Jorge Angeles

Spatial
Kinematic Chains
Analysis - Synthesis - Optimization

With 67 Figures

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg NewYork 1982

JORGE ANGELES
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
C. Universitaria
p. O. Box 70-256
04360 Mexico, D. F., Mexico

ISBN 978-3-642-48821-4 ISBN 978-3-642-48819-1 (eBook)

DOl 10.1007/978-3-642-48819-1

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2061/3020 - 543210
ForelVord

The author committed himself to the writing of this book soon after he
started teaching a graduate course on linkage analysis and synthesis at
the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico (UNAM) , in 1973. At that
time he found that a great deal of knowledge on the subject, that had
already been accumulated, was rather widespread and not as yet fully
systematised. One exception was the work of B. Roth, of Stanford
University, which already showed outstanding unity, though appearing
only in the form of scientific papers in different journals. Moreover,
the rate at which new results were presented either in specialised
journals or at conferences allover the world, made necessary a recording
of the most relevant contributions.

On the other hand, some methods of linkage synthesis, like the one of
Denavit and Hartenberg (See Ch. 4), were finding a wide acceptance. It
was the impression of the author, however, that the rationale behind
that method was being left aside by many a researcher. Surprisingly,
he found that virtually everybody was taking for granted, without giving
the least explanation, that the matrix product, pertaining to a coordinate
transformation from axes labelled 1 to those labelled n, should follow an
order that is the inverse of the usual one. That is to say, whereas the
logical representation of a coordinate transformation from axes 1 to 3,
passing through those labelled 2, demands that the individual matrices
~12 and !23 be multiplied in the order !23~12' the application of the
method of Denavit and Hartenberg demands that they be placed in the
inverse order, i.e. !12!23. It is explained in Chapter 4 why this is so,
making use of results derived in Chapter 1. In this respect, the author
departs from the common practice. In fact, while the transformations
involving an affine transformation, i.e. a coordinate transformation, are
usually represented by 4 x 4 matrices containing information about both
the rotation and the translation, the author separates them into a matrix
containing the rotation of axes and a vector containing their translation.
The reason why this is done is far more than a matter of taste. As a
matter of fact, it is not always necessary to carry out operations on both
VI

the rotation and the translation parts of the transformation, as is the

case in dealing with spherical linkages. One more fundamental reason
why the author departs from that practice is the following: in order to
comprise both the rotation and the translation of axes in one single
matrix, one has to define arbitrarily arrays that are not really vectors,
for they 'contain a constant component. From the beginning, in Chapter 1,
it is explained that only linear transformations are representable by
matrices. Later on, in Chapter 2, it is shown that a rigid_body motion,
in general, is a nonlinear transformation. This transformation is
linear only if the motion is about a fixed point, which is also
rigorously proven.

All wrough, the author has attempted to establish the rationale behind the
methods of analysis, synthesis and optimisation of linkages. In this
respect, Chapter 2 is crucial. In fact, it lays the foundations of
the kinematics of rigid bodies in an axiomatic way, thus attempting to
follow the trend of rational mechanics lead by Truesdell l • This Chapter
in turn, is based upon Chapter 1, which outlines the facts of linear
algebra, of extrema of functions and of numerical methods of solving
algebraic linear and nonlinear systems, that are resorted to throughout
the book. Regarding the numerical solution of equations, all possible
cases are handled, i.e. algorithms are outlined that solve the said
system, whether linear or nonlinear, when this is either underdetermined,
determined or overdetermined. Flow diagrams illustrating the said
algorithms and computer subprograms implementing them are included.

The philosophy of the book is to regard the linkages as systems capable

of being modelled, analysed, synthesised, identified and optimised. Thus
the methods and philosophy introduced here can be extended from linkages,
i.e. closed kinematic chains, to robots and manipulators, i.e, open
kinematic chains.

Back to the first paragraph, whereas early in the seventies the need to
write a book on the theory and applications of the kinematics of mechanical

1. Truesdell C., "The Classical Field Theories", in FlQgge S., ed.,

Encyclopedia of Physics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1960
 VII

systems was dramatic, presently this need has been fulfilled to a great
extent by the publishing of some books in the last years. Within these, one
2
that must be mentioned in the first place is that by Bottema and Roth , then
the one by Duffy3 and that by Suh and Radcliffe 4 , just to mention a couple of the
recently published contributions to the specialised literature in the
English language. The author, nevertheless, has continued with the publication
of this book because it is his feeling that he has contributed with a new
point of view of the subject from the very foundations of the theory to the
methods for application to the analysis and synthesis of mechanisms. This
contribution was given a unified treatment, thus allowing the applications
to be based upon the fundamentals of the theory laid down in the first two
chapters.

Although this book evolved from the work done by the author in the course of
the last eight years at the Graduate Division of the Faculty of Engineering-
UNAM, a substantial part of it was completed during a sabbatical leave spent
by him at the Laboratory of Machine Tools of the Aachen Institute of Technology,
in 1979, under a research fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation,
to whom deep thanks are due.

The book could have not been completed without the encouragement received
from several colleagues, among whom special thanks go to Profs. Bernard Roth
of Stanford University, GUnther Dittrich of Aachen Institute of Technology,
Hiram Albala of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Justo Nieto of
Valencia (Spain) Polytechnic University. The support given by Prof. Manfred
Weck of the Laboratory of Machine Tools, Aachen, during the sabbatical leave
of /the author is very highly acknowledged. The discussiowheld with Dr. Jacques
M. Herve, Head of the Laboratory of Industrial Mechanics- Central School of
Arts and Manufactures of Paris, France, contributed highly to the completion
of Chapter 3.

2 Bottema O. and Roth B., Theoretical Kinematics, North-Holland Publishing, Co.,

Amsterdam, 1979.
3 Duffy J., Analysis of Mechanisms and Robot Manipulators, Wiley-Interscience,
Sommerset, N.J., 1980.
4 Such C. - H. and Radchiffe C.W., Kinematics and Mechanisms Design, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., N.Y., 1978.
VIII

The students of the author who, to a great extent are responsible for the
writing of this book, are herewith deeply thanked. Special thanks are due
to the former graduate students of the author, Messrs. Carlos Lopez, Candido
Palacios and Angel Rojas, who are responsible for a great deal of the computer
programming included here. Mrs. Carmen Gonzalez Cruz and Miss Angelina Arellano
typed the first versions of this work, whereas Mrs. Juana Olvera did the final
draft. Their patience and very professional work is highly acknowledged.
Last, but by no means least, the support of the administration of the Faculty
of Engineering-UNAM, and particularly of its Graduate Division, deserves a
very special mention. Indeed, it provided the author with all the means
required to complete this task.
To extend on more names of persons or institutions who somehow contributed
to the completion of this book would give rise to an endless list, for which
reason the author apologises for unavoidable omissions that he is forced to
make.

Paris, January 1982

Jorge Angeles
Contents

1. MATHEMATICAL PRELIMINARIES
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Vector space, linear dependence and basis
of a vector space 1
1.2 Linear transformation and its matrix representation 3
1.3 Range and null space of a linear transformation 7
1.4 Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a linear
transformation 7
1. 5 Change of basis 9
1.6 Diagonalization of matrices 12
1.7 Bilinear forms and sign definition of matrices 14
1.8 Norms, isometries, orthogonal and unitary matrices 20
1.9 properties of unitary and orthogonal matrices 21
1.10 Stationary points of scalar functions of a
vector argument 22
1.]1 Linear algebraic systems 25
1.12 Numerical solution of linear algebraic systems 29
1.13 Numerical solution of nonlinear algebraic systems 39
References 56

2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RIGID-BODY THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATICS 57

2.1 Introduction 57
2.2 Motion of a rigid body 57
2.3 The TheQrem of Euler and the revolute matrix 61
2.4 Groups of rotations 76
2.5 Rodrigues' formula and the cartesian
decomposition of the rotation matrix 80
2.6 General motion of a rigid body and Chasles'
Theorem 85
2.7 Velocity of a point of a rigid body rotating
about a fixed point 119

2.8 Velocity of a moving point referred to a

moving observer 124
2.9 General motion of a rigid body 1 26
x

2.10 Theorems related to the velocity distribution

in a moving rigid body 149
2.11 Acceleration distribution in a rigid body
moving about a fixed point 157
2.12 Acceleration distribution in a rigid body
under general motion 159
2.13 Acceleration of a moving point referred to a
moving observer 163
References 166

3. GENERALlTlES ON LOWER-PAlR KINEMATIC CHAINS 167

3.1 Introduction 167
3.2 Kinematic pairs 167
3.3 Degree of freedom 168
3.4 Classification of lower pairs 168
3.5 Classification of kinematic chains 176
3.6 Linkage problems in the Theory of Machines
and Mechanisms 186
References 188

4. ANALYSIS OF MOTIONS OF KINEMATIC CHAINS 189

4.1 Introduction 189
4.2 The method of Denavit and Hartenberg 189
4.3 An alternate method of analysis 208
4.4 Applications to open kinematic chains 215
References 218

219
5. SYNTHESIS OF LINKAGES
5.1 Introduction 219
5.2 Synthesis for function generation 219
5.3 Mechanism synthesis for rigid-body guidance 246
5.4 A different approach to the synthesis problem
for rigid-body guidance 270
5.5 Linkage synthesis for path generation 284
5.6 Epilogue 291
References 292
 XI

6. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE OPTIMAL SYNTHESIS OF

LINKAGES 294
6.1 Introduction 294
6.2 The optimisation problem 295
6.3 Overdetermined problems of linkage synthesis 296
6.4 Under determined problems of linkage
synthesis subject to no inequality
constraints 309
6.5 Linkage optimisation subject to
inequality constraints. Penalty
function methods 321
6.6 Linkage optimisation subject to inequality
constraints. Direct methods 332
References 352

Appendix Algebra of dyadics 354

Appendix 2 Derivative of a determinant with respect 357
to a scalar argument
Appendix 3 Computation of EijkElmn 360
Appendix 4 Synthesis of plane linkages for rigid-
body guidance 362

Subject Index 364

1. Mathematical Preliminaries

1.0 INTRODUCTION. Some relevant mathematical results are collected in this

chapter. These results find a wide application within the realm of analysis,

synthesis and optimization of mechanisms. Often, rigorous proofs are not

provided; however a reference list is given at the end of the chapter, where

the interested reader can find the required details.

1.1. VECTOR SPACE, LINEAR DEPENDENCE AND BASIS OF A VECTOR SPACE.

A vector space, also called a linear space, over a field F (1.1)* , is a

set V of objects, called vectors, having the following properties:

a) To each pair {~, ¥} of vectors from the set, there corresponds one

(and only one) vector, denoted ~ + ¥, also from V, called "the addition

of x and y" such that

i) This addition is commutative, i.e.

ii) It is associative, i.e., for any element z of V,

~
-
+ (y + z) = (x + y) + z
_... -
iii) There exists in V a unique vector Q, called "the zero of V",

such that, for any ~ e V,

x + 0 = x

iv) To each vector x e V, there corresponds a unique vector -~, also

in V, such that

* Numbers in brackets designate references at the end of each chapter.

2

b) To each pair {a ,~}, where a E F (usually called "a scalar") and! E V,

there corresponds one vector a~ EV, called "the product of the scalar

a times ~", such that:

i) This product is associative, i.e. for any S E F,

a(Sx) = (as)x

ii) For the identity 1 of F (with respect to multiplication) the following

holds

1x =x
c) The product of a scalar times a vector is distributive, i.e.

i) a(x + y) ax + ay

ii) (a + S)x ax + Sx

Example 1.1.1. The set of triads of real numbers (x,y,z) constitute a

vector space. To prove this, define two such triads, namely (x 1 'Y1,z1) and

(x 2 'Y2,z2) and show that their addition is also one such triad and it is

commutative as well. To prove associativity, define one third triad,

(x 3 'Y3'x 3 ), and so on.

Example 1.1.2 The set of all polynomials of a real variable, t, of degree

less than or equal to n, for 0 ~t ~1, constitute a vector space over the

field of real numbers.

Example 1.1.3 The set of tetrads of the form (x,y,z,1) do not constitute

a vector space (Why?)

Given the set of vectors {~1'~2' ••• '~n} c V and the set of scalars

{a 1 ,a 2 , ••• ,a n } c F not necessarily distinct, a linear combination of the

n vectors is the vector defined as

 3

The said set of vectors is linearly independent (to i.) if c equals zero

implies that all a's are zero as well. Otherwise, the set is said to be

linearly dependent (to d.)

Example 1.1.4 The set containing only one nonzero vector, {x},is t.i.
Example 1.1.5 The set containing only two vectors, one of which is the

origin, {x,O}, is t.d.

The set of vectors {~1'~2""'~n} c V spans V if and only if every vector

v E V can be expressed as a linear combination of the vectors of the set.

A set of vectors B = {x 1 ,x 2 , ••• ,xn }cv is a basis for V if and only if:

i) B is linearly independent, and

ii) B spans V

All bases of a given space V contain the same number of vectors. Thus, if

B is a basis for V, the number n of elements of B is the dimension

of V (abreviated: n=dim V)

Example 1.1.6 In 3-dimensional Euclidean space the unit vectors {i, j}

lying parallel to the X and Y coordinate axes span the vectors in the X-Y

plane, but do not span the vectors in the physical three-dimensional space.

Exercise 1.1.1 Prove that the set B given above is a basis for V if and

only if each vector in V can be expressed as a unique linear combination of

the elements of B.

1.2 LINEAR TRANSFORMATION AND ITS MATRIX REPRESENTATION

Henceforth, only finite-dimensional vector spaces will be dealt with and,

when necessary, the dimension of the space will be indicated as an exponent

of the space, i.e., vn means dim V=n.

A transformation T, from an m-dimensional vector space U, into an n-dimensional

vector space V is a rule which establishes a correspondence between an

element of U and a unique element of V. It is represented as:

4

T: rf1 + y'll (1.2.1)

If u e: um and v e: vn are such that T: u + '!, the said correspondence may

also be denoted as

v = T(u) (1.2.3a)

T is linear if and only if, for any u, ~1 and ~2 e: u, and ~ e: F,

i) !(~1 + ~2) = !(~1) + !(~2) and (1.2.3b)

ii) 1'(~~) = ~1'(~) (1.2.3c)

Space rf1 over which 1: is defined is called the "domain" of T, whereas the
subspace of ~ containing vectors y for which eq. (1.2.3a) holds is called

the "range" of 'E. A subspace of a given vector space V is a subset of V and

is in turn a vector space, whose dimension is less than or equal to that

of V

Exercise 1.2.1 Show that the range of a given linear transformation of a

vector space U into a vector space V constitutes a subspace, i.e. it satisfies

properties a) to c) of Section 1.1.

