Dynamics of Rigid

Bodies
By: Engr. Kim Q. Marañon
Introduction to the
Principles of Dynamics
Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Dynamics is the branch of mechanics which deals with the study of bodies in
motion. Compared with statics, dynamics is relatively new; it is generally
considered to have been begun by Galileo (1561-1612). Its development was
greatly retarded by the lack of precise methods for measuring time. The
experiments which form the foundation of dynamics require the use of three
kinds of units: force, length, and time. Precise methods for measuring force
and length are relatively simple and account in part for the early
development of statics, in which only these units of measurement are
required

Introduction  Galileo's experiments with blocks sliding down inclined planes led to relation
between force and acceleration which Sir Isaac Newton generalized and
incorporated into the laws governing the motion of a particle that are named
after him. Newton's laws of motion are the basis for extending the laws of
motion from a particle to a body composed of a system of particles.
 At this point definitions of the terms particle and body are pertinent. The
term particle usually denotes an object of point size. The term body denotes
a system of particles which form an object of appreciable size. other words, a
particle is a body so small that any differences in the motion of its parts can
be neglected. The criterion of size is only relative, however the terms particle
and body may apply equally to the same object.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Dynamics is divided into two branches called kinematics and

kinetic.
 Kinematic is the geometry of motion. The term is used to define
the motion of a particle or body without consideration of the
forces causing the motion. Kinematics is essentially a treatment of
the relations between displacement , velocity, and acceleration.
Kinematics  Kinetics is the branch of mechanics that relates the force acting on
and Kinetics a body to its mass and acceleration. When the acceleration of a
body caused by the forces acting on it has been determined, the
principles of kinematics may be applied to determine the
displacement or velocity at any instant. In other cases, the
kinematic motion of a body may be used to compute its
acceleration; from this, by means of the relations to be developed
later, the force or forces required to produce this motion can be
determined.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The kinematic discussion of the motion of a particle depends upon the

definitions of displacement, velocity, and acceleration. The
displacement of a particle is the vector distance from an origin to the
position occupied by the particle on its path of travel. The origin may be
Motion of a selected anywhere, as at O in Fig. 1-1a. There the displacements to
Particle positions A and B are the vectors sA, and sB which change both in
magnitude and inclination. With straight line motion, however, it is best
to select the origin O on the path as in Fig. 1-1b so that only the
magnitude of the displacement vector can change but not its
inclination.

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  Observe carefully the distinction between a change in displacement and
the distance traveled along the path. In the curved path of Fig. 1-1a, the
change in displacement Δs is less than the arc distance AB. In the straight
path of Fig. 1-1b, however, the change in displacement Δs and the distance
AB are numerically equal for a particle moving from A to B, but would be
(a) unequal if the particle should ever reverse its direction. Thus if the particle
Δs in Fig. 1-1b travels from A to B and back to A, its final displacement will be
the vector sA, its change in displacement will be zero, but the distance
traveled will be the accumulated length from A to B and back to A. This
distinction between displacement (which is a vector measured from a fixed
origin) and distance is important because all the kinematic relations we
shall subsequently develop involve displacement and not distance.
(b)

Fig. 1-1 Displacement in (a) curvilinear and

(b) rectilinear motion.

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

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  Velocity is defined as the time rate of change of displacement, and
acceleration is defined as the time rate of change of velocity. The
meanings of these terms may be clarified by restricting the discussion
here to straight-line motion.
s Δs

Fig. 1-2
A 1 2 B

Motion of a Velocity. In Fig. 1-2, consider a particle traveling in a straight line from
Particle A to B and let points 1 and 2 B 2 be two positions a small distance
apart. If the displacement Δs is traversed in the time Δt, it follows from
the above definition that the average velocity over that displacement
will be :

and the instantaneous velocity will be found as Δt approaches zero as a

limit; i.e.
∆
(a)
∆ → ∆
Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics
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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Acceleration. Let us now assume that in the preceding discussion the

particle starts from A with velocity vA and arrives at B with a velocity vB.
The average acceleration, or the average rate of change of velocity, will be
the difference between vB and vA divided by the elapsed time. The
instantaneous acceleration at any intermediate point cannot be
determined from these data. However, if the velocity at point 1 is v1, and
at point 2 is v1+Δv, the average acceleration during the time Δt will be

