Problem Statement

Calculate the initial velocity at which the string of the pendulum buckles when it reaches the top.

Assumptions:
 Air Drag exists
 Frictional losses at the attachment of the strain are not present.

Solution
We have 4 Forces acting on the pendulum:

1. Gravitational force
2. Drag
3. Centrifugal force
4. Tension

The sum of all centripetal forces must be equal to the centrifugal force.

∑𝐹

Out of these only two are responsible for causing a moment. The
centripetal force is always in the direction of the string hence has no role is
causing a moment.

We know that for any vibrating system:

𝐽𝜃̈ = ∑ 𝑀

The moments caused by the Weight and Drag are:

𝑀𝑔 = 𝑊𝑙 = 𝑚𝑔𝑙
1
𝑀𝐷 = 𝐹𝐷 𝑙 = 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝜃̇ 2 𝑙 3
2
Also,

𝐽 = 𝑚𝑙 2

Solving for 𝜃̈ we get

𝑔 1
𝜃̈ = − 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 − 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝜃̇ 2 𝑙𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛(𝜃̇ )
𝑙 2𝑚

The state space equations become

𝑥2
𝑥1̇ 𝜃 ̇ 𝑔 1
[ ]=[ ]=[ ]
𝑥2̇ 𝜃̈ − 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑥1 − 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝑥2 2 𝑙𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛(𝑥2 )
𝑙 2𝑚
Constants:
Coefficients Values Units
𝑙 25 m
𝑚 26 Kg
𝜌 1.225 Kg/m3
𝐴 0.157 m2
𝐶𝐷 0.47

An initial value of angular velocity is assumed to initialize the program. A while loop is initiated which
keeps increasing the value of the angular velocity and checks against the required conditions and stops
when the conditions are met.

Within the loop first the state space equations are solved, which yield the angular velocity and
displacement. These are then used to calculate the tension in the spring. Then the local minima of the
tension array is determined and checked if it is greater than zero. If the value at the minima is less than
zero then the initial velocity is increased a step and the loop is repeated again. And just as the value
crosses zero the loop is stopped and the velocity is determined. These values are then plotted. The
required velocity comes out to be 1.4299 rad/sec.
20Sim
In 20sim a modulated effort source is connected to an inertial element via a dummy q element which is
used to calculate the value of angular displacement theta. The source take the values of the forces acting
on the bob tangential to the string which are calculated using the values of the angular displacement and
angular velocity. Also the Tension of the string is calculated using the same theta according to the
equations of tension. This value is then fed into a signal monitor to view the results. An initial momentum
in applied to the mass, the simulation is run and the results are then plotted. Increments are made in the
momentum till the local minima of the tension graph reaches zero. The model is given below.
T required equation the solution converges to the same velocity in both Matlab and in 20Sim.
Period after losing tension
After losing tension the bob will follow a parabolic trajectory till the string gets fully extended again. In
order to calculate the path of the bob during this phase, we will have to derive the equation of motion
of the bob during the trajectory.

During the vertical descent, for a light object, the weight and drag of an object are equal and opposite.
There is no net force acting on the ball and the vertical acceleration is zero.

𝑎=0
𝑊=𝐷
Where a is the acceleration and D is the drag. Weight can be calculate by

𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔
And Drag is
1
𝐷= 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝑣 2
2
In the above condition the velocity will be the terminal velocity and by solving the above equations we
get

2𝑚𝑔
𝑣𝑡 = √
𝐶𝑑 𝜌𝐴

The object will be traveling with an initial vertical velocity voy . The net vertical force acting on the object
can be calculated as

𝐹𝑛𝑒𝑡 = −𝑊 − 𝐷
Because the weight of the object is constant, we can use Newton’s second law to calculate the vertical
acceleration of the object.

𝐹𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎 = −𝑊 − 𝐷
1
𝑎 = −𝑔 − 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝑣 2
2𝑚
By multiplying and dividing the last term by g we can replace the terms with the terminal velocity.

