Mathematical modeling of

mechanical systems

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

School of Mechanical and industrial Engineering
Regulation and Control
By: Nebiyu Tenaye 2013/14
  Typical mechanical systems may involve two kinds of
motion: linear motion and rotational motion. Spring, mass,
damper and inverted pendulum are widely used devices to
describe a large class of mechanical systems.

 Example: (Automobile suspension system). As the car moves

along the road, the vertical displacements at the tires act as
the motion excitation to the automobile suspension system.
The motion of this system consists of
 a translational motion of the center of mass and a rotational motion
about the center of mass, and can be simplified as a system with springs,
mass and dampers shown below.
Variables

• x : displacement [m] d
vx x
• v : velocity [m/sec] dt
dv d  d  d 2
• a : acceleration [m/sec2] a    x  2 x  x
dt dt  dt  dt
• f : force [N]
d
• p : power [Nm/sec] p  f v  f  x  w
dt
• w : work ( energy ) [Nm] t1
w(t1 )  w(t0 )   p(t ) dt
1 [Nm] = 1 [J] (Joule) t0
t1
 w(t0 )   ( f  x ) dt
t0
Basic (Idealized) Modeling Elements
• Spring – Reality
• Stiffness Element • 1/3 of the spring mass may be
considered into the lumped model.
x2
• In large displacement operation
springs are nonlinear.
K
Linear spring
 nonlinear spring
– Idealization  broken spring !!
• Massless
• No Damping
• Linear
– Stores Energy Hard Spring
Potential Energy
Soft Spring
1
U  k  x 
2

2
Cntd … …
• Damper • Mass
– Friction Element – Inertia Element
x1 x2
x
fD fD f2
B f3 M f1
. .
f D  B( x2  x1 )  B(v2  v1 )
– Dissipate Energy
fD

– Stores Kinetic Energy

. .
x2  x1 1
T M x2
2
Interconnection Laws
• Newton’s Second Law
d d 2x ..
Mv  M 2  M x   f EXTi
dt dt i

• Newton’s Third Law

– Action & Reaction Forces
x x
0
fs fs
fs M
K

f s  K  x  0  Kx M x   fs
Massless spring M x   Kx
M x  Kx  0 Equation of motion
Example. Equivalent spring constants.

k1 x
k1x  k 2x  F  keq  k1  k 2
F
k1y  F , k 2 (x  y )  F
F
k2  k 2 (x  )  F
y x k1
F 1
keq  
F x 1 1

k1 k2 k1 k 2

Systems consisting of two springs in parallel and series, respectively.

Example. Systems consisting of two dampers connected in
parallel and series, respectively. Find their equivalent viscous-
friction coefficients beq with respect to dy/dt and dx/dt.
b1

b2 (Fig.a)

x y

Solution: (a) The force f that causes the displacements is:

f  b1 (y  x )  b2 (y  x )
 (b1  b2 )(y  x )
 beq (y  x )
(b):
b1 b2

(Fig.b)

x z y

The same force f is transmitted through the shaft and therefore,

f  b1 (z  x )  b2 (y  z ) (1)

from which we have

1
(b1  b2 )z  b2y  b1x  z  (b2y  b1x ) (2)
(b1  b2 )
Since we want to determine the relationship between dy/dt and dx/dt, that
is:

f  beq (y  x )
where beq is the equivalent viscous friction coefficient, by substituting (2)
into (1) yields.

 1 
f  b2  y  (b2y  b1x ) 
 (b1  b2 ) 
bb
 1 2
(y  x )
(b1  b2 )

bb 1
Hence, beq  1 2

(b1  b2 ) 1  1
b1 b2
Example. Consider the spring-mass-dashpot system mounted
on a massless cart. Let u, the displacement of the cart, be the
input, and y, the displacement of the mass, be the output.
Obtain the mathematical model of the SMD system.

u y u y

Forces acting on the mass:

Massless cart k

 du dy 
b     k u  y 
b

 dt dt 
By Newton’s law: d 2y  du dy 
m  b     k u  y 
dt  dt dt 
d 2y dy du
m  b  ky  b  ku
dt dt dt
Therefore, the system transfer function can be obtained as

u y

Y (s ) bs  k
 2
U (s ) ms  bs  k
Massless cart k

b
Example. Mechanical system is shown below. Obtain the transfer
functions X1(s)/U(s) and X2(s)/U(s), where u denotes the force,
and x1 and x2 denote the displacements of the two carts,
respectively.
Solution: By Newton’s second law, we have

m1x1  u  k1x1  k2 (x1  x 2 ) b(x1  x 2 )

m 2x 2  k3x 2  k 2 (x 2  x1 ) b(x 2  x1 )

u x1 x2
k2

m1 m2
k1 k3
b
Simplifying, we obtain

m1x1  bx1  (k1  k2 )x1  u bx 2  k2x 2

m 2x 2  bx 2  (k2  k3 )x 2  bx1  k2x1

u x1 x2
k2

m1 m2
k1 k3
b
Taking the Laplace transforms of these two equations, and assuming
zero initial conditions,

[m 1s 2  bs  (k1  k 2 )]X 1 (s ) U  (bs  k 2 )X 2 (s ) (1)

