186

4. ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

4.10
4.10.1

Simple Harmonic Motion and Damped Oscillations

• You should know how to derive and solve the equations of motion for a damped oscillator given just the mass, damping and spring constants. • You should also be able to classify the motion into under, over or -critically damped, and know what these notions mean. This material is covered in Stewart section 18.3 and deals with the modeling of oscillators by second order ODEs. 4.10~2 --Huoke's law·and-Newton'ssecondlaw;• Hooke's law - the force exerted by _;a spring is proportional to the displacement. \ F~ force F ,displacement

-'ky,

y, spring constant k.

• Newton's second law of motion - the sum of forces acting on an object equals

-F::-7f 4.10.3 Mass -on a Spring. ~ L

of. & eJi;~

For a spring hanging under gravity with no damping (only the force exerted by the

Spring~:~h=..

m~=~kY.

--------

-r--(£"L_~

I-

4.10. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION AND DAMPED OSCILLATIONS

187

Let's derive this equation and find the general solution:

S}()M_JOJul'~ r1t~c - -"---~--~L~ -=====---==~

/(r
<

JOrbcz

w'L:::

d~ =_
d

UJfLx_
=--- -______..~ ---~ -- ~~--- ---~~ ---

70

lli

()2~

-.:.:=.:..--=.::....-

~CVVt

d dr-oW-L 0 D6"
('

(JJ{,

c.

'ViJ

~l~Jv~~1'
. xlf-)
z: .

'I

...
Cz

cCJJLtJt-i

~wt
..

RuJi
... c~=
. 1 xcb-)
7

co:J(Ct-t)=-

CcJJQCcJ?

g+~Q~~~!

A~4')
A

cl=-A

cw1

ewecJt- ~)

....

188

4. ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

4.10.4

Example

A spring with mass~nd spring constant~N/Js pulled down 1~ andgiven a kick of -O.Sm/ s. Solve for position as a function of time and give the amplitude of oscillations.

4.10. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION AND DAMPED OSCILLATIONS

189

4.10.5

Damped Oscillations

It is realistic to also consider external forces which resist the motion, ie. are proportional to the velocity in the opposite direction to the motion. Such an effect is called damping. In this case, Newton's second law gives
d2y)
• I

where a

------------------~ dy. ffidji = -ky -(Jai' 1 is a damping cons ant.

Roots of the characteristic equation are

2rn .. ' .'.....

4mk

There are 3 cases to consider

4mk > O.
-

l:::: ~ 7 j,J' '

2. "Critical damping": a2 3. "Underdamping":

4mk = O.

S.:;

1m,,"~wt()~
r

LJ

a2

4mk < O. 4mk > O.

Overdamping: a2

190

4. ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

- 4.10.7

Example

A mass of 1kg is attached to a spring hanging under gravity with damping constant 5 arid spring constant 4. Find the position of the mass after time t if it is pulled 1m -from the equilibrium position and released with no k{ck.

f) ;;:-(1 e.,-t + c) Dc~f

-~t e.
-T------,---I

x'(o)::=o
,

X;, ""

1.

xLh) = ~ ~i-h_ e_ ~

ty
z..

_j

4.10. SIMPLE HARMONIC

MOTION AND DAMPED OSCILLATIONS

191

4.10.8

Critical damping: a2

4mk = O.

-J
4.10.9 Example

With the same mass and spring constant of the previous example, what value of the damping constant implies critical damping?

m = \ ~~ p-=-Lf
CA
+-----------~I__LA

2
't

-+ /
.----------------.-. ··-Lj\·-r-~-=~-·~--~-~·:

""'-4-

~- -- -..---.. ..... - ---.---.~---------.- ---------......

-)_

~ A ~2&
~

"" ~

ti:z;t

192

4. ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL

4.10.10· Underdamping:

a2

4mk < O.

k-)
_

'J -:

EQUATIONS

U
.'

A = -a ± iV 4mk - a2
=

a ± i/3

2m

-.0 f ~p'l.,~.t. J )'~

y _eat (A cos (/3t)

4"'"

+ B sin (j3t) ) .
..

4.10.11

Example

"I_'P:;l~±'LkJL-

:J-S +,i J(J1._ji r . ~ -+Ve-.

-v-(

:-1)(."

-s

With the same mass and spring constant of the previous example, describe the motion if the damping constant has value 0.2.

m z: \ hj ~:-6f'
(A ::-

-.

0(7]

d-~ (

002

001

~-,
yII'

~ , ----\

. ."
'

-4'

--

..- Oott-

4.10. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION AND DAMPED OSCILLATIONS

193

~~cp
~¢
0\"",0

4.10.12

Summary of Motion of a Spring:

wherern is the mass, a is the damping coefficient and k is the spring constant. The auxiliary equationmr '

+ ar + k = 0 has

complex roots if a2 < 4km.

(1) a

(2) a

< 2..)kiii

Damped oscillations:
y~

r ~ a ± i{3where

O! ~

2~

cleat cos{3t + c,eat sin{3t.

A Q._ c&'>0r cf;

< ~f f:

f _::'I

(3) a =2..)kiii

Critical Damping: Equal roots r = - 2~

cle-':'"

+ c,te-;"'.

c,t (2.- g

~ (1;fe

-f t

194 .

4. ORDINARY DIFFERE.NTIAL EQUATIONS

4.10.13

Extra reading: the pendulum

A Pendulum also executes simple harmonic motion and damped oscillations. Suppose a bob moves in an arc of a circle radius £. The distance moved by the bob Is £e. Newton's 2nd law tells us
. 2

mass ~ ~ (£e)
:::? :::?

£e = -g sin e which is a non linear equation. £e + ge

m£e = -mg sin e

.. dt

force in the direction of motion

But if So for Let

e is small si.ne ~ e.
o small
Tt

e .e

=?

r2

+ ~ =0

is the auxillary equati~n.

e = Cl
+-

cos

±fiei fiet + fiet.

sin

~O~~ill~lons~eriodis2~~~.------------------------~----~-------What is the effect of damping? As before damping will be proportional to velocity damping coefficient. Then auxillary equation is £r2
-R'
:::? r = :::?

~ __

+ Rs: + 9 .

£e + Re

+ ge
0

- 0 where

is

2£ ±

-jR2-

2£

4£g

----

---- -.-------------'----1£-R2 < 4£g

R = 2.J[9 R > 2.J[9

r is complex ee- damped oscillations critical damping solutions are overdamped.

More realistic modeling leads to nonlinear equations, like the true pendulum, which can have interesting and unexpected solutions.