Motion of a and the instantaneous acceleration will be found as At approaches zero as a

Particle limit; i.e.,
∆
(b)
∆ → ∆

Since , the instantaneous acceleration may also be written

(c)
Elimination of dt in Eq. (a) and (b) leads to a third equation
(d)

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The three equations just developed are known as the differential

kinematic equations of motion. These equations are really statements of
fundamental definitions of instantaneous velocity and instantaneous
acceleration, By their proper application, the kinematic equations of
motion for any case can be determined. This will be done for several cases
in the following chapters. For the sake of compactness, the differential
equations of kinematics are here restated
Motion of a (eq. 1-1)
Particle (eq. 1-2)
(eq. 1-3)
The above definitions of velocity and acceleration include a fact which may
not be obvious, the fact that velocity and acceleration are vector quantities
involving direction as well as magnitude.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Units. The units that define displacement, velocity, and

acceleration depend upon the units chosen to represent length
and time, such as foot, centimeter, and mile, for length; and
second, minute, and hour, for time. Accordingly since
displacement is synonymous with length, velocity with change of
length per unit time, and acceleration with change of velocity per
Motion of a unit time, the common units for these terms are:
Displacement: foot, centimeter, meter, kilometer , mile.
Particle Velocity: foot per second (ft/sec), centimeter per second
(cm/sec),meter per second (m/s), Kilometer per hour (kph),
mile per hour (mph), etc.
Acceleration: foot per second square (ft/sec2), meter per
second square (m/s2), Kilometer per hour square ( km/h2),
mile per hour square (mi/hr2), etc.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 From his study of falling bodies, Galileo discovered the first two of
what are commonly called Newton's laws of motion for a particle.
Newton's name is associated with the laws of motion, however,
because it was he who generalized them and demonstrated their
truth by his astronomical predictions based on them.
Newton's Laws  Newton's laws of motion for a particle have been stated in a
of Motion for a variety of ways. For our purposes we shall phrase them as follows:
1. A particle acted upon by a balanced force system has no
Particle acceleration.
2. A particle acted upon by an unbalanced force system has an
acceleration in line with and directly proportional to the resultant
of the force system.
3. Action and reaction forces between two particles are always equal
and oppositely directed

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics
 Consider a particle of weight W acted upon by the forces shown in Fig.
1-3a. The resultant of these forces is obtained by a tip-to-tail addition as
in Fig. 1-3b; and because all the forces on a particle are assumed to be
concurrent (the size of a particle is a point), its direction and position are
indicated by the dashed vector in Fig. 1-3a. By Newton's second law of
motion, this resultant causes an acceleration a in line with R and direct,
proportional to it, or
Fundamental R = ka (a)
Equation of where k is some constant of proportionality.

Kinetics for a
Particle

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 1-3 Resultant force on and acceleration of a particle. 12

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 If the same particle is now assumed to be in a vacuum, the resultant force

acting upon it is its weight W. By experiment, the acceleration produced by
W is found to be the value of the gravitational constant g which acts in line
with W, as shown in Fig. 1-3c. Again applying Newton's second law and
Fundamental assuming the same constant of proportionality, we have

Equation of W= kg (b)

Kinetics for a Dividing Eq. (a) by Eq. (b) gives

Particle (eq 1-4)

Comparison with Eq. (a) discloses the value of the constant of proportionality
𝑾
to be . This ratio of weight divided by the gravitational constant is often
𝒈
called the mass of the particle.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Since Eq. (1-4) is a vector equation in which each term except the scalar
𝑾
term represents direction as well as magnitude, it may be resolved into
𝒈
components parallel to a set of rectangular coordinate axes yielding as &
Fundamental variation of this equation

Equation of
Kinetics for a (eq 1-5)

Particle
 Here, X, Y, and Z represent the components of R, and ax, ay, and az,
represent the x, y, and z components of the acceleration