For a given y e: U, vector y, as defined by (1.2.2) is called the "image of

- -
u under T" , or, simply, the "image of y" if t is selfunderstood.

An example of a linear transformation is an orthogonal projection onto a

plane. Notice that this projection is a transformation of the three-dimen-

sional Euclidean space onto a two-dimensional space (the plane). The domain

of l' in this case is the physical 3-dimensional space, while its range is

the projection plane.

If 1', as defined in (1.2.1), is such that all of V contains y's such that

(1.2.2) is satisfied (for some ~'s), l' is said to be "onto". I f ! is such

 5

that, for all distinct ~1 and ~2' ~(~1) and ~(~2) are also distinct, ! is
said to be one-to-one. If T is onto and one-to-one, it is said to be

invertible.

If T is invertible, to each v E V there corresponds a unique u E U such that

-1
y = !(y), so one can define a mapping T : V + U such that

U=T- 1 (v) (1.2.4)

T- 1 is called the "inverse" of T.

Exercise 1.2.2 Let P be the projection of the three-dimensional Euclidean

space onto a plane, say, the X-Y plane. Thus, v = p(u) is such that the

vector with components (x, y, z), is mapped into the vector with components

(x, y, 0).

i) Is P a linear transformation?

ii) Is P onto?, one-to-one?, invertible?

A very important fact concerning linear transformations of finite dimen-

sional vector spaces is contained in the following result:

Let L be a linear transformation from Urn into V~Let Band B be bases

u v
for urn and vn , respectively. Then clearly, for each U.E Bu its image L(u.)
_~ __ ~

E V can be expressed as a linear combination of the ~k's in Bv' Thus

(1.2.5)

Consequently, to represent the images of the m vectors of Bu' mn scalars

like those appearing in (1.2.5) are required. These scalars can be arranged

in the following manner:

(1.2.6)
6

where the brackets enclosing ~ are meant to denote a matrix, i.e. an array
of numbers, rather than an abstract linear transformation.
[~] is called "The matrix of L referred to Bu and Bv" This result is

summarized in the following:

'DErI NIT1 ON 1. 2 • 1 Th e -t. th c.olumn 0 l the ma;t.Ux ltepltU e.nttttion 0 6 ~ ,
1t.e6elt.lt.ed to Bu a.nd Bv' c.oYf.ta..i.n1, the .6 c.a.ta.Jt. c.oeU-i.c.ient6 a j-i. 06 the
lteplt.e.6en.ta;Uon (.i.n te.1rm6 06 Bvl 06 the -image 06 the -i. th vec.tolt 06 Bu
Example 1.2.1 What is the representation of the reflexion R of the 3-dimen
sional Euclidean space E3 into itself, with respect to one plane, say the
X-Y plane, referred to unit vectors parallel to the X,Y,Z axes?

Solution: Let i, j, k, be unit vectors parallel to the X, Y and Z axes,

respectively. Clearly,

R(i) i

R(j) j

R(k) =-k

Thus, the components of the images of i, j and k under Rare:

Hence, the matrix representation of R, denoted by [R], is

o 0

o o (1.2.7)

o o -1

Not~ce that, in this case, U V and so, it is not necessary to use two

different bases for U and V. Thus, (~), as given by (1.2.7), is the

matrix representation of the reflection R under consideration, referred

to the basis {i, j, k}

 7

1.3 RANGE AND NULL SPACE OF A LINEAR TRANSFORMATION

As stated in Section 1.2, the set of vectors v € V for which there is at

least one u € U such that v = L(~), as pointed out in Sect. 4.2., is called

"the range of L" and is represented as R(L), i.e. R(L) = (v=L(u): u E: U).
~

The set of vectors ~O € U for which ~(~o) = 0 € V is called '~he null space

of L" and is represented as N(L), Le. N(,P {~o:~(~o)=~}.

It is a simple matter to show that R(L) and N(L) are subspaces of V and U,

respectively*.

The dimensions of dom(L), R(L) and N(L) are not independent, but they are

related (see ~.~):

dim dom(L)=dim R(L) + dim N(L) (1.3.1)

Example 1.3.1 In considering the projection of Exercise 1.2.1, U is E3 and

thus R(~) is the X-Y plane, N(P) is the Z axis, hence of dimension 1. The

X-Y plane is two-dimensional and dom(L) is three-dimensional, hence (1.3.1)

holds.

Exercise 1.3.1 Describe the range and the null space of the reflection of
IExample 1.2.1 and verify that eq. (1.3.1) holds true.

1.4 EIGENVALUES AND EIGENVECTORS OF A LINEAR TRANSFORMATION

Let L be a linear transformation of V into itself (such an L is called an

"endomorphism"). In general, the image L(v) of an element v of V is linearly

independent with v, but if it happens that a nonzero vector v and its image

under L are linearly dependent, i.e. if

L(v) AV (1.4.1)

* The proof of this statement can be found in any of the books listed in
the reference at the end of this chapter.
8

such a v is said to be an eigenvector of L, corresponding to the eigenvalue

A. If [A] is the matrix representation of L, referred to a particular

basis then, dropping the brackets, eq. (1.4.1) can be rewritten as

Av AV (1.4.2)

or else

(A - AI)v = 0 (1.4.3)

where I is the identity matrix, i.e. the matrix with the unity on its

diagonal and zeros elsewhere. Equation (1.4.3) states that the eigenvectors

of Ltor of A, clearly) lie in the null space of A - AI. One trivial vector

v satisfying (1.4.3) is, of course, 0, but since in this context 0 has been

discarded, nontrivial solutions have to be sought. The condition for (1.4.3)

to have nontrivial solutions is, of course, that the determinant of A - AI

vanishes, Le.

det (A - AI) = 0 (1.4.4)

which is an nth order polynomial in A, n being the order of the square

matrix A (1.3). The polynomial

P(A)= det (A- AI)

is called "the characteristic polynomial" of A. Notice that its roots are

the eigenvalues of A. These roots can, of course, be real or complex; in

case peA) has one complex root, say Al, then Al is also a root of peA), Il

being the complex conjugate of Al. Of course, one or several roots could

be repeated. The number of times that a particular eigenvalue Ai is repeated

is called the algebraic multiplicity of Ai.

In general, corresponding to each Ai there are several linearly independent

eigenvectors of A. It is not difficult to prove (Try it!) that the i.i.

eigenvectors associated with a particular eigenvalue span a subspace. This

subspace is called the "spectral space" of Ai' and its dimension is called
 9

"the geometric mUltiplicity of Ai".

I
Exercise 1.4.1 Show that the geometric mUltiplicity of a particular eigen-

value cannot be greater than its algebraic mUltiplicity.

A Hermitian matrix is one which equals its transpose conjugate. If a matrix

equals the negative of its transpose conjugate, it is said to be skew Hermitian.

For Hermitian matrices we have the very important result:

THEOREM 1. 4.1 The eigenvalue6 06 a. He.ttJnU.i.a.n ma;tMx Me 1Le.ai. and La

eigenvec:toJL6 Me mutuaU.y oJLthogonai. Ii. e. the inneJL pltociuc:t, which ,fA

cU6clLMed in dUail. in Sec.. 1.8, 06 :two cLi.6:Und eigenvec:toJL6,,fA ZeJLoJ.

The proof of the foregoing theorem is very widely known and is not presented

here. The reader can find a proof in any of the books listed at the end of

the chapter.

1.5 CHANGE OF BASIS

Given a vector y , its representation (v 1 , v 2 , ••• ,vn)T referred to a basis

B = {~1'~2""'~n} , is defined as the ordered set of scalars that produce

y as a linear combination of the vectors of B. Thus, y can be expressed as

(1.5.1)

A vector y and its representation, though isomorphic* to each other, are

essentially different entities. In fact, y is an abstract algebraic entity

satisfying properties a),b) & c) of Section 1.1, whereas its representation

is an array of numbers. Similarly, a linear transformation, ~, and its

representation, (~)B' are essentially different entities. A question that

could arise naturally is: Given the representations (Y)B and (~)B of v

and L, respectively, referred to the basis B, what are the corresponding

* Two sets are isomorphic to each other if similar operations can be

defined on their elements.
10

representations referred to the basis C = {Y"Y2' ... 'Yn}?

Let (A)
_ B be the matrix relating both Band C, referred to B, i.e.

all a 12 ... a ln

a 21 a 22 a 2n

(A) B (1. 5.2)

anI a n2 a
nn

and

~1 all~1+a21~2+···+anl~n

~2 a12~1+a22~2+···+an2~n

Thus, calling vi the ith component of (v)

_ C , then

v = v 1'y_ 1 +v 2'y_ 2 + •.. +v'Y

n_n (1.5.4)

and, from (1.5.3), (1.5.4) leads to

v = LV ~ La .. S . (1.5.5)
j )i ~)-)

or, using index notation* for compactness,

-
v ;= a .. v!S.
~) )-~
(1.5.6)

Comparing (1.5.1) with (1.5.6),

v. Ct •• v ~ (1.5.7)
~ ~) )

1. e.

* According to this notation, a repeated index implies that a summation

over all the possible values of this index is performed.
 11

or, equivalently,

(1.5.8)

Now, assuming that ~ is the image of y under ~,

(1.5.9)

or, referring eq. (1.5.9) to the basis C, instead,

(1.5.10)

Applying the relationship (1.5.8) to vector ~ and introducing it into eq.

(1.5.10) ,

(~-l)B (~)B

from which the next relationship readily follows

(1.5.11)

Finally, comparing (1.5.9) with (1.5.11),

or, equivalently,

(1.5.12)

Relationships (1.5.8) and (1.5.12) are the answers to the question posed at

the beginning of this Section. The right hand side of (1.5.12) is a similar-

ity transformation of (~)B

Exercise 1.5.1 Show that, under a similarity transformation, the charac-

teristic polynomial of a matrix remains invariant.

Exercise 1.5.2 The trace of a matrix is defined as the sum of the elements

on its diagonal. Show that the trace of a matrix remains invariant under

a similarity transformation. Hint: Show first that, if ~, ~ and g are nxn

matrices,

Tr(~~N .
12

1.6 DIAGONALIZATION OF MATRICES

n
Let A be a symmetric nxn matrix and {A'}1 its set of n eigenvalues, some
~

of which could be repeated. Assume ~ has a set of n linearly independent*

eigenvectors, {~i} , so that

(1.6.1)

Arranging the eigenvectors of A in the matrix

Q = (e ,e , ... ,e ) (1.6.2)
-1 -2 -n

and its eigenvalues in the diagonal matrix

A = diag ("1'''2''''';\) (1 .6.3)

eq. (1.6.1) can be rewritten as

(1.6.4)

since the set {~i} has been assumed to be i.i., 9 is non-singular; hence

from (1.6.4)
-1
~=g ~g (1.6.5 )

which states that the diagonal matrix containing the eigenvalues of a matrix

~ (which has as many i.i. eigenvectors as its number of columns or rows)

is a similarity transforwation of ~; furthermore, the transformation matrix

is the matrix containing the components of the eigenvectors of A as its

columns. On the other hand, if ~ is Hermitian, its eigenvalues are real

and its eigenvectors are mutually orthogonal. If this is the case and the

set {e.} is normalized, i.e., if Ile.11 = 1, for all i, then

-~ -~
T
e.e. 0, i f. j (1.6.6a)
-~-J

T
e.e. (1.6.6b)
-~-~

* Some square matrices have less than n i.i eigenvectors, but these are
not considered here.
 13

where e~ is the transpose of e, (e, being a column vector, e~ is a row

-~ -~ -~ -~

vector). The whole set of equations (1.6.6), for all i and all j can then

be written as
T
QQ =I (1.6.7)

where I is the matrix with unity on its diagonal and zeros elsewhere. Eq.

(1.6.7) states a very important fact about Q, namely, that it is an

orthogonal matrix. Summarizing, a symmetric nxn matrix ~ can be diagonalized

via a similarity transformation, the columns of whose matrix are the eigenvec-

tors of ~

The eigenvalue problem stated in (1.6.1) is solved by first finding the

eigenvalues {Ai}~. These values are found from the following procedure:

write eq. (1.6.1) in the form

-
(A - A,I)e,=O
~- -~ - (1.6.8)

This equation states that the set {~1}~ lies in the null space of ~ - Ai!. For

this matrix to have nonzero vectors in its null space, its determinant should

vanish, i.e.

-
det(A-A,I)=P(A,)=O
~- ~
(1.6.9)

whose left hand side is its characteristic polynomial, which was introduced

in section 1.4. This equation thus contains n roots, some of which could

be repeated.

A very uS.eful result is next summarized, though not proved.

THEOREM (Cayiey-Ham.i.UonJ. A J..qUafte. ma:tJUx J..aU6 6,£e.J.. ~ OWn c.haftacteJrlA.ti..c.

e.q ua.ti..o n , L e.. -£6 P(A.J

.{.
iJ.. ~ c.haJtacteJrlA.ti..c. poiynomiai, ;the.n

P (6J = Q (1.6.10)

A proof ot this teorem can be found either in (1.3, pp. 148-150) or in

(1.4, pp. 112-115)

14

Exercise 1.6.1 A square matrix A is said to be strictly lower triangular

(SLT) if aij=O, for j~. On the other hand, this matrix is said to be

nillpotent of index k if k is the lowest integer for which Ak O.

i) Show that an nxn SLT matrix is nillpotent of index k<n.

ii) Show that an nxn SLT matrix A staisfies the following indentity:
-1 n k-1 k-1
(I+A) =E(-1) A
- - 1 -

The inverse of I+A appears very often in the solution of linear algebraic

systems by iterative methods.

1.7. BILINEAR FORMS AND SIGN DEFINITION OF MATRICES.

Given that the space of matrices does not constitute an ordered set (as is

the case for the real, rational or integer sets), it is not possible to

attribute a sign to a matrix. However, it will be shown that, if a bilinear

form (in particular, a quadratic form) is associated with a matrix, then

it makes sense to speak of the sign of a matrix. Before proceeding further,

some definitions are needed. Let u and ~ c U, U being a vector space defined

over the complex tield F. A bilinear form of ~ and y, represented as

~(~,y) is a mapping from U into F, having the following properties:

i) It is linear in y and conjugate linear in y:

(1.7.la)

~(a~,y)=a~(~,y) (1.7.lc)

~(~,J3y)= j~(~,y) (1.7.ld)

where a and J3 cF, their conjugates being a and 6, respectively.