𝑣2
𝑎 = −𝑔 (1 + 2 )
𝑣𝑡

Acceleration is the time rate of change of velocity so

𝑑𝑣 𝑣2
𝑎= = −𝑔 (1 + 2 )
𝑑𝑡 𝑣𝑡
Integrating the equation we get
𝑣
𝑣𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = −𝑔𝑡
𝑣𝑡
The integration limits for v is from voy to vy and for time t is from 0 to t. The equation now becomes
after simplifying becomes
𝑣𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑦 𝑔𝑡
𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) −
𝑣𝑡 𝑣𝑡 𝑣𝑡
Now taking tangent on both side and using the trigonometric identity
tan(𝑎) − tan(𝑏)
tan(𝑎 − 𝑏) =
1 + tan(𝑎) tan(𝑏)
On right hand side and simplifying we get
𝑔𝑡
𝑣𝑜𝑦 − 𝑣𝑡 tan ( )
𝑣𝑡
𝑣𝑦 = 𝑣𝑡 𝑔𝑡
𝑣𝑡 + 𝑣𝑜𝑦 tan ( )
𝑣𝑡
The above equation will give us the vertical component of the velocity vector at any given time. In order
to get the vertical location we will use another identity:
𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑦
= ×
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑣
= ×𝑣
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑦
We previously determined:

𝑑𝑣 𝑣2
= −𝑔 (1 + 2 )
𝑑𝑡 𝑣𝑡

Using the identity we get

𝑑𝑣 𝑣2
𝑣 = −𝑔 (1 + 2 )
𝑑𝑦 𝑣𝑡

After integrating we get

𝑣𝑡 2
ln(𝑣 2 + 𝑣𝑡 2 ) = −𝑔𝑦
2
After applying limits for v from voy to vy and y from 0 to y and simplifying we get:

𝑣𝑡 2 𝑣𝑜𝑦 2 + 𝑣𝑡 2
𝑦= 𝑙𝑛 ( 2 )
2𝑔 𝑣𝑦 + 𝑣𝑡 2

For the horizontal equations the only force acting on the ball is the drag
 𝐹𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎𝑥 = −𝐷
1
𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝐴𝐶𝐷 𝑣𝑥 2
2𝑚
The equation can be simplified using the terminal velocity

𝑑𝑣𝑥 𝑣𝑥 2
𝑎𝑥 = = −𝑔 2
𝑑𝑡 𝑣𝑡
Integrating the equation with limits of vx from vox to vx

𝑑𝑥 𝑣𝑡 2 𝑣𝑜𝑥
𝑣𝑥 = = 2
𝑑𝑡 𝑣𝑡 + 𝑔𝑡𝑣𝑜𝑥
The horizontal location can simply be calculated by integrating the above equation

𝑣𝑡 2 𝑣𝑡 2 + 𝑔𝑡𝑣𝑜𝑥
𝑥= ln ( )
𝑔 𝑣𝑡 2
Actual path of pendulum
In order to calculate the actual path of the pendulum the state space equations of the pendulum are
solved the point of zero tension is determined. The velocity of the bob and the angular displacement is
noted at the point. The angle for the projectile equations comes out to be the same as the angular
displacement after applying some basic trigonometry. The polar coordinates are then converted to
Cartesian coordinates to determine the X and Y location of the bob. The axis of rotation is taken as the
origin. Values of these points are then added to the X and Y points calculated by the projectile equations
as the equations assume the initial point to be at the origin. Same time steps are used to calculate the
trajectory as that of the pendulum motion, and at every point the distance from the origin is measured.
Once the distance equals the length of the string then the value of the angular displacement at that point
is calculated using the X and Y coordinates and velocity acting tangential to the sting is determined by
using the velocity components at that points. The velocity components give the value of the Velocity
vector and the direction in which the velocity is acting which is used to determine the tangential velocity.
This velocity and angular displacement at the point is then input as the initial condition in the pendulum
equation and the whole process is repeated till tension is no longer a problem (ie bob oscillates between
–pi/2 and pi/2).

Results
The requirement of the assignment was to depict the actual path the bob will follow once the bob loses
tension when it has an angular displacement of pi. On applying the required angular velocity, the bob
loses tension for an instant at the top but quickly regains it and doesn’t follow the parabolic trajectory as
in this case the drag isn’t sufficient to slow the bob enough for it to follow the path and therefore
completes a complete one complete revolution.
Now due to drag the bob slows down enough due to drag to lose tension hence at an angular displacement
of 2pi the value of velocity is slower than the initial velocity provided hence the bob loses tension much
earlier and follows a parabolic trajectory till it regains its tension.

Now due to regaining tension the bob once again follows the equations of motion of the pendulum and
loses tension again much earlier.

The bob again starts oscillating but this time remains within the –pi/2 and pi/2 and hence keeps on
oscillating without losing tension till the motion is completely dampened by the drag.