Problems

Springs play a very important role in the automotive industries. It usually applies in the suspension
system of automobiles as a mass damper system. Springs make up for irregularities in the road
surface, maintain the suspension system at a predetermined height and support added weight
without excessive sagging. Owing to its crucial application in the automobile system, properties
of springs have become a major concern of automobile manufacturers. Thus, springs have to be
tested and examined before being fitted into vehicles. One important parameter of springs is the
spring constant, k which defines its properties such as stiffness and strength. Different types of
materials and designs of the springs will have different k values.

Figure 1.1: Spring system.

You are required to model a mass spring damper system resembles a car suspension system of
vehicles. Given six types of springs made of different materials, with different spring constants, k,
costs and manufacturers
Spring Materials Spring constant Costs
A Alloy Steel 1 RM200
B Copper 1.5 RM210
C Stainless Steel 2 RM220
D High Carbon 2.5 RM230
E Monel 3 RM190
F Hastelloy 3.5 RM180
a) Store the information of each spring so that you can access their info easily when designing.
(Chapter 2.6 & 2.7: Structure arrays and cell arrays)

b) Calculate the force applied on each spring needed to produce a compression, x of 3 meters.
Display the data in a table. (fprintf)

c) Create a histogram to show the range of force needed to produce a compression,x of 3

meters and their frequencies. (histogram)

d) Create a script to allow user to calculate the force needed to exert a compression of x(input)
for different springs. Choose the best spring for car suspension purpose.
(Chapter 4.6: The switch structure)

e) The spring determined is used to make car suspensions for Vehicle A. Force exerted on the
spring must not more than 50kN or else it will be permanently deformed. Calculate the
maximum compression of the spring. (while loop)

f) Display the change of force to be exerted on the spring, F when spring compression, x
changes from x = 0 to x = 500 meters. Plot a graph of F against x and find F when x = 253
meters. (plot, interpolate)

𝑑𝐹 𝑑𝐹
g) Find and plot a graph of against spring compression, x. Find an equation which
𝑑𝑋 𝑑𝑋
best fits the data. (polyfit, plot)

h) Calculate work done, W on the spring in this compression range. (integration)

The car suspension system is modeled in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Model of spring mass damper system.

The response of an unforced system given by the equation:

𝑑2𝑠 𝑑𝑠
𝑚 2
+ 𝑐 + 𝑘𝑠 = 0
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

Where ξ = damping ratio

m = mass (kg)
k = spring constant (N/m)
s(0) = initial displacement (m)
t = time (s)
𝑑𝑠
(0) = initial velocity (m/s2)
𝑑𝑡

i) Solve the response of the system for five cycles with the variable values as below:

𝑑𝑠
ξ = 0.1; m = 1kg; k = 100N/m; s(0) = 0.02m; (0) = 0;
𝑑𝑡

j) Plot displacement, s against time, t.

Chapter 2
Subtopic No Command Function
2.1 1 () Parentheses; encloses function arguments and array indices;
2 [] Brackets; encloses array elements.
3 , Comma; separates statements, and elements in a row of an array.
4 ; Semicolon; separates columns in an array, and suppresses display.
5 ‘ Quote sign and transpose operator.
6 : Colon; generates regularly spaced elements and represents an entire row or
column.
7 find(x) Computes an array containing the indices of the nonzero elements of the
array x.
8 [u,v,w] = Computes the arrays u and v, containing the row and column indices of the
find(A) nonzero
elements of the matrix A, and the array w, containing the values of the
nonzero
elements. The array w may be omitted.
length(A) Computes either the number of elements of A if A is a vector or the largest
value of
m or n if A is an m * n matrix.
linspace(a,b,n) Creates a row vector of n regularly spaced values between a and b.
logspace(a,b,n) Creates a row vector of n logarithmically spaced values between a and b.
[x,k] = max(A) Similar to max(A) but stores the maximum values in the row vector x and
their indices in the row vector k.
[x,k] = min(A) Same as [x,k] = max(A) but returns minimum values.
norm(x) Computes a vector’s geometric length
size(A) Returns a row vector [m n] containing the sizes of the m * n array A
sort(A) Sorts each column of the array A in ascending order and returns an array the
same size as A.
sum(A) Sums the elements in each column of the array A and returns a row vector
containing the sums.
2.2 cat Concatenates arrays.
2.3 + array addition
- array subtraction
.* Array multiplication
./ Array right division
.\ Array left division
.^ Array exponentiation
2.4 eye(n) Creates an n * n identity matrix.
eye(size(A)) Creates an identity matrix the same size as the matrix A.
ones(n) Creates an n * n matrix of ones.
ones(m,n) Creates an m * n array of ones.
ones(size(A)) Creates an array of ones the same size as the array A.
zeros(n) Creates an n * n matrix of zeros.
zeros(m,n) Creates an m * n array of zeros.
 zeros(size(A)) Creates an array of zeros the same size as the array A.
2.5 det(A) Computes the determinant of the array A.
inv(A) Computes the inverse of the matrix A.
pinv(A) Computes the pseudoinverse of the matrix A.
rank(A) Computes the rank of the matrix A.
rref([A b]) Computes the reduced row echelon form corresponding to the augmented
matrix [Ab].
x =inv(A)*b Solves the matrix equation Ax = b using the matrix inverse.
x = A\b Solves the matrix equation Ax = b using left division
2.6 conv(a,b) Computes the product of the two polynomials described by the coefficient
arrays a and b.The two polynomials need not be the same degree. The result
is the coefficient array of the product polynomial.
[q,r] =deconv Computes the result of dividing a numerator polynomial, whose coefficient
(num,den) array is num, by a denominator polynomial represented by the coefficient
array den. The quotient polynomial is given by the coefficient array q, and
the remainder polynomial is given by the coefficient array r.
poly(r) Computes the coefficients of the polynomial whose roots are specified by the
vector r. The result is a row vector that contains the polynomial’s
coefficients arranged in descending order of power.
polyval(a,x) Evaluates a polynomial at specified values of its independent variable x,
which can be a matrix or a vector. The polynomial’s coefficients of
descending powers are stored in the array a. The result is the same size as x.
roots(a) Computes the roots of a polynomial specified by the coefficient array a. The
result is a column vector that contains the polynomial’s roots.
2.7 {} Braces; encloses cell elements
2.8 fieldnames Returns field names in a structure array.
isfield Identifies a structure array field.
isstruct Identifies a structure array.
rmfield Removes a field from a structure array.
struct Creates structure array.

Chapter 3
Subtopic No Command Function
3.1