 15

ii) ~(y,~) is the complex conjugate of ~(~,y), i.e.

~(y,~) '" ~(~,y) (1.7.le)

The foregoing properties of conjugate bilinear forms suggest that one possible

way of constructing a bilinear form is as follows:

Let (1.7.2)

provided that A is Hermitian, i.e. A=A*.

IExercise 1.7.1 Prove that definition (1.7.2) satisfies properties (1.7.1)

If, in (1.7.2), y =~, the bilinear form becomes the quadratic form

ljJ(~)=U*Au (1. 7 .3)

It will be shown that the bilinear form (1.7.2) defines a scalar product

for a vector space under certain conditions on A.

Definition: A scalar product, p(y,y), of two elements for a vector space U

is a complex number with the following properties:

i) It is Hermitian symmetric:

p(~,y) = p(y,~) (1 .7. 4a)

ii) It is conjugate linear in both ~ and y:

(1 .7. 4b)

(1. 7 .4c)

p(a.~,y) a.p (~,.y) (1. 7 .4d) *

p (~, ay) Bp(~,y) (1. 7 .4e)

iii) It is real and positive definite:

p(~,~»O, for ~, ~ Q (1 .7. 4f)

o (1.7.4g)

* Note: conjugate linear in y

16

From definition (1.7.2) and properties (1.7.1), it follows that all that

is needed for a bilinear form to constitute a scalar product for a vector

space is that it is positive definite (and hence, real). Whether a bilinear

form is positive definite or not clearly depends entirely on its matrix and

not on its vectors. The following definition will be needed:

A square nxn matrix is said to be positive definite if (and only if), the

quadratic form for any vector ~ ~ 0 associated to it is real and positive

and only vanishes for the zero vector. A positive definite matrix ~ is

symbolically designated as ~ > O. If the said quadratic form vanishes for

some nonzero vectors, then A is said to be positive semidefinite, symbol-

ically designated as ~ > O. Negative definite and negative semidefinite

matrices are similarly defined. Now:

THEOREM 1.7.1 Anlj .6qWVle mcttJu:x .u dec.ompoMble ..[nto :the .6um 06 a HeJorr.i;Uan
and a .6k.e.w HlVcmi;Uan paJLt (;th-U .u c.alled :the CalLtv.,..[an dec.omp0.6..[:t..[on 06
:the mcttJu:x)

Proof. write the matrix b in the form

A= l(A+A*) + l(A-A*) (1. 7.5)

2-- 2--

Clearly the first term of the right hand side is Hermitian and the second

one is skew Hermitian.

THEOREM 1.7.2 The qu.a.dJta.;t..[c. 601tm a..6.60cUa.:ted w..t:th a ma.:tJL£x ~ .u /teal ..[6 and

only ..[6 ~ .u HlVcmi;Uan. I:t.u ..[mag..[na.Jt1j ..[.6 and only ..[6 ~ .u .6k.e.w HeJorr.i;Uan.

Proof.

("if" part) Let A be Hermitian; then

and
 17

Since

then

Im {l/J(~)}=Q

On the other hand, if ~ is skew-Hermitian, then,

l/J(~)=g*~*~=-~*~~

and

Since

then

Re{l/J (~) }=Q

thus proving the "if" part of the theorem.

IExercise 1.7.2 Prove the "only if" part of Theorem 1.7.2

What Theorem 1.7.2 states is very important, namely that Hermitian matrices

are good candidates for defining a scalar product for a vector space, since

the associated quadratic form is real. What is now left to investigate is

whether this form turns out to be positive definite as well. Though this is

not true for any Hermitian matrix, it is (obviouly!) so for positive definite.

Hermitian matrices (by definition!). Futhermore, since the quadratic form

of a positive definite matrix must, in the first place, be real, and since,

for the quadratic form associated with a matrix to be real, the matrix must

be Hermitian (from Theorem 1.7.2), it is not necessary to refer to a positive

definite (or semidefinite) matrix as being Hermitian.

Summarizing: In order for the quadratic form (1.7.3) to be a scalar product,

b must be positive definite. Next, a very important result concerning an

easy characterization of positive definite (semidefinite) matrices is given.

18

THEOREM 1.7.3 A matJUx .iA P0.6,[tive. de.f,i.rUi:e. (.6 emide.f,i.rUi:e.) -in and only
-in ffi uge.l1vttfue..6 Me. all Mal. and glte.ateJt.:than (M e.qual. ;to) zeJt.o.

Proof. ("only if" part).

Indeed, if a matrix A is positive definite (semidefinite), it must be

Hermitian. Thus, it can be diagonalized (a consequence of Theorem 1.4.1).

Furthermore, once the matrix is in diagonal form, the elements on its

diagonal are its eigenvalues, which are real and greater than (or equal to)

zero. It takes on the form

A= (1.7.10)

A
n

where

A. > (» 0, i= 1 ,2, ••• , n

~ -
For any vector ~ i Q, by definition,

(1.7.11)

where the components of ~ (with respect to the basis formed with the

complete set of eigenvectors of ~) are

(1.7.12)

u
n
 19

Substitution of (1.7.10) and (1.7.12) into (1.7.11) yields

(1.7.13)

th
Now, assume u is such that all but its k-- component vanish; in this case,

(1.7.13) reduces to

from which

A >(»0
k -

and, since Ak can be any of the eigenvalues of ~, the proof of this part is

done. The proof of the "if" part is obvious and is left as an exercise for

the reader.

Exercise 1.7.2 Show that, if the eigenvalues of a square matrix are all

real and greater than (or equal to) zero, the matrix is positive definite

(semidefinite) •

A very special case of a positive definite matrix is the identity matrix,

!, which yields the very well known scalar product

(1.7.14)

In dealing with vector spaces over the real field, the arising inner product

is real and hence, from Schwarz's inequality (1.4, p.125).

thus making it possible to define a "geometry" for then, the cosine of the

angle between vectors u and v can be defined as

cos (u,v)
- - Ip(~,~)p(y,y)
20

For vector spaces over the complex field, such an angle cannot be defined,

for then the inner product is a complex number.

1.8 NORMS, ISOMETRIES, ORTHOGONAL AND UNITARY MATRICES.

Given a vector space V, a norm for y £ V is defined as a real-valued mapping

from y into a real number, represented by I Iyl I, such that this norm

i) is positive definite, i.e.

II y II > 0, for any y t- Q

Ilyll= 0 i f and only i f y = 0

ii) is linear homogeneous, i.e., for some a £ F (the field over which V is

defined) ,

II a,: II = I a II I': II

lal being the modulus (or the absolute value, in case a is real) of a.

iii) satisfies the triangle inequality, i.e. for ~ and y £ V,

II u+v
..... .... II < II u
.... II + II v... II

Example 1.8.1 Let vi be the ith component of a vector y of a space over the

complex field. The following are well defined norms for v:

-
Ilvll=maxlv.1
1<i<n ~
(1.8.1)

II~II=(~ Ix i I P)1/P (1.8.2)

1

where p is a positive integer. For p = 2 in (1.8.2) the corresponding norm

is the Euclidean norm, or the "magnitude" of v.

Norm (1.8.1) is easy and fast to compute, and hence it is widely used in

numerical computations. However, it is not suitable for physical or geomet-

rical problems since it is not invariant*, i.e. it depends on the coordinate

axes being used. The Euclidean norm has the advantage that it is invariant.

* Besides, there is no inner product associated with it and hence obiTiously

no "geometry"
 21

However, computing it requires n (the dimensiol the space to which the

vector under consideration belongs) multiplications (i.e. n square raisings),

n-l additions and one square root computation. In order to proceed further,

some more definitions are needed.

An invertible linear transformation is called an "isometry" if it preserves

the following scalar product

(1.8.3)

It is a very simple matter to show that, in order for a transformation ~ to

be an isometry, it is required that its transpose conjugate, E*, equals its

inverse, i. e . ,

(1.8.4)

If P is defined over the complex field and meets condition (1.8.4), then

it is said to be unitary. If E is defined over the real field, then ~*=~T,

the transpose of ~ and, if it satisfies (1.8.4), it is said to be orthogonal.

Exercise 1.8.1 Show that in order for P to be an isometry, it is necessary

and sufficient that!'.' satisfies (1.8.4), Le., show that under the similarity

transformation
-1
~=!'.'~, D= ~¥, ~=!'.'~

the scalar product (1.8.3) is preserved if P meets condition (1.8.4).

1.9 PROPERTIES OF UNITARY AND ORTHOGONAL MATRICES.

Some important facts about unitary and orthogonal matrices are discussed in

this section. Notice that all results concerning unitary matrices apply to

orthogonal matrices, for the latter are a special case of the former.

THEOREM 1.9.1 The & et 06 e.Lgenva1uu 06 a LlYlA.;ta.JtIj I'I1CWUX Uu on :the l1YI.U

C</tc1.e Iz I Z =' 1, c.en:teAed a:t :the oJUg-i.n 06 :the c.omp.e.ex p.e.ane.

22

Proof: Let g be an nxn unitary matrix. Let A be one of its eigenvalues and

~ a corresponding eigenvector, so that

Ue = Ae (1.9.1)

Taking the transpose conjugate of both sides of (1.9.1),

~*g*= A~* (1.9.2)

Performing the corresponding products on both sides of eqs. (1.9.1) and

(1.9.2) ,

A5:e*e (1.9.3)

But, since g is unitary, (1.9.3) leads to

2
e*e IAI ~*~

from which
2
I AI = 1,q.e.d.

COIWUaJuj 1.9.1 16 an Yl.XYI. urU;taJuj ma.tltix i.J:, 06 odd oftdeJt (L e. YI. i.J:, odd),

.then. U hct6 at .e.ect6.t oYl.e ftea..t ugen.vafue, wfU.c.h i.J:, U.theJt + 1 Oft -1,
IExercise 1.9.1 Prove Corollary 1.9.1

1 • 10 STATIONARY POINTS OF SCALAR FUNCTIONS OF A VE_CTOR ARGUMENT.

Let ~ = ~(~) be a (scalar) real function of a vector argument, ~, assumed to

be continuous and differentiable up to second derivatives within a certain

neighborhood around some ~O. The stationary points of this function are

defined as those values ~o of ~ where the gradient of ~, ~'(~) vanishes.

Each stationary point can be an extremum or a saddle point. An extremum, in

turn, can be either a local maximum or minimum. The function ~ attains a

local maximum at ~O if and only if

for any ~ in the neighborhood of ~O' i.e., for any ~ such that

E being an arbitrarily small positive number. A local minimum is corresp-

ondingly defined. If an extremum is neither a local maximum nor a local

 23

minimum, it i$ said to be a $addle point. Criteria to decide whether an

extremum is a maximum, a minimum or a saddle point are next derived.

An expansion of ~ around ~O in a Taylor series illustrates the kind of

stationary point at hand. In fact, the Tay·lor expansion of ~ is

where R is the residual, which contains terms of third and higher orders.

Then the increment of ~ at x O' for a given increment ~x = x-xO' is given by

T 1 T
M=~ I (~o) ~*¥~ ~"(*O) ~~ (1.10.2)

if terms of third and higher orders are neglected.

From eq. (1.10.2) it can be concluded that the linear pant of ~~ vanishes

at a stationary point, which makes clear why such poin~are called stationary.

Whether ~O constitutes an extremum or not, depends on the sign of ~~. It is

a maximum if ~~ is nonpositive for arbitrary ~~. It is a minimum if the said

increment is nonnegative for arbitrary ~~. If the sign of the increment

depends on ~~, then !O is a saddle point for reasons which are brought up

in the following. Eq. (1.10.2) shows that the sign of ~~ depends entirely

on the quadratic term, at a stationary point. Whether this term is nonposi-

tive or nonnegative, it is sufficient that the Hessian matrix ~"(x) be sign

semidefinite at xO' Notice, however, that this condition on the Hessian

matrix is only sufficient, but not necessary, for it is based on Eq. (1.10.2),

which is truncated after third-order terms. In fact, a function whose

Hessian at a stationary point is siqn-semidefinite can constitute either a

maximum, a minimum, or a saddle point as shown next.

From the foregoing discussion, the following theorem is concluded.

THEOREM 1.10.1 Eti:JLema and lladd£.e po,[n,U, 06 a d,[66eJLen:U.a.ble 6uncUon

oc.c.UIt at ll:ta;t[onaJUj po,[n,U,. FOIr. a 1l:tati.OYUVty po,[nt :to c.On6:tilu:te a loc.al

mauinum (mbumum) U ,[,6 llu6 Muent, aUhough no:t nec.ell.6a1Ly, :that :the
24

C.OMe6pOYUUng He6.6.ia.n ma.tJUx be nega.t.i.ve tpo.6.it.ive) .6em.ide6br.ite. FOJL

the M.id po.int to c.OYL.6tUu1:.e a. .6a.dd.e.e po.int, .it .i.6 .6u66.ic..ient that the
c.oMe6pond.ing He6.6.ia.n ma.tJUx M.gn-.indeMnUe at th.i.6 .6ta.t.i.OYl1Vl.Ij po.int.

A hypersurface in an n-dimensional space resembles a hyperbolic paraboloid

at a saddle point, the resemblance lying in the fact that, at its stationary

point, the sign of the curvature of the surface is different for each

direction. To illustrate this, consider the hyperbolic paraboloid of Fig

1.10.1 for which, when seen from, the X-axis, its stationary point (the

origin) appears as a minimum (positive curvature) , whereas, if seen from

the Y-axis, it appears as a maximum (negative curvature). In fact, it is

none of these.

Fig. 1. 10.1 Saddle point of a 3-dimensional surface

COItOUtVt!f 1.10.7 The qua.d!ta.t.i.c. 60ltm

~(z) = zT~z+bTz+c.
ha.6 a. un.ique ex.:tJr.emum at xo=-} ~-1 Q, .i6 6- 1 ex.i.6t.6. Th.i.6 .i.6 a. max.imwn

(min.imum) .i6 ~ .i.6 nega.t.i.ve (p0.6.it.ive) .6emideMnUe

 25

Exercise 1.10.1 Prove Corollary 1.10.7

4 4 4
Example 1.10.1 The function ~= x 1 + x 2 + .•. + xn has a local minimum

at x 1 = x 2 = ... = x n = o. The Hessian matrix of this function, however,

vanishes at this minimum.

4 4
Example 1.10.2 The function x 1 - x 2 has a stationary point at the origin,

which is a saddle point. Its Hessian matrix, however, vanishes at this point.
. 2 4h ..
Example 1.1 O .3 Th e funct10n x 1 + x 2 as a m1n1mum at (0,0). At this

point its Hessian matrix is positive semidefinite.

1. 11 LINEAR ALGEBRAIC SYSTEMS

Let A be an mxn matrix and x and b be n-and m-dimensional vectors where, in

general, m ~ n. Equation

Ax=b (1.11.1)

is a linear algebraic system. It is linear because, if ~1 and ~2 are

solutions to it for ~=~1 and ~=~2' and a and a are scalars, then a~1+S~2 is

a solution for b=ab +Sb 2 • It is algebraic as opposed to differential or

- -1 -
dynamic because it does 'not involve derivatives. There are three different

cases regarding the solution of eq. (1.11.1), depending upon whether m is

equal to, greater than or less than n. These are discussed next:

i) m=n. This is the best-known case and an extensive discussion of it

can be found in any elementary linear algebra textbook. The most

important result in this case states that if A is of full rank, i.e.

if det A ~ 0, then the system has a unique solution, which is given

by
-1
x=A b

ii) m>n. In this case the number of equations is greater than that of

unknowns. The system is overdetermined and there is no guarantee of

the existence of a certain ~o such that ~o=~.

A very simple example of such a system is the following:

26

x 1=3 (1.11.1b)

where m=2 and n=1. If x 1 =5, the first equation is satisfied but the

second one is not. If, on the other hand, x 1=3, the second equation

is satisfied, but the first one is not. However, a system with m>n could

have a solution, which could even be unique if, out of the m equations

involved, only n are linearly independent, the remaining m-n being

linearly dependent on the n i.i. equations. As an example, consider the

following system

x 1 +x 2 =5 (1. 11. 2a)

x 1 -x 2 =3 ( 1 . 11 .2b)

3x 1 +x 2 =13 (1.11.2c)

whose (unique) solution is

x 1=4,x 2 =1 (1.11.3)

Here equation (1.11.2c) is linearly dependent on (1.11.2a) and (1.11.2b).

In general, however, for m>n it is not possible to satisfy all the equations

of a system with more equations than unknowns; but it is possible to "satisfy"

them with the minimum possible error. Assume that ~O does not satisfy all

the equations of a mxn system, with m>n, but satisfies the system with the

least possible error. Ley ~ be the said error, i.e.

e=Ax -b (1. 11 .4)

- --0 -
The Euclidean norm of e is

(1.11.5)

Expanding I I~I 12, it is noticed that it is a quadratic form of ~O' i.e.

~(~O)= II ~ 11 =~O~ ~0-2~ ~O+~ ~

2 T T T T
(1.11.6)

The latter quadratic form has an extremum where ~'(~O) vanishes. The

corresponding value of ~, ~O' is found by setting ~'(~O) equal to zero, i.e.

 27

(1.11.7)

If A is of full rank, i.e., if rank {~)=n, then ~T~, a nxn matrix, is also

of rank n (1.4), Le. ATA is invertible and so, from eq. (1.11.5),

x =(ATA)-l ATb =A I b (1.11.8)

~O ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

where AI is a "pseudo-inverse" of ~, called the "Moore-Penrose generalised

inverse" of A. A method to determine ~O that does not require the

computation of AI is given in (1.5) and (1.6). In (1.7), an iterative

method to compute AI is proposed. The numerical solution of this problem

is presented in section 1.12. This problem arises in such fields as

control theory, curve-fitting (regressions) and mechanism synthesis.

iii) m<n. In this case the number of equations is less than that of unknowns.

Hence, if the system is consistent*, it has an infinity of solutions. For

instance, the system

x+y=3 (1.11.9)

in which m=1 and n=2, admits infinitely many solutions, namely all points

lying on the line

y=x+3 (1.11.10)

Now consider the system

x+y+z=1 (1.11.11a)

x+y-z=l (1.11.11b)

with m=2 and n=3. This system admits an infinity of solutions, provided

z=O. Otherwise, none.

In case a system with m<n admits a solution, it in fact admits infinitely

many, which is not difficult to prove. Indeed, partition matrix ~ and

vector ~ in the form

* i.e. if b € R{~)
28

A=
( I )T x= (1.11.12)
lA 1: A2 ; '

IE"
m n-m
)1

Thus, eq. (1.11.1) is equivalent to

A x +A x =b (1.11.13)
-1-1 _2_2 -
-1
In the latter equation, in rank (A 1 ) m, Al exists and a solution to (1.11.13:

is

(1.11.14)

where ~1 is unique, as was stated for the case m=n, and ~2 is a vector lying

in the null space of ~2. Clearly, there are as many linearly independent

solutions (1.11.12) as there are linearly independent vectors in the null

space of ~2.

From the foregoing discussion, in m<n, system (1.11.1) admits an infinity of

solutions. However, among those infinitely many solutions, there is exactly

one whose Euclidean norm is a minimum. That "optimal" solution is found

next, via a quadratic programming problem, namely,

(1.11.15)

subject to

Ax=b (1.11.16)

Applying the Lagrange multiplier technique (1.8), let ~ be an m-dimensional

vector whose components are called Lagrange multipliers. Define, then, the

new quadratic form

T T
-
~(x)=x x+A (Ax-b)
-
which reduces to the original one (1.11.151, when (1.11.16) is satisfied.
(1.11.17)

~(~) has an extremum where its gradient ~'(~l vanishes. The condition is
T
~' (~)=2~+~ ~=~ (1.11.18)

from which
 29

X =- l.,.
~ ~
T,
..
(1 11 19)

However, ~ is yet unknown. Substituting the value of ~ given in

(1.11.19), in (1.11.16), one obtains

_ ~T~=~ (1.11.20)

From which, if AAT is of full rank,

T -1
~ =-2 (M) l:? (1. 11. 21)

Finally, substituting the latter value of A into eq. (1.11.19),

T T -1 +
x=A (~) ~=~ ~ (1.11.22)

where

is another pseudo-inverse of ~.

EXerCise 1.11.1 Can both pseudo-inverses of ~, the one given in (1.11.8)

\
and that of (1.11.23) exist for a given matrix ~? Explain.

The foregoing solution (1.11.22) has many interpretations: in control theory

it yields the control taking a system from a known initial state to a desired

final one while spending the minimum amount of energy. In Kinematics it finds

two interpretations which will be given in Ch. 2, together with applications

to hypoid gear design.

Exercise 1.11.2 Show that the image of the error (1.11.4) is perpendicular

to ~O as given by (1.11.8). This result is known as the "Projection Theorem"

and finds extensive applications in optimisation theory (1.9).

1.12 NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF LINEAR ALGEBRAIC SYSTEMS

Consider the system (1.11.1) for all three cases discussed in section 1.11.

i) m=n. There are many methods to solve a linear algebraic

system for as many equations as unknowns, but all

30

of them fall into one o~ two categories, namely, a) direct methods and

b) iterative methods. Because the ~irst ones are more suitable to be

applied in nonlinear algebraic systems, which will be discussed in

section 1.13, only direct methods will be treated here. There is an

extensive literature dealing with interative methods, of which the

treatise by Varga (1.10) discusses the topic very extensively.

As to direct methods, Gauss'algorithm is the one which has received most

attention (1.11), (1.12). In (1.11) the LU decomposition algorithm is

presented and, with further refinements, in (1.12). The solution is

obtained in two steps:

In the first step the matrix of the system, ~, is factored into the

product of a lower triangular matrix, ~, times an upper triangular one,

!:!, in the form

A = LU (1.12.1)

where the diagonal of L contains ones in all its entries. Matrix U

contains the singular values of A on its diagonal, and all its elements

below the main diagonal are zero. The singular values of a matrix A are
T
the nonnegative square roots of the eigenvalues of ~~. These are real

and nonnegative, which is not difficult to prove.

Exercise 1.12.1 Show that if ~ is a nonsingular nxn matrix, ATA is positive

definite, and if it is singular, then ~T~ is positive semi-definite. (Hint:

compute the norm of ~t for arbitraty ~).

The ~y decomposition of ~ is performed via the DECOMP subprOgram appearing

in (1.12). If ~ happens to be singular, DECOMP detects this by computing

det ~, which is done performing the product of the singular values of ~,

and if this product turns out to be zero, sends a message to the user

thereby warning him that he cannot proceed any further.

 31

If ~ is not singular, the user calls the SOLVE subprogram, which computes

the solution to the system by back substitution, i.e. from (1.12.1) in

the following manner: The equation

!,<yx=!;> (1 • 12.2)

can be written as

by setting Ux=y. Thus

-1
y=L b=c (1.12.3)
-1
where ~ exists since det ~ (the product of the elements on the diagonal

of ~) is equal to one (1.11). Substituting (1.12.3) into p~=¥, one

obtains the final solution:
-1
~=y 9
-1
where U exists because ~ has been detected to be nonsingular*.

The flow diagram of the whole program appears in Fig 1.12.1 and the

listings of DECaMP and SOLVE in Figs. 1.12.2 and 1.12.3

ii) m>n. Next, the numerical solution of the overdetermined linear system

Ax=b is discussed. In this case the number of equations is greater than

that of unknowns and hence the sought "solution" is that ~O which

minimizes the Euclidean norm of the error ~O-~. This is done by appli-

cation of Householder reflections (1.5) to both A and b. A Householder

reflection is an orthogonal transformation H which has the property that

-1 T
H
- - -
=H =H (1.12.4)

Given an m-vector a with components a l , a 2 , •.• , a , the Householder

m

reflection H (a function of ~) defined as

* In fact, there is no need to explicitely compute ~

-1
and Y-1 ,for the
triangular structure of Land U permi~a recursive solution.
32

CALL DECaMP
A L U

CALL SOLVE
U ~ = y
-1
Y L b
-1
x U Y

Fig. 1.12.1 Flow diagram for the direct solution of a linear

algebraic system with equal number of equations
as unknowns
 33

SUBROUTINE DECOMPCN,NDIM,A.IP)
REAL ACNDIM.NDIM),T
INTEGER IPCNDIM)
C
C MATRIX TRIANGULARIZATION BY GAUSSIAN ELIMINATION
C
C INPUT
C N = ORDER OF MATRIX
C NDIM = DECLARED DIMENSION OF ARRAY A. IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
C A MATRIX TO BE TRIANGULARIZED
C
C OUTPUT :
C ACI,J), I.LE.J • UPPER TRIANGULAR FACTOR. U
C ACI,J), I.GT.J -MULTIPLIERS - LOWER TRIANGULAR FACTOR, I-L
C IPCK), K.LT.N =INDEX OF K-TH PIVOT ROW
C IPCN) = C-l)**CNUMBER OF INTERCHANGES) OR O.
C USE 'SOLVE' TO OBTAIN SOLUTION OF LINEAR SISTEM
C DETERMCA) - IPCN)*AC1,1)*AC2,2)* ••• *ACN.N)
C IF IPCN)=O, A IS SINGULAR, 'SOLVE' WILL DIVIDE DY ZERO
C INTERCHANGES FINISHED IN U, ONLY PARTLY IN L
C
IPCN)-1
DO 60 K-1,N
IFCK.EQ.N) GO TO 50
KP1=Kt1
M=K
DO 10 I=KP1,N
IFCABSCACI,K».GT.ABSCACM,K») M-I
10 CONTINUE
IPCK)=M
IFCM.NE.K) IPCN)=-IPCN)
T=ACM,K)
ACM,K)=ACK,K)
A(K,K)-T
IF(T.EQ.O) GO TO 50
DO 20 I-KP1,N
20 A(I,K)--ACI,K)/T
DO 40 J-KP1,N
T=A(M,J)
A(M,J)-ACK,J)
A(K,J)=T
IF(T.EQ.O.) GO TO 40
DO 30 I=KP1,N
30 A(I,J)-ACI,J)tACI,K)*T
40 CONTINUE
50 IF(A(K,K).EQ.O.) IPCN)=O
60 CONTINUE
RETURN
END

Fig. 1.12.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE DECOMP

Copyright 1972, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.,
reprinted by permission from [1.12]
34

SUBROUTINE SOI.,l.)E(N,NDIM"A.,,!'{,IP)
REAL A(NDIM.NDIM).BCNDIM).T
INTEGEI::: IP(NDIM)
c
C SOLUTION OF LINEAR SYSTEM. AtX = D
C
C INPUT t
C N ORDER OF MATRIX.
C NDIM DECLARED DIMENSIUN OF ARRAY A. IN 1HC MAIN PROGRAM
C A TRIANGULARIZED MATRIX ODTAINED rR8M 'DCCOMr'
C B RIGHT HAND SIDE VECTOR
C IP PIVOT VECTOR OBTAINED FROM 'DECOMP'
C DO NOT USE 'SOLVE' IF 'DECOMP' HAS SET IP(N)=O
c
C OUTPUT
c B SOLUTION VECTOR. X
C
IF(N.EQ.l) GO TO 90
NM1='N-'l
DO 70 1,,=0:1. ,NMl
1,,1"'1'''1',+:1.
M='IP(I\)
T""B(M)
B(M)"-B(I\)
B(K)"'T'
DO 70 I'''KP:I.,1\1
70 B(I'=B(I)+A(I.K)*T
DO BO I\H'"'l,NM:I.
I\M:I. '''N'-KB
K""I"M:I. +1
B(I\)=BCKI/ACK,I\)
T''' .... B(K)
DO BO 1''''1.I''Ml
BO B(Il-B(I)+A(I.I\)*T
90 B(1)-B(1)/AC1,l)
RETURN
END

Fig. 1.12.3 Listing of SUBROUTINE SOLVE

Copyright 1972, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.,
reprinted by permission from [1.12]
 35

ex sgn (a 1 ) II~II (1.12.5a)

u ~+Cl=1 (1.12.5b)

a ClU 1 (1.12.5c)
1 T
uu (1.12.5b)
~ -I- -a--
transforms ~ into -Cl~1' and reflects any other vector b about a hyperplane

perpendicular to ~.

On the other hand, if ~k is defined as

2 2 2 2
Clk sgn(ak ) (ak + a k + 1+·· .+ar.l) (1.12.6a)

(1.12.6b)

(1.12.6c)

(1.12.6d)

then ~k~ is a vector whose first k-1 components are identical to those of

~,
.
~ts
kth
- component is -Cl k and its remaining m-k components are all zero.

Furthermore, if v is any other vector, then

~kY =v - y~

where

and if, in particular, v k v 0, then

m
H v = v
-k- -
Let now ~i be the Householder reflection wich cancels the last m-i components

of the ith column of ~i-1~ , while leaving its i-1 components unchanged and
. . .th . . .
sett~ng ~ts ~- component equal to -Cl i , for ~=1, ••• ,n. By appl~cat~on of

the n Householder reflections thus defined, on A and b in the form

(1.12.7)
36

the original system is transformed into the following two systems

where ~1 is nxn and upper triangular, whereas ~; is the (m-n)xn zero matrix

and b ' is of dimension m-n and dLfferentfrom zero. Once the system is in
-2
upper triangular form, it is a simple matter to find the values of the

components of ~O by back substitution. Let a~. and b k* be the values of the

~J
th
(i, j) element of ~1 and the k-- component of ~1 respectively. Then, starting

from the nth equation of system (1.12.7),

a* x =b*
nn n n

x is obtained as
n
b*
n
x
n a*
nn

Substituting this value into the (n-1) st equation,

b*
a* x +a* ~ b*
n-1,n-1 n-1 n-1,na* n-1
nn
from which
b* b*
n-1 n
x n _ 1 = a* a*
n-1,n-1 nn

Proceeding similarly with the (n-2)nd, ••. ,2nd and 1st equations, the n

components of ~O are found. Clearly, then, ~; is the error in the approxi-

ma tion and II e;11 = II ~ ~ - eI I .

The foregoing Householder reflection method can be readily implemented in

a digital computer via the HECONP and HOLVE subroutines appearing in

(1.14), whose listings are reproduced in Figs 1.12.4 and 1.12.5.

Exercise 1.12.2 Show that, for any n-vector ~

T T
det(!+~ )=1+~ ~
 37

SUBROUTINE HECOMPCMDIM,M,N,A,U)
INTEGER MDIM,M,N
REAL ACMDIM,N),UCM)
REAL ALPHA,BETA,GAMMA,SQRT
C
r HOUSEHOLDER REDUCTION OF RECTANGULAR MATRIX TO UPPER
C TRIANGULAR FORM. USE WITH HOL.VE FOR LEAST-SQUARE
C SOLUTIONS OF OVERDETERMINED SYSTEMS.
C
j"' MDIM"" DECLARED ROW DIMENSION OF A
C M NUMBER OF ROWS OF A
C N NUMBER OF COLUMNS OF A
C A M-BY-N MATRIX WITH M.>.N
C INPUT :
("'
C OUTPUT:
C REDUCED MATRIX AND INFORMATION ABOUT REDUCTION
r' U M··-VECTOR
r INPUT :
c IGNOI:~ED
C OUTPUT:
C INFORMATION ABOUT REDUCTION
C
C FIND REFLECTION WHICH ZEROES ACI,K), 1= K+l, •••••••• ,M
C
DO 1'(':= :I., N
<'>
ALPHA'''' (). 0
DO :I. 1:=' I~,M
U(l):=, A(J,IO
ALPHA= ALPHA+UCI)*UCI)
:I. CONTINUE
ALPHA= SQRTCALPHA)
IF(U(I'().LT.O.O) ALPHA= -ALPHA
UCI'()= UCI'(,tALPHA
BETA= ALPHA*UCI'()
A(I'(, I'():= ····ALPHA
IF(BETA.EQ.O.O.OR.I'(.EQ.N) GO TO 6
("'
C APPLY REFLECTION TO REMAINING COLUMNS OF A
I'(P:I.= 1'(+:1.
DO 4 ,J,", I~Pl. N
GAMMA:::: 0.0
DO 2 I"" 1'(, M
GAMMA= GAMMAtU(I)*ACI,j)
2 CON"fINUE
GAMMA= GAMMA/BETA
DO :3 1= I'(,M
ACI,j)= ACI,j'-GAMMA*UCI)
3 CONTINUE
4 CONTINUE
<'> CDNTINUE
I~ETURN
c
("' TRIANGULAR RESULT STORED IN ACI,,J), I.LE.,J
C VECTORS DEFINING REFLECTIONS STORED IN U AND REST or A
END

Fig. 1.12.4 Listing of SUBROUTINE HECOMP (Reproduced from [1.14])

38

SUBROUTINF HOLVF(MD[M.M,N.A,U,BI
INTEGER MDIM,M,N
REAL AIMDIM,N).UCM),BCMI
REAL BETA,GAMMA.T
c
f'
C LE:AST-·S!:lUARE nOI .. llT ION OF Cl'J[I·::"CIETEI:~M ::: NFl.! ~:)Y~·)TEM~:;
C FIND X THAT MINIMIZEn NORMCA*X·· Dl
C
C MDIM,M,N.A.U. 1:~EmJI..Tn FF:UM HE:"Cmll"·'
C B'" M···VECTCm
C INPUT :
C RIGHT HAND nlDE
C OUTPUT:
("' F U(BT N CUMPONENTB '" THE BOL.IJT HHi. )(
C LABT M-N COMPONENTS- TRANSfORMED RESIDUAL
C DIVISION BY ZERO 1MPL:I:I:::O A NOT OF FULL. r(AtW
C
f' APPLY REFLECTIONS TO B
C
C'
DO 3 I\'~ i.N
T'-" ACI\,I\)
m::TA'" ... l.I 11\) )~A (K .1\)
AII\.I\)", l')(IO
G(,,11MA'" O. ()
DO 1 :I> K,M
GAMMA- GAMMAtAII,K)*D(I)
:1. CONTINUE
GAMMA= GAMMA/BETA
[10 2 I '" I". M
BII)a B(1)-GAMMA*AI1,I\)
2 CONTINUE
A(I\,IO'" T
:5 CONTINUE
C
C BACI\ SUBSTITUTION
C
DO ~j KB'" 1.N
1\'"' N+:I. ···KB
B(I\)= BCI\)/A(K,KI
IFIK.EQ.1) GO TO 5
KMl=' K-1
DO 4 :I> 1,KMl.
BII)= BCII-AII.K)*B(K)
4 CONTINUE
5 CONTINUE
RETURN
END

Fig. 1.12.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE HOLVE (Reproduced from 1.14)

 39

Exercise 1.12.3* Show that ~, as defined in e~s. (1.12.5) is in fact a

reflection, i.e. show that ~ is orthogonal and the value of its determinant

is -1. (Hint: Use the result of Exercise 1.12.2).

iii) m<n: NOW, the linear system of equations ~=~ is studied when the

number of unknowns is greater that the number of equations.

In this case, the system is underdetermined and has an infinity of

solutions. However, as was discussed in Section 1.11, among those

solutions, there is one, say ~O whose Euclidean norm is a minimum.

This is given by eq. (1.11.22), repeated here for ready reference.

T T-l
~o=~ (~) ~ (1.12.8)

One possible way of computing ~O is given next:

a) write eq. (1.11.20) in the form

AAT,,=b (1.12.9)

b) Using the LU decomposition method, find ~ from (1.12.9)

c) with" known from step ii), compute ~O by matrix mUltiplication,

as appearing in (1.11.19), i.e.

x-0 =A
T (1.12.10)
- "-

1.13 NU~ffiRICAL SOLUTION OF NONLINEAR ALGEBRAIC SYST~lS.

For several reasons, nonlinear systems are more difficult to deal with than

linear systems. Considering the simplest case of equal number of

equations and unknowns, there is no guarantee that the nonlinear system has

a unique solution; in fact, there is no guarantee that the system has a

solution at all.

* See Section 2.3 for more details on reflections.

40

------~----------~~~~----------~----
-4 -1
__-x

Fig 1.13.1 Non-intersecting hyperbola and circle

______+-__ ~------~ __-----+__ -+--~--x

Fig 1.13.2 Intersections of a hyperbola and a circle

 41

Example 1.13.1 The 2nd order nonlinear algebraic system

2 2
x - Y 16 (a)

2 2
x + y (b)

has no solution, for the hyperbola (a) does not intersect the circle (b),

as is shown in Fig. 1.13.1

Example 1..13.2 The 2nd order nonlinear algebraic system

2 2
x - Y (c)
2 2
x + y 4 (d)

has four solutions, namely

x3 =;% , Y3 =A
x 4 =;% , Y4
11
which are the four points where the hyperbola (c) intersects the circle

(d). These intersections appear in Fig. 1.13.2

The most popular method of solving a nonlinear algebraic system is the

so-called Newton-Raphson method. First, the system of equations has to be

written in the form

~n~) = Q (1.13.1)

where f and ~ are m- and n- dimensional vectors. For example, system (a),

(b) of Example 1.13.1 can be written in the form

2 2
x1 - x2 - 16 = 0 (a ')

2 2
x1 + x2 - 1 0 (b ' )

Here f1 and f2 are the components of the 2-dimensional vectors f and x 1 and
42

x 2 (clearly, x and y have been replaced by x 1 and x 2 , respectively) are the

components of the 2-dimensional vector x. Next, the three cases, m=n, m>n

and ITKn, are discussed

First case: m=n

Let ~O be known to be a "good" approximation to the solutions ~r or a "guess".

The expansion of !(~) about ~O in a Taylor series yields

(1.13.1)

If ~O + 6x is an even better approximation to ~r' then 6~ must be small and

so, only linear terms could be retained in (1.13.2) and, of course, t(~O+6~)

must be closer to o than is ~(~o). Under these assumptions, !(~O+6~) can

be assumed to be zero and (1.13.2) leads to

(1.13.3)

In the above equation t' (~o) is the value of the gradient of t(~), f' (~) ,at

~ = ~o. This gradient is an nxn matrix, ~, whose (k,t) element is

(1.13.4)

If the Jacobian matrix ~ is nonsingular, it can be inverted to yield

(1.13.5)

Of course, ~ need not actually be inverted, for 6~ can be obtained via the

LU decomposition method from eq. (1.13.3) written in the form

(1.13.6)

With the value of 6x thus obtained, the improved value of x, is computed as

~1 = ~o + 6x

In general, at the kth iteration, the new value ~k+1 is computed from the

formula

~k+1
x-k - (1.13.7)
 43

which is the Newton-Raphson iterative scheme. The procedure is stopped

when a convergence criterion is met. One possible criterion is that the

norm of ~(~k) reaches a value below certain prescribed tolerance, i.e.

where € is the said tolerance. On the other hand, it can also happen that

at iteration k, the norm of the increment becomes smaller than the tolerance.

In this case, even if the convergence criterion (1.13.8) is not met, it is

useless to perform more interations. Thus, it is more reasonable to verify

first that the norm of the correction does not become too small before

proceeding further, and stop the procedure if both I It(~k) I I and I I~~kl I
are small enough, in which case, convergence is reached.
If only II ~~k II goes below the imposed tolerance, do not accept the corre-

sponding x as the solution. The conditions under which the procedure

-k
converges are discussed in (1.15). These conditions, however, cannot be

verified easily, in general. vfuat is advised to do is to try different

initial guesses ~O till convergence is reached and to stop the procedure if

either

i) too many iterations have been performed

or

If the method of Newton-Raphson converges for a given problem, it does so

quadratically, i.e. two digits are gained per iteration during the aproxi-

mation to the solution. It can happen, however, that the procedure does

not converge monotonically, in which case,

thus giving rise to strong oscillations and, possibly, divergence. One way

to cope with this situation is to introduce damping, i.e. instead of using

44

the whole computed increment 6~k' use a fraction of it, i.e. at the kth

iteration, for i=0,1, ..• , max, instead of using formula (1.13.7) to compute

the next value ~k+1' use

(1.13.9)

where a is a real number between 0 and 1. For a given k, eq. (1.13.9)

represents the damping pa.rt of the procedure, which is stopped when

The algoritlnn is summarized in the flow chart of Fig 1.13.3 and implemented

in the subroutine NRDN1P appearing in Fig 1.13.4

Second case: m>n

In this case the system is overdetermined and it is not possible, in general,

to satisfy all the equations. vJhat can be done, however, is to find that

~O which minir.1izes II ~ (~) II·

This problem arises, for example, when one tries to design a planar four-bar

linkage to guide a rigid body through more than five configurations,

To find the minimizing ~O' define first which norm of f(~) is desired to

minimize. One norm which has several advantages is the Euclidean norm,

already discussed in case i of Section 1.11, where the linear least-square

problem was discussed. In the context of nonlinear systems of equations,

minimizing the quadratic norm of !(~) leads to the nonlinear least-square

problem. The problem is then to find the minimum of the scalar function

(1.13.10)

As already discussed in Section 1.10, for this function to reach a minimum,

it must first reach a stationary point, i.e. its gradient must vanish. Thus,
T
- (x) f (x)
CP' (x) = 2 J
-
(1.13.11)

where J(x) is the Jacobian matrix of f with respect to x, i.e. an rnxn

matrix
 45

Yes Procedure
converged

DFDX
computes the Jacobian J at

DECOMP
LU -decomposes the Jacobian
J

Yes Jacobian is
'>---------1... sing u 1 a r

Computes the correction

- - ...
t.x=-J-1f

Yes No

No
k=O Procedure convergence

2
-- -
x ....x+t.x converged

computes at current
value of x and stores if
in f ne~l

Fig. 1.13.3 Flow diagram to solve a nonlinear algebraic

system with as many equations as unknowns, via
the method of Newton-Raphson with damping (first part)
 46

Procedure
converged

Yes Yes

No
Yes convergence

No con-
vergence

No con-
vergence

Note:
E tolerance imposed on f
e tolerance imposed on ~

Fig. 1.13.3 Flow diagram to solve a nonlinear algebraic

system with as many equations as unknowns, via
the method of Newton-Raphson with damping (second part)
 47

SUBROUTINE NRDAMP(X.FUN.DFDX,P.TOLX.TOLF,DAMP,N,ITER,MAX,KMAX)
REAL X(1).P(1).DF(12.12),DELTA(12),F(12)
INTEGER IP(12)
C THIS SUBROUTINE FINDS THE ROOTS OF A NONLINEAR ALGEBRAIC SYSTEM OF
CORDER N, VIA NEWTON-RAPHSON METHOD(ISAACSON E. AND KELLER H. B.
C ANALYSIS OF NUMERICAL METHODS, JOHN WILEY AND SONS. INC •• NEW YORK
C 1966,PP. 85-123)WITH DAMPING. SUBROUTINE PARAMETERS
C X N-VECTOR OF UNKNOWS.
C FUN EXTERNAL SUBROUTINE WHICH COMPUTES VECTOR F, CONTAINING
C THE FUNTIONS WHOSE ROOTS ARE OBTAINED.
C DFDX EXTERNAL SUBROUTINE WHICH COMPUTES THE JACOBIAN MATRIX
C OF VECTOR F WHIT RESPECT TO X.
C P AN AUXILIAR VECTOR OF SUITABLE DIMENSION. IT CONTAINS
C THE PARAMETERS THAT EACH PROBLEM MAY REQUIERE.
C TOLX POSITIVE SCALAR, THE TOLERANCE IMPOSED ON THE APPROXIMA-
C TION TO X.
C TOLF POSITIVE SCALAR, THE TOLERANCE IMPOSED ON THE APPROXIMA-
C TION TO F.
C DAMP -THE DAMPING VALUE. PROVIDED BY THE USER SUCH THAT
C O.LT.DAMP.LT.l •
C ITER -NUMBER OF ITERATION BEING EXECUTED.
C MAX -MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ALLOWED ITERATIONS.
C KMAX -MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ALLOWED DAMPINGS PER ITERATION. IT IS
C PROVIDED BY THE USER.
C FUN AND DFDX ARE SUPPLIED BY THE USER.
C SUBROUTINES "DECOMP" AND "SOLVE" SOLVE THE NTH, ORDER LINEAR
C ALGEBRAIC SYSTEM DF(X)*DELTA-F(X), DELTA BEING THE CORRECTION TO
C THE K-TH ITERATION. THE METHOD USED IS THE LU DECOMPOSITION (MOLER
C C.B. MATRIX COMPUTATIONS WITH FORTRAN AND PAGING. COMMUNICATIONS OF
C THE A.C.M., VOLUME 15, NUMBER 4, APRIL 1972).
C
KONT-1
ITER-O
CALL FUN(X,F,P,N)
FNOR1-FNORM(F,N)
IF(FNOR1.LE.TOLF) GO TO 4
1 CALL DFDX(X,DF,P,N)
CALL DECOMP(N,N,DF,IP)
K-O
C
C IF THE JACOBIAN MATRIX IS SINGULAR, THE SUBROUTINE RETURNS TO THE
C MAIN PROGRAM,. OTHERWISE, IT PROCEEDS FURTHER.
C
IF(IP(N).EQ.O) GO TO 14
CALL SOLVE (N,N,DF,F,IP)
DO 2 I-1,N
2 DELTA(I)-F(I)
DELNOR-FNORM(DELTA,N)
IF(DELNOR.LT.TOLX) GO TO 4
DO 3 I-i,N
3 X(I)-X(I)-DELTA(I)
GO TO 5
t

Fig 1.13.4 Listing of SUBROUTINE NRDAMP

 48

4 FNOR2=FNORI
GO TO 6
5 CALL FUNCX,F,P,N)
KONT=KONTtl
FNOR2=FNORMCF,N)
6 IFCFNOR2.LE.TOLF) GO TO 11
C
C TESTING THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION. IF THIS DOES NOT DICREASE
C THEN DAMPING IS INTRODUCED.
C
IFCFNOR2.LT.FNOR1) GO TO 10
IFCK.EO.KMAX) GO TO 16
K=Ktl
DO 8 I=I,N
IFCK.GE.2) GO TO 7
DELTACI)=(DAMP-l.)*DELTACI)
GO TO 8
7 DELTA(I)=DAMP*DELTA(I)
8 CONTINUE
DELNOR=FNORM(DELTA,N)
IFCDELNOR.LE.TOLX) GO TO 16
DO 9 I=I,N
9 X(I)-X(I)-DELTACI)
GO TO 5
10 IFCITER.GT.MAX) GO TO 16
ITER-ITERtl
FNOR1=FNOR2
GO TO 1
11 WRITEC6,110) ITER,FNOR2,KONT
12 DO 13 I=I,N
13 WRITE(6,120) I,X(I)
RETURN
14 WRITEC6,130) ITER,KONT
GO TO 12
16 WRITE(6,140) ITER,FNOR2,KONT
GO TO 12
110 FORMAT(5X,'AT ITERATION NUMBER ',13,' THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION IS"
-,E20.6/5X,'THE FUNCTION WAS EVALUATED ",13," TIMES"/
-5X,'PROCEDURE CONVERGED, THE SOLUTION BEING t ' / )
120 FORMATC5X,"XC',I3,')=',E20.6)
130 FORMATC5X,'AT ITERATION NUMBER ',J3,"THE JACOBIAN MATRIX'
-' IS SINGULAR.'/5X,'THE FUNCTION WAS EVALUATED ",13," TIMES"f
-5X,'THE CURRENT VALUE OF X IS :',/)
140 FORMAT(10X,'PROCEDURE DIVERGES AT ITERATION NUMBER ',I3fl0X,
-'THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION IS ·,E20.6fl0X,
-'THE FUNCTION WAS EVALUATED ',13,· TIMES"fl0X,
-'THE CURRENT VALUE OF X IS :'f)
END
•
Fig. 1.13.4 Listing of SUBROUTINE NRDAMP (Continued).
 49

IExercise 1.13.1. Derive the expression (1.13.11)

In order to compute the value of x that zeroes the gradient (1.13.11) proceed

iteratively, as next outlined. Expand ~(~) around ~O:

(1.13.12)

If ~O+~~ is a better approximation to the value that minimizes the Euclidean

norm of !(~), and if in addition II~~I I is small enough, ~ can be neglected

in eq. (1.13.12) and as trying to set the whole expression equal to zero,

the following equation is obtained

or, denoting by ~ the Jacobian ~trix !' (~),

which is an overdetermined linear system. As discussed in Section 1.11, such

a system has in general no solution, but a value of ~~ can be computed

which minimizes the quadratic norm of the error J(x )~x + f(x ). This value
-0 - --0
is given by the expression (1.11.8) as

In general, at the kth iteration, compute ~~k as

~~k =- ( ~ T (~)~(~k) ) -1 ~ T (~k)~(~k) (1.13.13)

and stop the procedure when II~~kl I becomes smaller than a prescribed

tolerance, thus indicating that the procedure converged. In fact, if ~~k

vanishes, unless (JTJ )-1 becomes infinity, this means that ~T! vanishes.

But if this product vanishes, then from eq. (1.13.11), the gradient ~'(~)

also vanishes, thus obtaining a stationary point of the quadratic norm of

In order to accelerate the convergence of the procedure, damping can also

be introduced. This way, instead of computing ~~k from eq. (1.13.13),

50

compute it from

(1 . 13. 14 )

for i 0, 1, ..• , max and stop the damping when

The algorithm is illustrated with the flow diagram of Fig 1.13.5 and

implemented with the subroutine NRDAHC, appearing in Fig 1.13.6

Third case: m<n

The system, in this case, is underdetermined and infinitely many solutions

can be expected to exist. out of these solutions, however, one can choose

that with a minimum norra, thus converting the problem into a nonlinear

quadratic programming problem, stated as

(1.13. 15a)

subject to ~(~) = 0 (1.13. 15b)

One way to find the minimizing ~O' of problem (1.13.15) is via the method

of Lagrange multipliers. Thus, define a new objective function

T
= x x (1.13.16)

which is stationary at ~o where its gradient vanishes. Thus,

T
2~0 + ~' (~o)~ = 0 (1.13.17)

The systems of equations (1.13.15b) and (1.13.17) now represent a larger

system of m+n equations (m in (1.13.10b) and n in (1.13.12» in m+n unknowns

(m components of A and n components of ~). Hence, the problem now reduces

to the first case and so can be solved by application of the subroutine

NRDAHP.

Exercise 1.13.2 Let

be a scalar function of a vector argument ~=(x1 , x 2 , x3 , x 4 )T. Find its

 51

guess S
Q)
.j.J
til
>.
til

u
OM
FUN ttJ
computes E at ~o .Q
Q)
10-<

tJI
.-l
ttJ
10-<
ttJ
Q)
C
OM
DFDX .-l
C
computes the Jacobian matrix 0
C
J at the current value of x
'0
Q)
C
OM
S
10-<
Q)
.j.J
HECOMP Q)
'0
triangularizes the Jacobian 10-<
Q)
matrix J :>
0
c
ttJ
0
HOLVE .j.J

computes the correction c

0
Ax=- (JTJ) -1JTf OM
.j.J
::l
.-l
0
til
Q)
10-<
Yes ttJ
::l
tJ'
til
I
.j.J
til
ttJ
Q)
.-l
Q)
x+ x+Ax ..c:
.j.J

Q)
.j.J
::l
FUN §<
0
computes at the current u
value of 0
.j.J

S
ttJ
10-<
tJI
ttJ
OM
'0
~
0
.-l
Ii-<
Ll)

".;

tJI
OM
Ii-<
52

SUBROUTINF NRDAMCeX.FUN.DFDX.P.TOL.DAMP.N,M,ITER.MAX,KMAXl
REAL X(2),F(3).DF(3,2),P,U(3),DELTA(3).FNORM1.FNORM2.
DELNOI:(
c

DF
f" ··· ...
...

TOL
·· ""

Df.1MP
·(10 ::~

ITEF(
·· ...

MAX
·· ::::

I,MAX
·(0:':::

HECOMF' ,= TF(IANGUL{-II,(IIES A 1:(ECTANGULf~l,( M,~Tr,IX BY II0Uf.;EIIOLD[I<

REFLECTIONS (MOLER C. Bo. MATRIX EIGENVALUE AND L[AST'
~:;(llJAI,(E CDMPUTI~T I ONf:!, COMPUTEI:( SC I ENCE DEP,~r'TI~MENT.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY. MARCH. 1973.)
HUL.VE SOLVES TRIANGULARIZED SYSTEM BY BACK-SUBSTITUTION (MOLER
C. B •• 01". CIT.)
FUN COMPUTES 1-".
DFDX COMF'I.JTES IIF.
FNOI,(M COMPUTES THE MAXIMUM NORM OF ~ VECTOR.

I TEI,('"'O
CALI... FUN(X.F.F'.M.N)
1 ITER=ITERtl
IFIITER.GT.MAX) GO TO 10
C
C FORMS L.INEAR L.EAST SQUARE PROBL.EM
FNORM1-FNORM(F.M)
CAL.L. DFDXIX,DF,F',M,N)
CAL.L. HECOMPIM,M,N,DF,U)
CAL.L. HOL.VEIM,M,N,DF,U,F)

Fig 1.13.6 Listing of SUBROUTINE NRDAMC

 53

c
C COMPUTES CORRECTION BETWEEN TWO SUCCESSIVE ITERATIONS
DO 2 I-I,M
DELTACI)=FCI)
2 CONTINUE
DELNOR=FNORMCDELTA,N)
IFCDELNOR.LT.TOL) GO TO 8
K-l
c
C IF DELNOR IS STILL LARGE. PERFORMS CORRECTION TO VECTOR X
3 DO 4 I-I.N
X(l)-X(I)-DELTACI)
4 CONTINUE
CALL FUN(X,F,P,M,N)
FNORM2=FNORMCF,M)
C
r TESTING THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION F AT CURRENT VALUE OF X. IF THIS
C DOES NOT DECREASE, THEN DAMPING IS INTRODUCED.
IFCFNORM2.LT.TOL) GO TO 8
IFCFNORM2.LT.FNORM1) GO TO 1
IFCK.GT.KMAX) GO TO 7
DO 6 I-l,N
IFCK.GE.2) GO TO 5
DELTACI)=(DAMP-l.)*DELTACI)
GO TO 6
5 DELTACI)-DAMP*DELTACI)
6 CONTINUE
K=Kt1
GO TO 3
7 WRITEC6,101)DAMP
C
C AT THIS ITERATION THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION CANNOT BE DECREASED
C AFTER KMAX DAMPINGS, DAMP IS SET EQUAL TO -1 AND THE SUBROUTINE
C RETURNS TO THE MAIN PROGRAM.
DAMP=-l.
RETURN
8 WRITEC6,102)FNORM2,ITER,K
DO 9 I=1,N
WRITEC6,103) I,XCI)
9 CONTINUE
RETURN
10 WRITEC6,104)ITER
RETURN
101 FORMATC5X,"DAMP =",Fl0.5,5X,"NO CONVERGENCE WITH THIS DAMPING",
" VALUE"/)
102 FORMAT(/SX,"CONVERGENCE REACHED. NORM OF THE FUNCTION :",
F15.6115X,"NUMBER OF ITERATIONS :",I3,5X,"NUMBER or ",
"DAMPINGS AT THE LEAST ITERATION :",I3115X,"THE SOLUTION"
," IS :"/)
103 FORMAT(5X,2HX(I2,3H)= F15.5/)
104 FORMAT(10X,"NO CONVERGENCE WITH",I3," ITERATIONS"/)
END

Fig 1.13.6 Listing of SUBROUTINE NRDAMC (Continued)

54

stationary points and decide whether each is either a maximum, a minimum or

a saddle point, for e= 1,10,50.

Note: f(~) could represent the potential energy of a mechanical system. In

this case the stationary points correspond to the following equilibrium

states: minima yield a stable equilibrium state, whereas maxima and saddle

points yield unstable states.

Example 1.13.3 Find the point closest to all three curves of Fig 1.13.7.

These curves are the parabola(P), the circle (e) and the hyperbola(H) with

the following equations:

1 2
Y = -- x (P)
2.4
2 2
x + y == 4 (e)
2 2
x - y (H)

From Fig 1.13.7 it is clear that no single pair (x,y) satisfies all three

equations simultaneously. There exist points of coordinates xO' Yo' however,

that minimize the quadratic norm of the error of the said equations.

