193 Impulsive motion
Here are four linear algebraic equations in
˙
x,
˙
θ
1
,
˙
θ
2
and
ˆ
λ. The solutions are
˙
x =
˙
x =−
6
√
3
23
v
0
,
˙
θ
1
=
˙
θ
1
=−
81
√
3
115
v
0
l
,
(3.324)
˙
θ
2
=
˙
θ
2
=−
3
√
3
115
v
0
l
,
ˆ
λ =
91
230
mv
0
We see that the contact point A moves to the left, and both angles decrease, but
˙
θ
1
is 27
times larger than
˙
θ
2
. From (3.309), we see that
ˆ
λ is equal to the upward constraint impulse
applied to the system at the contact point A.
Second method Let us now apply the virtual velocity method of (3.305). We will need to
find n − m = 3 independent sets of δws which satisfy the constraint equation
δ
˙
y = 0 (3.325)
For example, we can use
δw
1
= (1, 0, 0, 0),δw
2
= (0, 0, 1, 0),δw
3
= (0, 0, 0, 1) (3.326)
By applying (3.305), and recalling that
˙
y = v
0
, we obtain (3.320), (3.322), and (3.323).
These equations are solved with the result
˙
x =−
6
√
3
23
v
0
,
˙
θ
1
=−
81
√
3
115
v
0
l
,
˙
θ
2
=−
3
√
3
115
v
0
l
(3.327)
in agreement with (3.324).
This second method is, in effect, a method for taking linear combinations of the n equa-
tions of the form of (3.310) in such a manner that the
ˆ
λs are eliminated. Thus, a reduced set
of equations is obtained from which one can solve for the final
˙
qs.
Quasi-velocities
In the discussion of the use of Lagrange’s equations in rigid body dynamics, it was mentioned
that quasi-velocities (us) as defined in (3.245) cannot be used in the expression for kinetic
energy. Rather, the kinetic energy, in general, must have the form T (q,
˙
q, t) where the
˙
qs
are true velocities in the sense that they are time derivatives of parameters which specify the
configuration of the system. On the other hand, the body-axis components ω
x
, ω
y
and ω
z
are
quasi-velocities whose time integrals do not specify the orientation of a rigid body. Thus,
kinetic energy written as T (q,ω,t) cannot be used in Lagrange’s equation. This restriction,
however, does not apply to impulsive equations. Thus, (3.305) can be generalized to
n
i=1
n
j=1
m
ij
(u
j
− u
j0
) −
ˆ
Q
i
δw
i
= 0 (3.328)
where there are m constraints of the form
n
i=1
a
ji
(q, t)u
i
+ a
jt
(q, t) = 0(j = 1,...,m) (3.329)