerations Velocities Velocities

Defined w.r.t. Inertial coordinates

body-fixed coordinates & Euler angles

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 19

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Euler Angle Transformation

• The orientation of the body-fixed reference frame
with respect to the inertial reference frame is
specified using Euler angles.
– Three rotation angles
– A specific sequence of rotations
• Standard Rotation Sequence (in the area of vehicle dynamics)

Yaw Pitch Roll

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 20

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Coordinate Transformation
• Two coordinate systems

• Directional cosine

where
,
Orthogonal matrix!

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 21

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Coordinate Transformation
• Transformation matrix

• Example: 2D transformation

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 22

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Step 1: Yaw Angle

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 23

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Step 2: Pitch Angle

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 24

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Step 3: Roll Angle

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 25

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Position Transformation Matrix

• A position in the body-fixed reference frame and that in the
inertial reference frame are related as

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 26

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Linear Velocity Transformation

• From the body-fixed frame to the Inertial frame

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 27

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Angular Velocity Transformation

• Given the rotation sequence (yaw->pitch->roll)

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 28

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Angular Velocity Transformation

• From the body-fixed frame to the inertial frame

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 29

 MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING

Simulation of 6-DOF Motion

 
Hydrodynamic FA , M A
Forces & u , v , w
Moments 6-DOF Nonlinear p , q , r
Dynamic Equations 
of Motion
Gravity Force 
FG u ,v , w
-1
T1(E/B) p ,q ,r

T1(E/B)
x, y, z  x , y , z &
T2(E/B)
 , , , ,

T1(E/B) : Euler Transformation Matrix

(Linear Velocity Transformation)

T2(E/B) : Euler Transformation Matrix

(Angular Velocity Transformation)

ME652 by Jinwhan Kim, KAIST ME 30