Curvilinear Motion (General and Rectangular
Components)
APPM 211
North-West University
[email protected]
Dr Djomengi’s e-mail: [email protected]
19 February 2021
Lesson Outcomes
I At the end of today’s lesson you should be able to analyze
curvilinear motion:
I Identify the position of the particle under consideration,
I Represent the displacement, the velocity and the acceleration
of the particle in terms of rectangular components.
I Thus, determine the displacement, the velocity and the
acceleration of the particle at any given time.
I Analyze curvilinear motion using rectangular coordinates
system
What is Curvilinear Motion?
I Curvilinear Motion occurs when a particle moves along a
curved path.
Unlike the rectilinear motion which is along a straight path,
a curvilinear motion simply does not follow a straight path.
The path for curvilinear motion can be two-dimensional or
three-dimensional.
I The current study is based on the rectangular coordinate
system, but we will learn about other coordinates system later.
Position and Displacement
The position vector of a particles measured from a fixed point O,
at any given time, see the figure below, is given by r = r(t),
which can be represented in cartesian vector form as
r(t) = x(t)i + y (t)j + z(t)k,
where x(t), y (t) and z(t) are x, y and z components of the
position respectively. See the following figure:
p
At any instant the magnitude of r is given by r = x 2 + y 2 + z 2.
The direction of r is given by the unit vector ur = r/r .
Velocity
After some time ∆t, the particle moves a distance ∆s to a
new position which is represented by r 0 and the changed
particle position can be represented by
∆r = r0 − r.
See the picture below
During the time ∆t, the average velocity of the particle is
∆r
vavg = .
∆t
The instantaneous velocity is determined from this equation by
letting ∆t → 0, and consequently the direction of ∆r approaches
∆r
the tangent to the curve. Hence, v = lim ( ∆t ) or
∆→0
dr
v= .
dt
Since dr is tangent to the curve, the direction of v is also tangent
to the curve, see the figure below
The first time derivative of r yields the velocity of the particle.
Thus,
dr dx dy dz
v= = i+ j+ k
dt dt dt dt
which yields the final result
dr
v= = vx i + vy j + vz k
dt
where vx = ẋ, vy = ẏ and vz = ż represents the velocity
components in the x, y and z directions respectively.
The velocity magnitude is given by
q
v = vx2 + vy2 + vz2 .
and the direction is given by uv = v/v .
Acceleration
If the particle has a velocity v at time t and a
velocity v0 = v + ∆v, at time t + ∆t, see figure below, then the
average acceleration of the particle during the time interval ∆t is
∆v
aavg = ,
∆t
where
∆v = v0 − v.
The instantaneous acceleration is obtained by letting ∆t → 0 in
the above equation, and consequently the limit ∆v will approaches
the tangent to the hodograph.
Hence, a = lim ( ∆v
∆t ) or
∆→0
dv
a= .
dt
A hodograph is a diagram that gives vectorial visual movement of
the particle.
By definition of the derivative, a acts tangent to the hodograph,
see the figure above, in general it is not tangent to the path
of motion, see the figure below
See the following figure:
Similarly the acceleration of the particle is obtained by taking the
first time derivative of the velocity vector (or the second time
derivative of displacement vector).
Thus, we have
dv
a= = v̇x i + v̇y j + v̇z k
dt
or
dv
a= = ẍi + ÿ j + z̈k
dt
the above equations can be rewritten as
dv
a= = ax i + ay j + az k
dt
where
ax = v˙x = ẍ, ay = v˙y = ÿ and az = v˙z = z̈ (1)
represents the acceleration components in the x, y and z directions
respectively.
The acceleration has a magnitude
q
a = ax2 + ay2 + az2 (2)
and the direction is given by ua = a/a.
Problem 15-111 New/ 15-112 Old
At any instant the horizontal position of the weather balloon in the
figure below is defined by x = 8t m, where t is in seconds. If the
equation of the path is y = x 2 /10, determine the magnitude and
direction of the velocity and the acceleration when t = 2 s.
Problem 12-69 new / 12-76 old
The velocity of a particle is given by v = 16t 2 i + 4t 3 j + (5t + 2)k
m/s, where t is in seconds. If the particle is at the origin when
t = 0, determine the magnitude of the particle’s acceleration when
t = 2 s.
Also, what is the x, y, z coordinate position of the particle at this
instant?
Solution for problem 12-69 new / 12-76 old
Problem 12-73 new / 12-86 old
When a rocket reaches an altitude of 40 m it begins to travel along
the parabolic path (y − 40)2 = 160x, where the coordinates are
measured in meters. If the component of velocity in the vertical
direction is constant at vy = 180 m/s, determine the magnitudes
of the rockets velocity and acceleration when it reaches an altitude
of 80 m.
Figure : Problem 73
Solution for problem 12-73 new / 12-86 old
Problem 12-76 new
A particle travels along the curve from A to B in 5 s.
It takes 8 s for it to go from B to C and then 10 s to go from C to
A.
Determine its average speed when it goes around the closed path.
Figure : Problem 76
Solution for problem 12-76 New
Problem 12-77 new / 12.81 old
The position of a crate sliding down a ramp is given by
x = 0.25t 3 m, y = 1.5t 2 m, z = (6 − 0.75t 5/2 ),
where t is in seconds.
Determine the magnitude of the crates velocity and acceleration
when t = 2s.
Solution for problem 12-26 New / 12-32 old
Dankie vir julle aandag
