DERIVATION AND APPLICATION

OF LAGRANGE EQUATIONS

Consider a particle acted upon by forces . By Newtons 2nd law:

= (1)

Where is the mass of the particle and is the acceleration

Suppose that:

= (1 , 2 , 3 , , , ) (2)

That is, is a function of generalized coordinates 1 , 2 , 3 , , and that each

coordinates is a function of time it follows that:

= 1 + 2 + 3 + + + (3)
1 2 3

= =1 + (4)

= ( , , ) (5)

According to the concept of cancellation of dots, we may write the differential of x with
respect to the component qi :

x x
= (6)
q i qi

Multiply by x

x x
x = x (7)
q i qi

Find the derivative with respect to time,

1
d x d x
(x )= (x ) (8)
dt q i dt qi

d x x d x
(x ) = x + x ( ) (9)
dt q i qi dt qi

Now if we define

( , ) = (1 , 2 , 3 , , , ) (10)

Then we have:

= + 2 + 3 + + +
1 1 2 3

= =1 +

Put = thus,

d x x
f = nj=1 q j + (11)
dt i qj qi t qi

x x
= nj=1 ( q j + )
qi qj t

(12)

x x
From equation (4) the term in ( q j + ) equal x thus,
q t j

= (13)

d x
= x (14)
dt qi qi

Hence, we have, after substituting (14) into (9):

( ) = + (15)

Rearranging (15) we obtain

2
 x d x x
x = (x ) x (16)
qi dt q i qi

Notice that:

1 x
( x 2 ) = x (17)
qi 2 qi

1 x
( x 2 ) = x (18)
q i 2 q i

Substitute equations (17) and (18) for the RHS of equation (16):

1 1
= ( x 2 ) ( x 2 ) (19)
q i 2 qi 2

Thus, multiplying through by , and noting that = ,

1 1
= ( 2 ) ( 2 ) (20)
2 2

1
But, 2 = , the kinetic energy of a particle. Thus:
2

x d
F = ( T) T
qi dt q i qi

So, defining = as the generalized component of force:

= ( ) (21)

Now, if the forces acting on the body are conservative, we have a relation between the
generalized force and potential energy :

= (22)

Where the potential ( , ), Thus, (21) can be rewritten as:

( ) + =0 (23)

3
 V
Since V(qi , t) the derivative = 0 and (23) can be written as:
q i

( ) ( ) + =0 (24)

Rewrite (24) to be

d (TV) (TV)
[ ][ ]=0 (25)
dt q i qi

Now, if we define the Lagrangian to be L = (T V).

Thus we can write the lagrangian equation of motion:

( ) = 0, = 1,2,3, , (26)

Conservative force

A conservative force is a force with the property that the work done in moving a particle
between two points is independent of the taken path. Equivalently, if a particle travels in a
closed loop, the net work done (the sum of the force acting along the path multiplied by the
distance travelled) by a conservative force is zero.

A conservative force is dependent only on the position of the object. If a force is

conservative, it is possible to assign a numerical value for the potential at any point. When
an object moves from one location to another, the force changes the potential energy of the
object by an amount that does not depend on the path taken. If the force is not conservative,
then defining a scalar potential is not possible, because taking different paths would lead to
conflicting potential differences between the start and end points.

Gravity is an example of a conservative force, while friction is an example of a

non-conservative force.

Example 1: Use the free body diagram method to drive the differential equation governing
the motion of the system shown in Figure 1, using x1 , x2 and x3 as generalized coordinates.
Repeat the solution using the Lagranges equations and write the obtained equations in
matrix form.

4
 Figure 1

Solution:

1) Using the free body diagram method:

[ 2 + 3] 1 () [2] 2 () = 0

in time domain we write:

1 + 3 1 22 = 0 (27a)

21 + 2 2 + 32 3 = 0 (27b)

2 + 2 3 + 3 = 0 (27c)

2) Using Lagranges equations method:

The kinetic energy of the system at any arbitrary instant is

1 1 1
T = Mx 12 + 2Mx 22 + 2Mx 32 (28)
2 2 2

The potential energy of the system at any arbitrary instant is

1 1 1
V = Kx12 + 2K(x2 x1 )2 + K(x3 x2 )2 (29)
2 2 2

The Lagrangian L = (T V) thus

M 2 K K
L= x + Mx 22 + Mx 32 x12 K(x2 x1 )2 (x3 x2 )2 (30)
2 1 2 2

5
Application of Lagranges equation leads to

( ) = 0, = 1,2,3, Hence

Mx1 + Kx1 2K(x2 x1 ) = 0 (31a)

2Mx2 + 2K(x2 x1 ) K(x3 x2 ) = 0 (31b)

2Mx3 + K(x3 x2 ) = 0 (31c)

Expressing (31) in matrix form yields

0 0 x 1 3K 2K 0 x1 0
[0 2 0 ] [x 2 ] + [2K 3K K] [x2 ] = [0] (32)
0 0 2 x 3 0 K K x3 0

Example 2: Use Lagranges equations to drive the differential equation governing the motion
of the system shown in Figure 2, using x1 , x2 and x3 as generalized coordinates. Write the
obtained equations in matrix form.

Figure 2

Solution:

The kinetic energy of the system at any arbitrary instant is

1 1
T = Mx 12 + Mx 22 + Mx 32 (33)
2 2

The potential energy of the system at any arbitrary instant is

6
 1 1 1
V = Kx12 + K(x2 x1 )2 + K(x3 x2 )2 (34)
2 2 2

If the variations x1 , x2 and x3 are introduced when the system is in an arbitrary state, the
work done by the forces in the viscous dampers is

= [ 1 1 + ( 3 2 )(3 2 ) + 2 3 3 ]

= 1 1 + ( 3 2 )2 (3 3 2 )3 (35)

The Lagrangian L = (T V) thus

1 1 1 1 1
= 12 + 22 + 32 12 (2 1 )2 (3 2 )2 (36)
2 2 2 2 2

Application of Lagranges equation leads to

d L L
( ) = , = 1,2,3, Hence
dt x i xi

21 + 1 (2 1 ) = 1 (37a)

2 + (2 1 ) (3 2 ) = ( 3 2 ) (37b)

3 + (3 2 ) = (3 3 2 ) (37c)

Using matrix form equations (37) are represented as:

2 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0
[ 0 0 ] [ 2 ] + [ 0 ] [ 2 ] + [ 2
] [ 2 ] = [0] (38)
0 0 3 0 3 3 0 3 0