ENSC3001

MECHANICSMS AND MACHINES

Exam Notes

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Contents
Principle of Virtual Work......................................................................................... 3
Virtual Work Guidelines...................................................................................... 3
Mobility.................................................................................................................. 3
Points to Consider............................................................................................... 4
Rotational Kinematics............................................................................................ 4
Guideline to Kinematic Analysis.........................................................................4
Time Derivatives in Rotating Frames..................................................................4

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Principle of Virtual Work

1. Understand how mechanisms are classifi ed.
2. Evaluate degrees of freedom and holonomicity in real systems.
3. Understand generalised coordinates and be capable of analysing

admissible motion.
4. Apply the principle of virtual work to mechanical systems.

When a mechanical system of rigid bodies is in equilibrium, the work of all

constraint forces is zero.
System is only in equilibrium if the variational work increment vanishes for
arbitrary geometrically admissible variations.

W = f i R i=0
i

W variational work increment

f i real externally applied forces actingthe i' thlocation

Ri admissble variation at the same i' thlocation
i' thlocationis thelocation of generalised coordinates

Virtual Work Guidelines

1. Draw a free body diagram of the system showing the external forces.
2. Draw a virtual displacement such that only one unknown moves (if
possible).
3. Write the virtual work equation and set it equal to zero.
4. Write the displacement in terms of a common factor. If needed, write the
displacements as a relation, then differentiate. Remember that the
mechanics of taking a variation is the same as taking a time derivative

Mobility
1. Understand the diff erent types of kinematic pairs.
2. Understand how to analyse mobility in 2D and 3D, and be able to

evaluate the mobility of a real mechanical system.

3. Be able to evaluate whether or not a system is

p roperly c onstrained .
Mobility for 2D systems:

M 2 D =3 ( n1 )2 f 1f 2
Taken as a singularity each member has 3 degrees of freedom. In each case we
take one member a reference and thus we get (n-1) x 3.
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For the constraints, for revolute joints, x and y

movement is constrained only leaving
admissible motion in theta, therefore we get the
-2. Similarly with 2 DoF joints, as shown in the
example, x movement is constrained, therefore
only leaving admissible motion in the y and
theta direction thus we get -1.
For 3D systems:

M 3 D =6 ( n1 )5 f 14 f 23 f 32 f 4 f 5
In practice, we can encounter three distinct possibilities:

Properly constrained mechanisms - those which satisfy

the mobility equation
Over-constrained mechanisms - the mobility equation underestimates the
true mobility (usually giving negative values)
Mechanisms with idle DOFs (under-constrained) - the mobility equation
overestimates the true mobility

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Table of Kinematic Joints

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Points to Consider

Any body that is allowed to move with respect to the reference state is
essentially a link (+n), for example a sliding block, thus remember to
count joint between the sliding block and the ground state (below)

Any joint with multiple links connected to it will be considered as joint of

m-1=j, where m is the number of links attached (above)

Rotational Kinematics
1. Understand the relationship between position, velocity and

acceleration.
2. Be able to analyse a system and evaluate the position, velocity

and acceleration o f any point in the system.

3. Understand how to take time derivatives in rotating reference

frames.
4. Be able to evaluate a system within a rotating frame.

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Guideline to Kinematic Analysis

= lim
Velocity=V

R d
R
=
=R
t
dt

Acceleration=a=

2
d
V d
R
= 2 =
R
dt
dt

t 0

1. Find the position vector with respect to a reference frame

2. Differentiate to find the velocity
3. Differentiate once more to find the acceleration

Cross Product
Let:

A=a1 i+a 2 j+ a3 k
B=b 1 i+ b2 j+b3 k
A B=( a2 b3a 3 b 2 ) i+ ( a 3 b 1a1 b3 ) j+ ( a1 b2a 2 b1 ) k
Or:

a1
b1
a2 b3b2 a3

=
a2
b2
a3 b1b3 a1
a3
b3
a1 b2b1 a2

()( )(

Time Derivatives in Rotating Frames

With rotational kinematics in a 3D system, the order of rotations affects the final
position of the object. For 2D, velocity is the derivative of position, however, in
3D angular velocity is not a derivative of anything.