[m 2s 2  bs  (k 2  k3 )]X 2 (s )  (bs  k 2 )X 1 (s ) (2)

Solving Equation (2) for X2(s) and substituting it into Equation (1)
and simplifying, we get

X 1 (s )

U (s )
[m 2s 2  bs  (k 2  k 3 )]
[m 1s 2  bs  (k1  k 2 )][m 2s 2  bs  (k 2  k 3 )]  (bs  k 2 ) 2
Example: A mass M = 8 kg is supported by a spring with spring
constant k = 400 N/m and a damper with b = 40 N-s/m, as
shown in the figure below. When a mass m = 2 kg is gently
placed on the top of mass M, the system exhibits vibrations.
Assuming that the displacement x of the masses is measured from
the equilibrium position before mass m is placed on mass M,
determine the response x(t) of the system. Determine also the
static deflection δ-the deflection of the spring when the transient
response died out. Assume that x(O) = 0 and X(O) = O.
Solution: The system is at rest before t = 0, and at t = 0+ the masses
start to move up and down. A mathematical model, or equation of
motion, is

 Where; M + m = 10 kg, b = 40 N-s/m,

k = 400 N/m, and g = 9.807 m/𝑠 2 .
 Substituting the numerical values into the equation
of motion, we find that

or

To obtain the response x(t), we take the Laplace transform of the

previous equation and substitute the initial conditions x(O) = 0 and
𝑥 (O) = 0 into the Laplace-transformed equation as follows:
Solving for X(s) yields

The inverse Laplace transform of this last equation gives

This solution gives the up-and-down motion of the total mass (M + m).
The static deflection δ is 0.04904 m.
 Developing Block diagram
Example.: Consider the mass-spring-friction system shown below. The
linear motion concerned is in the horizontal direction. The free-body
diagram of the system is also shown,

 From the free body diagram, we can derive the equation of motion as:

The above equation can be rearranged by equating the highest-order

derivative term to the rest of the terms, and becomes:
For y(0) = 𝑦(0) = 0. the Laplace transform of the above equation become;

𝐵 𝐾 1
𝑆 2 Y s = − 𝑀SY(s) − 𝑀Y(s) + 𝑀 F(s)
Dividing both sides by 𝑆 2 , we obtain;
𝐵 Y(s) 𝐾 Y(s) 1 F(s)
Y s = − 𝑀 𝑆 − 𝑀 𝑆2 + 𝑀 𝑆2
Which is also the same as:

𝐵1 𝐾 1 1 1 𝐵1 𝐾 11 1 11
Y s = − 𝑀 𝑆 Y(s) − 𝑀 𝑆 2 Y(s) + 𝑀 𝑆 2 F(s) = − 𝑀 𝑆 Y(s) − 𝑀 𝑆 𝑆 Y(s) + 𝑀 𝑆 𝑆 F(s)

Starting from the input F(s), the out put Y(s) can be represented as:

Block diagram Representation of mass-spring friction system

The previous block diagram can be simplified to a single block diagram,
the equivalent block diagram is:

By feedback system theory, we can represent the subsystem in the dotted block to
another equivalent block, i.e.
𝟏
𝐌
𝐒
𝟏𝐁 =
𝟏−𝐒 𝐌 𝐌𝐬−𝐁
We can represent the subsystem in the dotted block to another equivalent block,
i.e.
𝐌 𝟏 𝐌
= 𝟐
𝐌𝐬−𝐁 𝐒 𝐌𝐒 −𝐁𝐬

By feedback system theory, we can represent the subsystem in the dotted block to
another equivalent block, i.e.

𝐌
𝐌𝐒𝟐 −𝐁𝐬 𝐌
𝐊 𝐌 =
𝟏−𝐌 𝐌𝐒 𝟐 −𝐁𝐬 −𝐊
𝐌𝐒𝟐 −𝐁𝐬
Finally, the two series/cascaded blocks can be simplified to a single block by
simply multiplying as follows:
𝟏 𝐌 𝟏
=
𝐌 𝐌𝐒 𝟐 −𝐁𝐬 −𝐊 𝐌𝐒 𝟐 −𝐁𝐬 −𝐊

F(S) Y(S)

From the above block, the transfer function of the system is given by:

Compute the transfer function from the equation of motion and compare it with
the above expression.
 Signal Flow Graphs - SFG

block diagram: signal flow graph:

R(s) C (s) G(s)

G(s)
R(s) C (s)
 In this case at each step block diagram  Only one time SFG is to be drawn
is to be redrawn. That’s why it is and then Mason’s gain formula is
tedious method. to be evaluated.

 So wastage of time and space.  So time and space is saved.

SFG

Definition of terms required in SFG

Node: It is a point representing a variable.
x2 = t 12 x1 +t32 x3
X3
X1 t12 X2
t32

In this SFG there are 3 nodes.

Branch : A line joining two X1 X2
nodes.

Input Node : Node which has only outgoing branches.

X1 is input node.

Output node/ sink node: Only incoming branches.

Mixed nodes: Has both incoming and outgoing branches.

Transmittance : It is the gain between two nodes. It is

generally written on the branch near the
arrow.
Example: From Block diagram to SFG
Exercise: Come up with the SFG of the following Mass-Spring system

Answer: