176 4 Constrained Systems
N
X
i=1+m
2
d
dt
∂T
∗
∂f
i
−
∂T
∗
∂q
i
+
∂D
∂f
i
+
∂V
∂q
i
− e
s
i
+
m
2
X
j=1
µ
j
a
ji
δq
i
= 0. (f )
By construction the N − m
2
virtual displacements, δq
i
, i = m
2
+ 1, ···, N,
can all be chosen independently. Since the virtual displacements in (f) can
be varied arbitrarily, this equation will be satisfied only if
d
dt
∂T
∗
∂f
i
−
∂T
∗
∂q
i
+
∂D
∂f
i
+
∂V
∂q
i
−e
s
i
+
m
2
X
j=1
µ
j
a
ji
= 0, i = m
2
+ 1, m
2
+ 2, ···, N.
(g)
Combining equations (e), (g) and (a) we see that the trajectory of the
constrained dynamic system satisfies
d
dt
∂T
∗
∂f
i
−
∂T
∗
∂q
i
+
∂D
∂f
i
+
∂V
∂q
i
+
m
2
X
j=1
µ
j
a
ji
− e
s
i
= 0, i = 1, 2, ···, N,
N
X
i=1
a
ji
(q, t) f
i
+ a
j
(q, t) = 0, j = 1, 2, ···, m
2
. (4.6)
Given a set of initial conditions, that are consistent with the constraints,
these N + m
2
differential-algebraic equations can be integrated to determine
the N displacements, q, and the m
2
Lagrange multiplier, µ.
Note that holonomic flow constraints can be treated directly using equa-
tion (4.6), or they can be integrated to obtain displacement constraints which
are then used in equation (4.5). On the other hand, the derivatives of the dis-
placement constraints (4.2) are in the Pfaffian form, in fact, a
ji
= ∂φ
j
/∂q
i
and a
j
= ∂φ
j
/∂t. Therefore, equation (4.6) can be used to analyze systems
with displacement constraints. However, converting the displacement con-
straints to flow constraints must be used with some care, since there is no
assurance that the original displacement constraints will be satisfied exactly.
This issue is considered in more detail in Chapter 5.
4.3.1 Application to flow constrained systems
This section presents some examples that illustrate the application of equa-
tion (4.6) to the modeling of dynamic systems that have flows constraints
which can be written in the Pfaffian form. The first example has integrable
flow constraints, and the other examples all have nonholonomic constraints.