These can be found with the aid of SUBROUTINE NRDAMe. A program was

written that calls NRDAMe, HEeOMP and HOLVE to find the least-square

solution to eqs. (P), (e) and (H). The found solutions were:

First solution: x=-1.61537, y=1.17844

Second solution: X= 1.61537, y=1.17844

which are shown in Fig 1.13.7. These points have symmetrical locations,

as expected, and lie almost on the circle at abount equal distances from

Ai and e i and Bi and Di (i=1,2)

The maximum error of the foregoing approximation was computed as 0.22070

 55

First

------+_--------------~----------~*-_+--~~--------_4~--------------+_---------x1

Fig 1.13.7 Location of the point closest to a parabola,

a circle and a hyperbola.
56

REF ERE N C E S

1.1 Lang S., Linear Algebra, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Menlo park,
1970, pp. 39 and 40.

1.2 Lang S., op. cit., pp. 99 and 100

1.3 Finkbeiner, D.F., Matrices and Linear Transformations, W.H. Freeman

and Company, San Francisco, 1960, pp. 139-142

1.4 Halmos, P.R., Finite-Dimensional vector Spaces, Springer-Verlag,

N. York, 1974.

1.5 Businger P. and G.H. Golub, "Linear Least Squares Solutions by

Householder Transformations", in Wilkinson J.H. and C. Reinsch, eds.,
Handbook for Automatic Computation, Vol. II, Springer-Verlag, N. York,
1971, pp. 111-118

1.6 Stewart, G.W., Introduction to Matrix Computations, Academic Press,

N.York, 1973, pp. 208-249.

1.7 Soderstrom T. and G.\,l. stewart, "On the numerical properties of an

iterative method for computing the Noore-Penrose generalized inverse",
SIAM J. on Numerical Analysis, Vol. II, No.1, March 1974.

1.8 Brand L., Advanced Calculus, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., N. York, 1955,
pp. 147-197.

1.9 Luenberger, D.G., Optimization by Vector Space Methods, John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., N. York, 1969, pp. 8, 49-52

1.10 Varga, R.S., Matrix Iterative Analysis, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood
Cliffs, 1962, pp. 56-160

1.11 Forsythe, G.E. and C.B. Moler, Computer Solution of Linear Algebraic
Systems, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1967, pp. 27-33

1.12 Moler C.B., "Algorithm 423. Linear Equation Solver (F 4)"

Communications of the A~l, Vol. 15, Number 4, April 1973, p. 274.
o
1.13 Bj8rck A. and G. Dahlquist, Numerical Methods, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, 1974, pp. 201-206.

1.14 Moler C.B., Matrix Eigenvalue and Least Square Computations,Computer

Science Departament, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 1973
pp. 4.1-4.15

1.15 Isaacson, E. and H. B. Keller, Analysis of Numerical Methods, John

Wiley and Sons, Inc., N. York, 1966, pp. 85-123

1 .16 Angeles, J., "Optimal synthesis of linkages using Householder

reflections", Proceedings of the Fifth World Congress on the Theory
of Machines and Mechanisms, vol. I, Montreal, Canada, July 8-13,
1979, pp. 111'-114.
2. Fundamentals of Rigid-Body Three-Dimensional Kinematics
2.1 INTRODUCTION. The rigid body is defined as a continuum for which, under

any physically possible motion, the distance between any pair of its points

remains unchanged. The rigid body is a mathematical abstraction which models

very accurately the behaviour of a wide variety of natural and man-made

mechanical systems under certain conditions. However, as such it does not

exist in nature, as neither do the elastic body nor the perfect fluid. The

theorems related to rigid-body motions are rigorously proved and the founda

tions for the analysis of the motion of systems of coupled rigid bodies

(linkages) are laid down. ~he main results in this chapter are the theorems

of Euler, Chasles, the one on the existpnce of an instantaneous screw, the

Theorem of Aronhold-Kennedy and that of Coriolis.

2.2 NOTION OF A RIGID BODY.

Consider a subset D of the Euclidean three-dimensional physical space occu-

pied by a rigid body, and let ~ be the position vector of a point of that

body. A rigid-body motion is a mapping ~ which maps every point x of D into

a unique point ¥ of a set D', called "the image" of D under 101,

(2.2.1)

such that, for any pair ~1 and ~2' mapped by N into '{1 and '{2' respectively,

one has

(2.2.2)

The symbol 11.1 I denotes the Euclidean norm* of the space under consider-

ation.

It is next shown that, under the above definition, a rigid-body motion

preserves the angle between any two lines of a body. Indeed, let ~1' ~2

* See Section 1.8

58

and ~3 be three noncollinear points of a rigid body. Let M map these points

into ~1' ~2 and ~3' respectively. Clearly,

11~3-~2112 (~3-~2'~3-~2) = ((~3-~1) - (~2-~1)' (~3-~1)-(~2-~1))

=11~3-~1112 -2(~3-~1'~2-~1)+11~2-~1112
Similarly,

From the definition of a rigid-body motion, however,

Thus,

11~3-~1112_2(~3-~1'~2-~1) +11~2-~1112=11¥3-¥1112 -2(Y3-¥1'¥2-¥1)

+ II ~ 2 -~ 1 112 (2,2.3)

Again,from the aforementioned definition,

(2.2.4)

and

(2.2.5)

Thus clearly, from (2.2.3), (2.2.4) and (2.2.5),

(2.2.6)

which states that the angle (See Section 1.7) between vectors x 3 -x 1 and

x 2 -x 1 remains unchanged.

The foregoing mapping N is, in general, nonlinear, but there exists a class

Q of mappings ~, leaving one point of a body fixed, that are linear.

In fact, let 0 be a point of a rigid body which remains fixed under Q, its

position vector being the zero vector 0 of the space under study (this can

always be rearranged since one has the freedom to place the origin of

coordinates in any suitable position). Let ~1 and ~2 be any two points of

 59

this rigid body.

From the previous results,

I Ix.
-1
II = I IQ(x.)
- -1
I I, i = 1, 2 (2.2.7)

Assume for a moment that Q is not linear. Thus, let

'rhen

11~112 =119(~~2) 112+llg(~1)+g(~2) 112_2(@(~1+~2)'9(~1)+@(~2»=

2 2 2
=11~1+~211 +11@(~1) II +119(~2) II +2(@(~1)'9(~2»

where the rigidity condition has been applied, i.e. the condition that

states that, under a rigid_body motion, any two points of the body remain

equidistant. Applying this condition again, together with the condition

of constancy of the angle between any two lines of the rigid body (eq.

(2.2.6» ,

11~112=11~1112+11~2112+2(~'1'~2)+11~1112+11~2112+2(~1'~2)

-2(~1+~2'~1)-2(~1+~2'~2)=

=211~1112+211~2112+4(~1'~2)-(211~1112+211~) 12+4(~1'~2»)
=0

From the positive-definiteness of the norm, then

e=O

thereby showing that

60

i.e. Q is an additive operator*

On the other hand, since 9 preserves the angle between any pair of lines

of a rigid body, for any given real number 0.>0, Q(x) and Q(o.x) are paral-
.... - ........

leI, i.e. linearly dependent (for ~ and o.~ are parallel as well). Hence,

9(o.~) = a9(~)' a>o (2.2.9)

Since g preserves the Euclidean norm,

119(o.~) 11=llo.~II=lo.l·II~11 (2.2.10)

On the other hand, from eg. (2.2. 9),

119(o.~) 11=11 a9(~) 11=1 al.119(~) 11=1 al·II~11 (2.2.11)

Hence, equating (2.2.10) and (2.2.11), and dropping the absolute-value

brackets, for o.,a>O,

Ct =a
and

(2.2.12)

and hence, Q is a homogeneous operator. Being homogeneous and additive,

Q is linear. The following has thus been proved.

THEOREM 2.2. 1 r 6 g. ..u a JUg,£d-body motion. :tha,t leave6 a po-<.n.:t Mxed,

then. Q..u a Une.aJt .tIz.a.ru. 601lmation.

From the foregoing discussion, Q is representable by means of a 3x3 matrix

referred to a certain basis (Theorem 1.2.1)

If B={e 1 ,e 2 ,e 3 } is an ortilonorrnal**basis for the 3-dimensional Euclidean

* This proof is due to Prof. G.S. Sidhu, Institute for Applied Mathematics
and Systems Research, U. of Mexico (IIMAS-UNAM)
 61

space, the ith column of the matrix g is formed from the coefficients of

g<=i) expressed in terms of B according to Definition 1.2.1. In fact, the

resulting matrix is orthogonal. Since 8 is linear, @<~) can be expressed

simply as g~. Now if

y QX

then

Hence
T T T T
Y y=x Q QX x x, for any x

Hence, clearly

the identity matrix. This result can then be stated as

THEOREM 2.2.2 A tUg..i.d-body motion le.av..trLg on.e. po..i.rt-t 6..txe.d M lte.plte6 e.rt-te.d

wah lte6pe.d ,to an. oJt.thon.O/IDlal blUlM by an. oJt.thogon.al ma-ttUx.

2.3 THE THEO~1 OF EULER AND THE REVOLUTE MATRIX.

In the previous sections it was shown that the motion of a rigid body which

keeps one of its points fixed can be represented by an orthogonal 3 x 3

matrix. In view of Sect. 1.9 there are two classes of orthogonal matrices,

depending on whether their determinant is plus or minus unity. Orthogonal

matrices whose determinant is +1 are called proper orthogonal and those

whose determinant is-l are called improper orthogonal.

Proper orthogonal matrices represent rigid-body rotations, whereas improper

orthogonal matrices represent reflections. Indeed, consider the rotation

62

Z2"~------------~

Fig 2.3.1 Rotation of axes

The matrix representation of the above rotation is obtained from the

relationship

(2.3.1)

y =z
-2 -1

where ~1' ~2' etc. represent unit vectors along the XlI X 2 , etc. axes,

respectively. From eqs. (2.3.1),

o 0

o o -1 (2.3.2)

o o

means the rotation expressed in terms of the basis {x 1 ,y ,z1}.

- _1-
Clearly,

det Q=+1

and thus it is a proper orthogonal matrix.

On the other hand, consider the reflection of axes ~1'~1'~1 into

 63

Fig. 2.3.2 Reflection of axes

NOw,

(2.3.3)

Hence,

-1 o o
o o
o 0

and so,

det Q = -1

i.e. Q, as obtained from (2.3.3) is a reflection. Applications of reflec-

tions were studied in Sect. 1.12.

From Corollary 1.9.1 it can be seen that a 3 x 3 proper orthogonal matrix

has exactly one eigenvalue equal to +1. Now if ~ is the eigenvector of

64

Q corresponding to the eigenvalue t1, it follows that

Qe ;= e

and, furthermore, for any scalar ~,

Qae = ae

Hence all points of the rigid body located along a line parallel to ~

passing through the fixed point 0, remain fixed under the rotation Q. Hence,

the following result, due to Euler (2.1) :

THEOREM 2.3.1 (Euf.eJt). 16 a tUg..td body undeJtgoe6 a eU6plac.erfient leav..tng one

06 w po..tnt6 6..txed, .:then .:theJte ew:U a line pM/.)..tng .:tlvwugh .:the Mxed
po..tn.:t, /.)uc.h .:that aU 06 .:the po..tnt6 on .:that line Jtema-<-n Mxed dutUng .:the
cU6plac.ement. Th..t/.l line..[/.) c.aUed ".:the aw 06 Jto.:ta.:t..ton" and .:the angle 06
ftO.:ta.:t..ton ..[/.) meMu.Jted on a plane peJtpe.nd--Lc.uf.aJt .:to .:the. aw.

The matrix representing a rotation is sometimes referred to as "the revolute".

Clearly, the revolute is completely determined by a scalar parameter, the

angle of rotation and a vector, the direction of the axis of rotation"'. f'rom

the foregoing discussion it is clear that the direction vector of the

revolute is obtained as the (unique linearly independent) eigenvector of

the revolute associated with its + 1 eigenvalue. The angle of rotation

is obtained as follows:

From Euler's Theorem, it is always possible to obtain an orthonormal

basis B= {~1'~2'~3} such that, say ~3' is parallel to the axis of rotation;

~1 and ~2 thus lie in a plane perpendicular to this axis. The rotation

would then rotate the vectors through an angle e. Let~; and ~; be the

corresponding irnages of band b after the rotation under consideration,

-1 -2
represented graphically in f'ig 2.3.3

* These parameters are also called "the invariants" of the revolute, for
they remain unchanged under different choices of coordinate axes.
 65

b
- 1

Fig 2.3.3 Rotation through an angle e about axis ~3.

Then

(2.3.4)

b'=b
-3 -3

and it follows that

cos e -sin e 0

sin e cos e 0 (2.3.5)

o 0

Due to its simple and illuminating form, it seems justified to call matrix

(2.3.5) a "canonical form" of the rotation matrix.

Exercise 2.3.1 Devise an algorithm to carry any orthogonal matrix into

[
its canonical form (2.3.5).

Let a revolute matrix 9 be given refered to an arbitrary orthonormal basis

A= {~1'~2'~3} , different from B as defined above. Furthermore, let

,, b ) (2.3.6)
~2 , -3
66

where

~j = (b1j,b2j,b3j)T, j ~ 1,2,3

b .. being the ith component of ~J' referred to the basis A, i.e.

~J

b.
-) b ~J-
.. a1+b2.a2+b3.a3
)- )-

Since both A and B are orthonormal, (~)A is an orthogonal matrix. Thus,

the canonical form can be obtained from the following similarity transforma

tion

(2.3.7)

From the canonical form given above, it is apparent that

Tr(@)B=1+2COse

from which

e = cos -1 {-2(Tr
1 (Q) -1)} (2.3.8)
- B

is readily obtained. It should be pointed out that, since the trace is

invariant under similarity transformations, i.e. since

one can compute the rotation angle without transforming the revolute matrix

into its canonical form.

Eg. (2.3.8), however, yields the angle of rotation through the cos function,

which is even, i.e. cos (-x) = cos (x); hence, the said formula does not

provide the sign of the angle. This is next determined by application of

Theorem 2.3.2. The proof of this theorem needs some background, which is

now laid down.

In what follows, dyadic notation will be used*. Let L be the axis of a

* For readers unfamiliar with this notation, a short account of algebra of

dyadics is provided in Appendix 1.
 67

rotation about poi.nt 0, whose existence is gUarenteed b;,r Euler's Theorem.

Moreover, let e be the corresponding angle of rotation, as indicated in

Fig 2.3.4, and e a unit vector parallel to L.

P
P'

Fig 2.3.4 Rotation about a point.