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The effective force on a particle is defined as the resultant force on the

particle. Since by Eq. (1-4) R and are numerically equivalent, either
may be said to be the effective force on a particle. The use of to
Effective Force represent this force is especially convenient in cases where the
on a Particle - acceleration of the particle is known but the actual force system producing
this acceleration is not known. This concept is used in the following articles
Inertia Force to extend the laws of motion for a particle to the motion of a body
composed of a system of particles.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 According to Newton's third law, for every force there is an equal but
opposite reaction. In the case of a particle accelerated by a resultant force,
this reaction is called the inertia force of the particle. This force is the
Effective Force equal but oppositely directed reaction to the resultant force acting on a
particle.
on a Particle -  It is convenient to think of the inertia force as a force numerically equal to
Inertia Force W a but directed oppositely to the acceleration.
 If the inertia force is considered to act on a particle together with the
resultant force, the particle will be in a state of equilibrium. This will be
called dynamic equilibrium to distinguish it from in which the particle is at
rest or is moving with constant velocity.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 D'Alembert's principle expresses the relation between the external forces

applied to a system of particles and the effective force on each particle of
the system. It may be stated as follows: The resultant of the external
forces applied to a body (rigid or non-rigid) composed of a system of
particles is equivalent to the vector summation of the effective forces
D'Alembert's acting on all particles. Both the resultant of the external force system and
the summation of effective forces are vectorial additions and may be
Principle summed up in the following vector equation:

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The truth of this statement may be seen from Fig. 1-4a. The heavy out- line
denotes the boundary of a body which may consist of a system of particles
either rigidly fastened together or composing a non-rigid body like a gas or
a liquid. The external forces acting on this body are its weight W und several
external forces of which two are shown, P1 and P2. Three particles of the
system composing the body are also shown. (The size of these particles is
exaggerated for convenience in representation.) One of these particles is
D'Alembert's assumed to be located at the outer boundary of the body where it is acted
upon by the external force P1, its own weight w1, and an internal forces A.
Principle

(a) (b)

Fig. 1-4 Resultant of external force is equivalent to that of the effective forces. 18
Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The second particle is assumed to be adjacent to the first particle but is

drawn at a distance from it to show the forces more clearly. This second
particle is acted upon by an external force due to its own weight w2, and an
internal force B due to the action of the first adjacent particle, as well as by
D'Alembert's other internal forces caused by other adjacent particles. The third particle is
assumed to be at the right boundary of the body where it is acted upon by
Principle the external force P2, its own weight w3, and the internal force D
transmitted to it from the second particle by the action of intermediate
particles. For convenience, these intermediate particles are not drawn. In
fact, the discussion is simplified if we temporarily assume the body to be
composed of just these three particles which act mutually upon each other.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 By Newton's third law of motion, the internal forces A and B are equal and
oppositely directed. Hence any summation involving all the forces acting
on these two particles will automatically cancel such internal forces as A
and B. It is obvious therefore that any vectorial summation of forces
involving all the particles will cancel out all the internal forces between
particles since they occur in equal, opposite pairs. Figure 1- 4b shows such
D'Alembert's a vectorial summation of both the impressed forces such as P1, P2, and W
(note that W= w1 + w2+…+wn.) as well as the effective force of each
Principle particle. It is evident that the resultant R of the impressed forces is
equivalent to that of the effective forces. Hence we have
(eq. 1-6)

 This expresses in equation form d'Alembert's principle that the resultant of

the impressed forces acting on a body is equivalent to the vector sum of
the effective forces acting on all the particles composing the body.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 A useful variation of this principle is obtained by assuming that each

particle is acted upon by a force just equal but opposite to the effective
force, thereby resulting in a set of reversed effective forces which will
D'Alembert's balance the impressed forces. As discussed, these reversed effective
forces are the inertia forces of the particles. Thus d'Alembert's
Principle principle may also be stated as follows: The impressed forces acting
on any body are in dynamic equilibrium with the inertia forces of the
particles of the body.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The vectorial relation expressed by Eq. (1-6) can be conveniently handled

by algebraic methods only if each term is resolved into its components.
Motion of the Considering the X components of each term, for example, we have

Center of  
  (a)

Gravity of Any in which ΣX represents the algebraic summation of the X components of the
Body external forces W, P1, P2, etc., acting on the body, and a1, a2, etc., are the X
components of the individual acceleration of each particle. The masses of
the particles composing the body are denoted by etc.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Let the position of the particles at any instant be represented by (x1, y1,
z1.), (x2, y2, z2.), etc. From statics, the X coordinate of the center of
gravity of the system ( ) is given by the equation

(b)

Motion of the Where W is the total weight of the system.