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Motion of Point (defined in OXYZ) with respect to OXYZ (Base Reference

Frame)
Position Vector Equation:

R (t)
Velocity Vector Equation:

v=

dR
dt

Acceleration Vector Equation:

a=

d2 R
d t2

Motion of Point (defined oyxz) with respect to OXYZ (Intermediate

Reference Frame)
Terms

=angular velocity of theintermediate reference frame WRT base reference frame

V =translational velocity of the point of interest

R0=vector base origin intermediate origin

V rel =velocity of point of interest WRT intermediate reference

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r = position of point of interest WRT intermediate reference

arel =accelerationof poitn of interest WRT intermediate reference

=acceleration

of intermediatereference frame WRT base reference frame

Eq. 1 - Position Vector:

R ( t ) =
R 0 ( t ) + r (t )
Eq. 2 Differential Operator

d ? ?
=
dt
t

( )

+
?

rel

Operator used to find the time derivative of any vector (?) with respect to the
intermediate reference frame. Given a situation here, where we are trying to

solve for time derivative of R:

For small incremental angle, the change in R can be simplified to:

RR
Also we know that:

= t
R= t R

R =

Rt

( ddtR )

=

R

P stationary

Therefore, the total time derivative of the position vector or P = derivative of R

as if axis is not rotating + angular velocity of rotation crossed with radius

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d
R
R=
dt
t

( )

Take

+

R
asif axis not rotating

as an arbitrary vector in the rotating system, which can be expressed

as:

A= A x i+ A y j+ A z k
Taking derivatives of i, j and k, because they are unit vectors in the rotating
system, their only change is due to the rotation of the axis, that is:

d d d
i = i j= j k = k
dt
dt
dt
d
A d
d
d
= ( A x i ) + ( A y j ) + ( A z k )
dt dt
dt
dt
By the chain rule:

d
A d Ax
d i d A y
d j d A z
d k
=
i + Ax +
j + Ay
+
k + Az
dt
dt
dt dt
dt
dt
dt
d Ay
d Az
d
A d Ax
j + A y (
=
i + Ax (
i ) +
j )+
k + Az (
k )
dt
dt
dt
dt
d
A
A
=
+ A
dt
t

Eq. 3 Velocity Vector

Velocity in the base reference frame is composed of the velocity of the centre of
the intermediate frame + velocity of P in the intermediate frame + component of
rotation of the intermediate frame

V=

d R0
rel +
+V
r
dt

Eq. 4 Acceleration Vector

a =

2
d
R0

dt

+ arel + 2
V rel +

r +
(
r )

d2
R0
=a =acceleration of the centre of the intermediate frame
d t2
0

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2
V rel =Coriolis acceleration

4-Bar Linkages
Inverse Kinematics & The Jacobian
1. Understand the steps required to perform an inverse kinematic

analysis.
2. Be able to create a computer code

to analyse the inverse kinematics of a serial chain robot.

3. Understand the Jacobian matrix in kinematics and be able to

evaluate a mechanism using the Jacobian method.

For a multi-body system or mechanism, we need generalised coordinates:

q ={q 1 ,q 2 , q n }
(Above) Typically a dependent set of n generalised coordinates which gives us
everything we need to know about the position of all parts of the system. And
there will be constraint equations which gives relationships between these
coordinates, for example:

Constraint 1=0
Constraint 2=0
.
.
.
Constraint M =0

M constraint equations, algebraic equations with generalised coordinates within

them:

( q )=0
For a holonomic system:

DoF=M =nM
For many practical cases, we have Mobility = 1 = single input mechanism such
that

nM =1, n=3, M =2
Position problem: initial assembly problem is difficult hence we analysis small
displacement problem.
To perform velocity analysis, we take the time derivative of:

( q (t) )=0

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d
=0
( ( q ( t ) ) ) = q q
dt
t

( )( )

Where:

is the Jacobian a mechanism

q
q
are the vector of generalised velocities
t
Therefore the velocity problem can be summarised as:

q ( q ,t ) q =0
Where generalised coordinates:

q={ 2 , 3 , x c }
And vector closure and constraints:

R AB +
RBC =
R AC

R AB cos 2+ R BC cos 3x c
R AB sin 2+ R BC sin 3=0
x
y
Hence the Jacobian:

con s traint x
2
constraint y
2

constraint x
3
constraint y
3

constraint x
xc
constraint y
xc

Number of Rows = Number of Constraints

Number of Columns = Number of Generalised Coordinates
Thus:

[]

2
R AB sin 2 RBC sin 3 1
3 = 0
0
R AB cos 2
RBC cos 3
0
x c

] []

Acceleration Problem:

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d
[ q ] =0
dt q

( q q )+ ( q q ) =0
( q q )=( q q )
Summary of Inverse Kinematics and Jacobian
(I)
(II)

Position Problem is in general difficult to perform

Velocity Problem

(III)

Acceleration Problem

q q =0

d
[ ( t ) q ] =0
dt q

q q + q ( t ) q = 0

q q
q q =

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