Hibbeler Problem 12.

19

A car is to be hoisted by elevator to the fourth floor of a parking garage, which is 48 ft above the
ground. If the elevator can accelerate at 0.6 ft/s^2 , decelerate at 0.3ft/s^ 2, and reach a
maximum speed of 8 ft/ s, determine the shortest time to make the lift, starting from rest and
ending at rest.

Note: Units in ft and s.

accel := 0.6 decel := −0.3 vmax := 8 height := 48 v0 := 0

Stage 1: Accelerate from 0 to max vel. vmax.

y1 denotes the vertical distance traveled during accel:

2 2
2 2 v0 − vmax
vmax = v0 + 2 ⋅ accel⋅ y1 thus y1 := − y1 = 53.333
2 ⋅ accel

Stage 3: Decelerate from vmax to zero.

y3 denotes the vertical distance traveled during accel:

2 2
2 2 v0 − vmax
v0 = vmax + 2 ⋅ decel⋅ y3 thus y3 := y3 = 106.667
2 ⋅ decel
The sum y1+y3 is greater than 48 ft, therefore the elevator will switch from accel to decel
without reaching the max. velocity. Below, the switching point is labeled y.
2
2 2 vmax
From vmax = v0 + 2 ⋅ accel⋅ y we get y := (1)
2 ⋅ accel
Inserting (1) into the decel equation gives:
⎛ ⎞
(0 − vmax2) = decel⋅(48 − y) or − (vmax
2 2
1 ) vmax
= decel⋅ ⎜ 48 − ⎟
2 2 ⎝ 2 ⋅ accel ⎠
decel⋅ ( accel − decel)
4 ⋅ 6 ⋅ accel⋅ −
accel
the max. velocity results as vmax :=
accel − decel

vmax = 4.382
2 2
v0 − vmax
having found vmax, we can now determine y1 as y1 := − thus y1 = 16 ft.
2 ⋅ accel
y2 results as 48-16 = 32 ft. The transport times for each segment are found from
vmax
v = v0 + a*t, thus upward t1 := or t1 = 7.303 s. similarly t3 is found as
accel
vmax
d t3 := − or t3 = 14.606 s .The total travel time is then t := t1 + t3 or t = 21.909 s
decel