Center of  Differentiating Eq. (b) twice with respect to the time and remembering
Gravity of Any that and , we have
Body (c)

In which is the X component of the acceleration of the center of

gravity.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Comparison of the right-hand terms in Eqs. (a) and (c) shows them
to be identical; hence we conclude that the left-hand terms must
be equal, or
 
  (d)
Motion of the  Since a similar procedure can be followed with respect to the Y
Center of and 2 axes, the relations between the external forces acting on
any body, the mass of the body, and the acceleration of its center
Gravity of Any of gravity may be stated by the following equations:

Body  
 

 
  (eq 1-7)

 
 

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 In terms of the resultant force R and the resultant acceleration a of the

center of gravity, this becomes

 These equations express the acceleration of the center of gravity of any

Motion of the body: (rigid or non-rigid) in terms of the applied external forces. They do
not locate the action line of the resultant force. This will be determined
Center of later in our subject.
Gravity of Any  In conclusion we may say that as far as the relation between the resultant
force and the acceleration of the center of gravity is concerned, any system
Body of particles may be considered equivalent to a single particle, provided that
the particle has the same mass as the mass of the system and the same
motion as the center of gravity of the system. Whenever there is occasion
to treat a body as though its mass were squeezed to a point located at its
center of gravity, we shall use the tern point diagram to define the diagram
of the forces.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 We shall apply the laws of dynamics only to bodies that are considered
to be particles or to bodies that are rigid. As we have seen, when the
dimensions of a body are small compared with its path, the body may be
assumed to be a particle. The flight of a projectile is an example. It is also
permissible to consider that any body is a particle having the body's
weight and the motion of its center of gravity. This procedure is used in
Applying the discussing non-rigid bodies.
 Although any body may be treated as a particle concentrated at its
Principles of center of gravity and equations for its motion may be derived from this
concept, in many cases the angular motion of the body must also be
Dynamics considered. This requires additional equations derived from the separate
paths followed by the particles composing the body. Such equations can
be obtained only for rigid bodies in which the particles composing them
are fixed in position relative to each other, because only in rigid bodies
can the motions of particles be related to each other. The particles of a
non-rigid body, such as a jet of water, can and do follow separate,
unrelated paths.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Although actual solid bodies are not really rigid, the change in shape under
disturbing forces is usually so small that no appreciable error is made in
Applying the assuming them to be rigid. In the following chapters we shall discuss the
Principles of various motions of an ideal rigid body. These motions are known as
translation, rotation, and plane motion. The type of motion produced on a
Dynamics rigid body by any given force system will be shown in later chapters to
depend upon the nature and position of the resultant of that force system.
For the present, we shall merely state the effect produced.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 Consider a flat rigid body resting upon a smooth horizontal surface. If the
resultant of the applied force system is a single force passing through the
gravity center of the body as in Fig. 1-5a, the body will move in the direction
of the resultant R, but it will not rotate. If the direction of R is constant, the
motion of the body follows a straight-line path and is called rectilinear
translation. If the direction of R varies, although continuing to pass through
the gravity center, so will the motion of the body, resulting in a curved path
Applying the motion known as curvilinear translation, In either type of translation,
Principles of however, a straight line passing through any two particles will always remain
parallel to its initial position.
Dynamics

(a) translation (b) rotation (c) Plain motion

Fig. 1-5 Nature and position of resultant of applied forces determine type of rigid body motion.28
Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 If the resultant of the applied force system is a couple M as in Fig 1-5b, the
body will spin about a vertical axis through its center of gravity, but the
center of gravity will remain stationary. All particles will describe horizontal
circular arcs about the vertical centroidal axis. This type of motion is called
Applying the centroidal rotation.
Principles of  Finally, the resultant of the applied force system may be a single force
which does not pass through the gravity center as in Fig. 1-5c. Recognizing
Dynamics that the resultant can be transformed into a force acting through the
gravity center plus a couple, it is easy to see that the motion in this case will
be a combination of translation and centroidal rotation, commonly called
plane motion.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Principles of Dynamics

 The converse of the preceding discussion is also true, namely, the type of
Applying the motion specifies the nature and position of the resultant force. For
example, a body that is constrained so that its motion may only be a
Principles of translation requires that the applied forces so distribute themselves that
their resultant passes through the center of gravity. Or if a body is
Dynamics constrained so that it can only rotate about its centroidal axis, the resultant
of any applied force system must be a couple.

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