School of Engineering
r = r e
1
1 d 2
r e
r dt
Note that these are vector equations with components in the radial er and tangential e
r = r r 2
er +
directions. The position of the capsule at any time is given by the radial distance r, taken
from the centre of the Earth, and the angle (which can have an arbitrary reference, say,
zero at time t = 0). To determine the motion of the capsule, we need to determine the
acceleration and then integrate to get velocity and position.
Figure 1 shows the capsule of mass m on its descent trajectory and figure 2 shows the
forces acting on the capsule.
Figure 1
Figure 2
With gravitational force F and aerodynamic forces L and D acting on the capsule, the
radial acceleration can be written as
E
r r 2 =
r2
D
L
sin w +
cos w
m
m
V is the vehicle speed in the inertial frame of reference (i.e. the magnitude of the
velocity vector r ). The flight-path angle, , is the angle that the inertial velocity vector
makes with the local horizontal. This angle can be computed as
= tan1
vr
vt
where vr = r and vt = r are the radial and tangential velocity components in the inertial
frame. Note that, for a descent trajectory, will have negative values and can be correctly
computed, even for zero values of vt , with the atan2 function in the math module.
To get an estimate of the aerodynamic forces acting on the capsule, we shall make the
approximation that the Earth and its atmosphere rotate together, much like a rigid body.
If the capsule enters the atmosphere with its velocity going in the same direction as the
Earths surface, the velocity components of the capsule with respect to the atmospheric
air will be
vrg = vr = r ; vtg = vt E r ;
where the angular velocity of the Earth is E = 7.292 105 rad/s. The direction of the
apparent wind can then be computed as
w = tan1
vrg
vtg
2
2
Vg = vtg
+ vrg
1
2
where x is the state vector describing the system at any instant in time. We shall
choose our state vector to be
r
x0
x
x=
r
x2
x3
x =
When evaluating this vector of derivatives, we already have r and as part of our state
information but we need to calculate the other pair from our equations of motion
r =
E
r2
L
D
sin w +
cos w + r 2
m
m
D cos w
L sin w 2r
=
m
r
m
r
r
Tasks
1. Read one or more of the following:
sections 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.5 of Gerald & Wheatleys text book Applied Numerical Analysis;
sections 8.1 through 8.4 of Schilling & Harris text book Applied Numerical
Methods for Engineers;
sections 3.9 and 3.10 of Lermans text book Problem Solving and Computation
for Scientists and Engineers.
Summarize the important parts in your workbook.
2. Build ODE integration functions in Python that can be used to integrate a system
of N first-order ordinary differential equations using both Eulers method and the
fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Test the integrators on the system of equations
dy
= (x 1)y ,
dt
dx
= (1 y)x ,
dt
using initial conditions x(0) = 0.5, y(0) = 0.5. These equations are for a predatorprey ecological system where x represents the population (in thousands, say) of
prey and y represents the population of the predator. Integrate from t = 0 to t = 10
using a step size 0.04 and plot samples of y versus x. A sample solution (example
8.3.2 in Schilling & Harris) is illustrated here.
Figure 3
Predator-prey with x(0)=[0.5;0.5]. Ex 8.3.2 Schilling & Harris.
2.2
2
1.8
1.6
x2
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.2
x1
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.2
Altitude, m
80000
60000
40000
20000
-20000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
V relative to ground, m/s
10000
12000