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Range and flight time of quadratic resisted projectile motion using the Lambert W function

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2014 Eur. J. Phys. 35 055025
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European Journal of Physics

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025 (7pp)

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/35/5/055025

Range and ight time of quadratic resisted

projectile motion using the Lambert W
function
Chokri Hadj Belgacem
Physics Department, Science Faculty at Yanbu, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia
Laboratoire de la Matire Condense et Nanoscience, Dpartement de Physique,
Facult des Sciences, Universit de Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia
E-mail: Chokri.hadjbelgacem@laposte.net
Received 4 July 2014, revised 15 July 2014
Accepted for publication 22 July 2014
Published 8 August 2014
Abstract

We study projectile motion with air resistance quadratic in speed. An

approximation of a low-angle trajectory is considered where the horizontal
velocity, vx, is assumed to be much larger than the vertical velocity, vy. The
explicit solutions for the range and ight time are expressed in terms of the
secondary branch of the Lambert function, W1. In addition to their theoretical
importance, the results obtained will be of interest to teachers involved in
undergraduate physics courses.
Keywords: projectile motion, quadratic air resistance, Lambert W function

1. Introduction
The number of works devoted to the problem of projectile motion thrown at an angle to the
horizon is enormous. This task has a long history. It is a basic component of many introductory physics courses, and it continues to arouse the interest of researchers (Morales 2005,
Vial 2007, Yabushita et al 2007). When air resistance is neglected, physics students are
certainly familiar with the solution of projectile problems, as the analytic solution is well
known. The trajectory of the point mass is a parabola. Since, in practice, air resistance is
usually not negligible, it would be of some interest to develop solutions of the equations of
motion that include an appropriate drag force, which is typically modeled as proportional to
the projectile velocity (linear drag model) or the projectile speed squared (quadratic drag
model). If one assumes a drag force that is linear in speed, then it is straightforward to solve
the equation of motion. The equations of motion that include the drag force, which is
quadratic in speed, are more difcult to solve. However, an exact and explicit solution for
vertical free fall, or one-dimensional motion, can be obtained rather easily (Feinberg 1965,
0143-0807/14/055025+07$33.00 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

C Hadj Belgacem

Lindemutt 1971). For two-dimensional motion, Parker (1977) developed a low trajectoryshort-time approximation solution. However, no solutions for range and ight time were
considered.
In the following, we will consider Parkers (1977) low trajectoryshort-time approximation solution and will investigate a solution for the range and ight time in terms of the
Lambert W function.
2. The Lambert W function
The Lambert W function is a many-valued complex function satisfying Corless et al (1996).

W (x ) e W ( x ) = x ,

(1)
1
e

where, in general, x is a complex number. If x is real, then for

x 0 , there are two
possible real values of W (x ), as shown in gure 1. The branch satisfying 1 W (x ) is
denoted W0 (x ) and is referred to in the literature as the principal branch (Corless et al 1996).
The branch satisfying W (x ) 1 is denoted W1 (x ). When x is real and x 0 , there is a
single real value for W(x), which also belongs to the principal branch W0 (x ). Both real
branches W0 (x ) and W1 (x ), for x real, are presented in gure 1.
3. Quadratic resisted projectile motion at low angle trajectory
Consider an object of mass m that is launched with initial speed v0 from the origin at an angle
of to the horizontal over level ground and in uniform gravitational eld g. In a quadratic
resorting medium, the equations of motion are

m
m

dvx
= bvx vx2 + vy2
dt

dvy
dt

1/2

(2)

= m g b vy vx2 + vy2

1/2

(3)

where b is the positive resistance constant. These equations can be solved with the following
initial conditions:

v x 0 = v0 cos ,
v y0 = v0 sin ,

x (0) = 0
y (0) = 0.

(4)

The solutions of these equations at low-angle trajectory (Parker 1977) are

X = ln ( 1 + u x0 ),

Y=

(5)

2 u y0
ln ( 1 + u x 0 ).

+
+
2 u x0
4
2 u x20
u x0

(6)

The parameters X, Y, , u x 0 and u y0 used in equation (5) and equation (6) are dened as
follows:
v y0
vx0
y
t
x
X=
,Y=
, = , u x0 =
and u y0 =
,
(7)
VT
VT
T
V
V

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

C Hadj Belgacem

Figure 1. The two branches of the Lambert W function: W1 (x ) in blue, and W0 (x )

in red.

where
1

m g 2

V=
b

and

T=

V
.
g

(8)

3.1. Range

The equation of motion after solving equation (5) for the constant in terms of X and
substituting into equation (6) gives

u y0
1
1
+
+
Y = X
1 e2X .
2
2 u x 0 4 u x20
u x0

(9)

The range, R, is the value of x when y = 0. It satises

u y0
1
1
+
0 = R
+
1 e2R ,
2
2 u x 0 4 u x20
u x0

(10)

where

R =

R
.
VT

(11)

This is a transcendental equation that until now had been habitually solved numerically
or graphically (Parker 1977). However, equations of this type can be solved analytically, with
the results written in closed form in terms of the Lambert W function. Equation (10) can be
solved exactly using the approach proposed by Hadj Belgacem (2010, 2011).
3

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

C Hadj Belgacem

For further calculation, we establish the following abbreviations:

u y0
1
and
A=
+
2 u x20
u x0

B=

1
.
4 u x20

(12)

Equation (10) is simplied as

0 = RA + B 1 e2R ,

(13)

RA + B = Be2R,

(14)

ln(RA + B) 2R = ln(B).

(15)

Using the transformation R U = RA + B, we obtain the implicit equations

ln(U ) 2

UB
= ln(B),
A

(16)

U
2B
ln(U ) =
ln(B).
A
A

(17)

For solving equation (17), we suppose that

U = Be

2B
A

W (z )
z

(18)

and

z=

2B 2B
e A
A

(19)

Inserting equations (18) and (19) into equation (17) yields

W (z )
= 0,
W (z ) + ln
z

(20)

W (z ) + ln(W (z )) ln(z ) = 0,

(21)

exp (W (z ) + ln (W (z )) ln (z )) = 1,

(22)

W (z ) exp W (z ) = z .

(23)

We nd that equation (23) represents the denition of the Lambert W function, as already
established in equation (1). Consequently, our supposition in equation (18) is justied.

A
U = W (z ).
2

(24)

The exact solution for the range after re-substitution for z is

R =

B
1 2B 2B
W
e A ,

A
2 A

(25)

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

C Hadj Belgacem

and after replacing A, B, ux0, uy0, and R = RVT ,

m 2g
2b2v02 sin (2 ) + 2 b m g
m g

m g
m
W 2
e bv02 sin(2 ) + m g ,
2b bv0 sin (2 ) + m g

R=

R=

mg
m
W (z ) +
,
2
2b
bv0 sin(2 ) + m g

(26)

(27)

with

z=

m g
m g
bv02 sin (2 ) + m g .
e
bv02 sin (2 ) + m g

In order to approve our proposed solution, we compare in table 1 calculation range data
from equation (27) with measured data (Kemp 1987) for a low-angle trajectory.
Table 1 shows that the calculation data and the measured data are in good agreement,
with a small relative error (not exceeding 3.6%).
3.2. The time of flight

The time of ight t f can be obtained from equation (5) by setting X = R at = f where

R =

R
VT

, f =

tf
T

From equation (5),

f =

1
1
+
exp (R),
u x0
u x0

(28)

tf =

R
T
T
.
exp
+
VT
u x0
u x0

(29)

Together with equations (27), (7), and (8), this gives

tf =

mg
m
exp 1 W (z ) +
.

bv0 cos
bv02 sin (2 ) + m g

(30)

4. Discussion
The range, R, can be calculated from equation (27) from the time when initial conditions v0
and are known. Given that W(z) is multi-valued for z < 0, we have a choice of the branches
W0 or W1.
Comparing z in equations (27) and (23), we identify one trivial solution, namely, the
primary branch,
mg
W0 (z ) =
.
(31)
bv02 sin (2 ) + m g
This solution, although mathematically correct, is unphysical because it gives a zero
range when substituted into equation (27). The physical choice must be W1. We note that for
5

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

Table 1. Calculated and measured results for a projectile of mass m = 9.7 103 kg, velocity v0 = 823 m s1, constant of gravity g = 9.8 m s2, and the

constant b = 1.04 105 kg m1. The measured data are taken from (Kemp 1987) and the calculated from equation (27).
Trajectory angle (min)

12

16

20

26

33

40

49

183
176.5
3.5

274
264
3.6

366
365.18
0.22

457
453
0.87

549
530.20
3.4

640
631.1
1.4

732
731.5
0.07

823
818
0.6

914
914.1
0.01

Range, R (m)

Measured
Calculated
Relative error %

C Hadj Belgacem

Eur. J. Phys. 35 (2014) 055025

C Hadj Belgacem

linear resistance (Warburton and Wang 2004, Hu et al 2012) the choice was the opposite,
where W0 was the physical solution and W1 the unphysical one.
5. Conclusion
The quadratic resisted projectile motion problem at low-angle trajectory has been analyzed
using the Lambert W function. The exact solution for the range and the time of ight are
expressed in terms of the secondary branch of the Lambert function, W1. Our proposed
solution for range was reinforced by comparing our calculation data with measured data from
Kemp (1987). As with linear air-resisted projectile motion, these results will be of interest to
teachers involved in undergraduate physics courses.
References
Corless R M, Gonnet G H, Hare D E G, Jeffrey D J and Kunth D E 1996 On the Lambert W function
Adv. Comp. Math 5 32959
Feinberg G 1965 Fall of bodies near the Earth Am. J. Phys. 33 5012
Hadj Belgacem C and Fnaiech M 2010 Exact analytical solution for the critical layer thickness of a
lattice mismatched heteroepitaxial layer J. Elec. Mater. 39 224850
Hadj Belgacem C and Fnaiech M 2011 Solution for the critical thickness of dislocation generation in
epitaxial thin lms using the Lambert W function J. Mat. Sci. 46 19135
Hu H, Zhao Y P, Guo Y J and Zheng M Y 2012 Analysis of linear resisted projectile motion using the
Lambert W function Acta Mech. 223 4417
Kemp H R 1987 Trajectory of projectile motion in air for small times of ight Am. J. Phys. 55 1099102
Lindemutt J 1971 The effect of air resistance on falling balls Am. J. Phys. 39 7579
Morales D A 2005 Exact expressions for the range and the optimal angle of a projectile with linear drag
Can. J. Phys. 83 6783
Parker G W 1977 Projectile motion with air resistance quadratic in the speed Am. J. Phys. 45 60610
Vial A 2007 Horizontal distance travelled by a mobile experiencing a quadratic drag force: normalized
distance and parameterization Eur. J. Phys. 28 65763
Warburton R D H and Wang J 2004 Analysis of asymptotic projectile motion with air resistance using
the Lambert W function Am. J. Phys. 72 14047
Yabushita K, Yamashita M and Tsuboi K 2007 An analytic solution of projectile motion with the
quadratic resistance law using the homotopy analysis method J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 840316