In Fig 2.3.4 p' is the rotated position of point P. If PQ is perpendicular

to L, so is P'Q, because rotations preserve angles of rigid bodies. Thus

points P, p' and Q determine a plane perpendicular to L, on which the angle

of rotation, 6, is measured. From that figure,
--+ --+
r' = OQ + Q)?'

and
~ --+
OQ '" r - QP

Hence

=r
~ ~
r' - QP + QP t (2.3.9)

Let QP" be a line contained in plane PP'Q, at right angles with line PQ and
~
of length equal to that of QP. Thus, vector QP' can be expressed as a linear
-+ ~
combination of vectors QP and Q)?". But
~
QP" = e x r (2.3.10)
68

whereas
--->- --->-
QP - e x QP"~ ~x (~ x ~ (2.3.11)
--->-
which can readily be proved. Besides, QP' can be expressed as
--->- --->- --->-
QP' = QP cos8+QP" sin8

which, in view of eqs. (2.3.10) and (2.3.11), yields

--->-
QP' cos8~x(~ x ~ ) + sin8e x r (2.3.12)

Substituting eqs. (2.3.11) and (2.3.12) into eq. (2.3.9) leads to

r' ~ + e x (~ x ~ ) - cos8e x (~ x ~ ) + sin8e x E (2.3.13)

But

~ x (~ x E) = (~ • E) ~ - (~ • ~):- (ee-1)
.............
.r
... (2.3.14)

where 1 is the identity dyadic, i.e. a dyadic that is isomorphic to the

identity matrix. Furthermore

e x r = 1 . e x r = 1 x e . r (2.3.15)

where the dot and the point have been exchanged, what is possible to do

by virtue of the algebra of cartesian vectors. Substituting eqs. (2.3.14)

and (2.3.15) into eq. (2.3.13) one obtains

r' E + (1-cos8) (~~-2).~ + sin8l x e.r =

(1-COS8):: + cos81+ sin81 x :).~ =

Q.~ (2.3.16)

i.e. ~' has been expressed as a linear transformation of vector r. The

dyadic Q is, then, isomorphic to the rotation matrix defined in Section

2.2. That is

(2.3.17)

One can now prove the following

THEOREM 2.3.2 Let a ~g~d body undeAgo a p~e ~otation about a 6~xed

po~nt 0 and let 1 and l' be the ~~ and the Oinai pO-6J;t.ion vee.tOM
06 a po~nt 06 the body (meM~ed 6Mm 0) not ly~ng on the aU-!> 06 Mtation
 69

FuJLtheJtmoJte iet e aYld ~ be .the aYlBie 06 Jr..o:ta:ti.OYl (:tYld .the u.n.a vec:toJr..
poin;ti.Ylg iYl .the d..i.Jr..ec:t..i.oYl 06 .the Jr..o:ta:ti.OYl. TheYl
.6gYl (1~' .~) =.6gYl (e)

Proof.

Application of eq. (2.3.16) leads to

rxr' = (1-cos6) (e. r) rxe+sin6rx (exr) =

=(1-cosB) (e.r)rxe+sin6(r 2 e-(r.e)r)

---- - ---
where

Thus,

which can be reduced to

rxr , .e = r 2 .. 2 (
s1n6s1n E'~
)

where (E'~) is the angle between vectors E and e. Hence,

sgn(fxf'·~)=sgn(sin6)

But

sgn(sin6)=sgn(B)

for sin( ) is an odd function, i.e. sin (-x)=-sin(x).

Finally, then

sgn(fxf'·~)=sgn(6),q.e.d (2.3.18)

In conclusion, Theorem 2.3.2 allows to distinguish whether a rotation in

the specified direction ~ is either through an angle 6 or through an

angle -6.

Exercise 2.3.2 Let ~ and ~' be the initial and the final position vectors

of a point P of a rigid body undergoing a rotation whose matrix

is Q. Show that the displacement p'-Qp lies in the null space of Q-I.
70

EXerCise 2.3.3 Show that the trace of a matrix is invariant under similar
!ity transformations.
Exercise 2.3.4 Show that a revolute matrix Q has two complex conjugate
eigenvalues, A and A(A = complex conjugate of A).

Furthermore, show that

1
Re{A} "2 (TrQ-1)

What is the relationship between the complex eigenvalues of the revolute

matrix and its angle of rotation?

In the foregoing paragraphs the revolute matrix was analysed. i.e. it

was shown how to obtain its invariants when the matrix is known.

The inverse problem is discussed next: Given the axis and the angle of

rotation, obtain the revolute matrix referred to a specified set of

coordinate axes.

It is apparent that the most convenient basis (or coordinate axes) for

representing the revolute matrix is the one for which this takes on its

canonical form. Let B = {~1'~2'~3} be this basis, where ~3 coincides

with the given revolute axis, and ~1 and ~2 are any pair of orthonormal

vectors lying in the plane perpendicular to ~3.

Hence, (~)B appears as in eq. (2.3.5), with 6 given. Let A ={a 1 ,a 2 ,a 3 } be

an orthonormal basis with respect to which Q is to be represented, and

let
 71

be a matrix formed with the vectors of B. Then, it is clear that

Example 2.3.1 Let

2 2

Q .!. -2 2
3
-1 -2 2

Verify whether it is orthogonal. If it is, does it represent a rotation?

If so, describe the rotation

solution:

2 2 -2 -1

2 2 -2

-1 -2 2 2 2

9 o o
1
9" o 9 o I

o o 9

Hence Q is in fact orthogonal. Next,

2 1 1 2
2 3" 3 2 3 1 3 3
det ~-3 -2 +-
2 3 -2 3 2 1
3 3 3 "3 3"
24 2 22 4 11 4
- 3 (g + g) + 3"{g + g) - 3"{g - g) + 1

Thus Q is a proper orthogonal matrix and,consequently,represents a rotation.

To find the axis of the rotation it is necessary to find a unit vector

==(e 1 ,e 2 ,e 3 )T such that

72

~: ~,

i.e.

2 2 e1 e1

l-2 2 e2 e2
3
-1 -2 2 e3 e3

Hence

-e 1 + e2 + 2e 3 0

-2e 1 - e 2 + e3 0

-e 1 -2e 2 e3 0

from which

e1 e3

e2 -e
3

and so

~
=Hh· 13
Setting 11:11=1, it follows that e 3 = , and
3

e~ = 133 [-~1 1
Thus, the axis of rotation is parallel to the vector e given above.

To find the angle of rotation is an even simpler matter:

Tr ~ (2+2+2) =1 + 2 cosS
-1 1
Thus S = cos (2) = -60 0

where use was made of Theorem 2.3.2 to find the sign of S.

 73

Example 2.3.2. Determine the revolute matrix representing a rotation of

90° about an axis having three equal direction cosines with respect to

the X,Y,Z axes. The matrix should be expressed with respect to these

axes.

Solution:

Let ~ = {e 1 ,e2 ,e3 } be an orthonormal basis with respect to which the

revolute is represented in its canonical form. Let b be coincident with

-3

the axis of rotation. Clearly

b-3 J33 [~l

1

It remains only to determine ~1 and e2 • Clearly, these must satisfy

Let

(e,) = [~l' (e,) = [~l·

Thus, the components of ~1 must satisfy

o.+a+y=O,
222
0. +13 +y =1.

It is apparent that one component can be freely chosen. Let, for example,

0. = 0

Hence,

a + y= 0

a2+ y
2
=
from which

Thus, choosing the + sign for a,

74

~1=%[ ~ 1 -12

~2 can be obtained now very easily from the fact that ~1'~2 and ~3 consti-

tute an orthonormal right-hand triad, i.e.

With respect to this basis, then, from eq. (2.3.5) the rotation matrix

has the form

o -1 o
o o
o 0

Thus, letting A be the basis defined by the given X, Y and Z axes,

0 -16/3 13/3

(p) A= 12/2 16/6 13/3

-12/2 16/6 13/3

and, from eg. (1.5.12), defining the following similarity transformation,

With (g)B in its canonical form, the revolute matrix Q, expressed with

respect to the X,Y,Z axes, is found to be

1- /3

1-/3

1-/3 1+ /3

Exercise 2.3.5 If the plane

x + y + z + 1 =0
is rotated through 60 o about an axis passing through the point (-1, -1, -1)
 75

and with direction cosines , what is the equation of the ~lane

13
in its new position?

Exercise 2.3.6. The four vertices of an equilateral tetrahedron are labelled

A, B, C, and O. If the tetrahedron is rotated in such a way that A, B, C,

and 0 are mapped into C, B, 0, and A, respectively, find the axis and the

angle of the rotation.

What are the other rotations similar to the previous one, i.e., which map

every vertex of the tetrahedron into another vertex?

All these rotations, together with the identity rotation (the one leaving

the vertices of the tetrahedron unchanged), constitute the symmetry group*

of the tetrahedron.
12 1 1
Exercise 2.3.7 Given an axis A whose direction cosines are ( 2 ' 2 ' 2)'
with respect to a set of coordinate axes XYZ, what is the matrix represen-

tation, with respect to these coordinate axes, of a rotation about A through

an angle 21T/n?

Exercise 2.3.8 A square matrix ~ is said to be idempotent of index k when-

ever k is the smallest integer for which the kth power of A becomes the

identity matrix. Explain why the matrix obtained in Exercise 2.3.8 should

be idempotent of index n.

Exercise 2.3.9 Show that any rotation matrix Q can be expressed as

A6
Q=e-

where A is a nilpotent matrix and 6 is the rotation angle. What is the

relationship between matrix A and the axis of rotation of Q?

*See Sect. 2.4 for the definition of this term.

76

Exercise 2.3.10 The equation of a three-axes ellipsoid is given as

2 2 2
x z
2" + L + 2"=
a b2 c

what is its equation after rotating it through an angle e about an axis of

direction numbers (a,b,c)?

2.4 GROUPS OF ROTATIONS.

A group is a set 9 with a binary operation 0 such that

i) if a and b £ g, then acrb£g

ii) if a,b.c £ g,then aO(bOc)=(aob) Oc

iii) 9 contains an element i, called the identity of 9 under 0 , such

that, for every a £ 9

aoi ioa = a
-1
iv) for every a £ g, there exists an element denoted a £g, called the

inverse of a under 0 such that

Notice that in the above definition it is not required that the group be

commutative, i.e. that aob=bOa for all a,b£g. commutative groups are a

special class of groups, called abelian groups.

Some examples of groups are:

a) The natural numbers 1,2, .•• , 12 on the face of a (mechanical, not

quartz or similar) clock and the operation kOm corresponding to

"shift the clock hand from location k to location k + m", where k

and m are natural numbers between 1 and 12. Of course, if k + m>12,

the resulting operation is meant to be (k + m) (mod 12).

b) The set of rational numbers \vith the usual multiplication o,Peration.

 77

c) The set of integers with the usual algebraic addition operation.

The set of integers with the multiplication operation do not constitute

a group (Why?)

Show that the set of all those rotations referred to in

I
=E=x~e~r~c~~~s~e~2~.~4~.~1~

Exerc~se 2.3.5 actually constitute a group.

Exercise 2.4.2 What is the symmetry group* of

i) an icosahedron?

ii) a regular pentagonal prism?

iii) a circular cylinder?

iv) a sphere?

It is clear, from the above discussion, that the set of all orthogonal

matrices constitutes a group under matrix mUltiplication. In particular,

the set of proper orthogonal matrices constitutes a group under matrix

multiplication, but the improper set does not (vfuy?).

As an application of the group property of rotations or, equivalently,

of proper orthogonal matrices, arbitrary rotations can be formed by the

composition of successive simple rotations (See Example 2.4.1).

Another application is found in the compositon of rotations using Euler's

angles (2.2)

Example 2.4.1 Referring to Fig 2.4.1, find the matrix representation,

with respect to the X1 ' Y1 , Z1 axes, of the rotation that carries vertices

A and B of the cube into A' and B', respectively, while leaving vertex

o fixed. A' and B' lie in,the Y1Z1 plane and points A', 0 and D, are
collinear, as are B', F and E.

* See Exercise 2.3.6 for a definition of a symmetry group.

78

B'
r- - - - - - - -J--------~
I I
I I
: I
I G I
I
I
I //
_J.._ ---Y-- / 0
/
/
/
/
B

Fig 2.4.1 Rotation of a cube

solution:

Let (Q12)1 be the matrix representing the rotation of axes labelled 1 into

those labelled 2(referred to axes 1). Then, letting ~i' ¥i and ~i be unit

vectors directed along the Xi -, Y i - and Zi axes, respectively,

912~1 = z_2 =-x_1

from which

0 0 -1

(Q12)1= 0 0

0 0

Next, rotate axes labelled 2 into axes labelled 3. Call this rotation

923. This rotation would leave axis Xl fixed whereas it would carry axis

Y1 into Zl and axis Zl into -Y 1 • Hence,

 79

~23~1 ~1

~23~1 ~1

and so,

~[:
0 0

0 -1
(Q,,) 1 /
0

Let ~13 be the rotation meant to be obtained. Its matrix can be computed

then as

o 0-1

-1 o o
o o
which could also have been obtained by noticing that

~3 -y_1

~3

~atrix (913)1 represents a rotation through an angle e = 120 o about an

axis with direction cosines -a,a,a. Although in this example the rotation

could be obtained by an alternate method, in many cases, such as the one

in Exercise 2.4.3, the use of rotation composition seems to be the simplest

method.

Exercise 2.4.3 Determine the axis and the angle of the rotation carrying
Iaxes X,y,Z into axes s,n,~, as shown in Fig. 2.4.2
80

Fig 2.4.2 Rotation of axes

Exercise 2.4.4 The cube appearing in Fig 2.4.' is rotated through 45° about

diagonal OC. Find the matrix representation, with respect to x"y"z" of

this rotation and the distance that vertex B is displaced through.

2.5 RODRIGUES' FORMULA AND CARTESIAN DECO~IPOSITION OF THE ROTATION MATRIX.

The image ~2 of a Cartesian vector ~, under a rotation through an angle

e about an axis parallel to the unit vector ~ passing through the origin

of coordinates was shown to be (See Section 2.3)

(2.5.1)

to1ul tiplying both sides of eq. (2.5.1) times ~x yields

which is called Rodrigues' formula (2.3,2.4)

Form (2.5.1) of the rotation dyadic is advantageous since it shows

explicitly the invariants ~ and e of the rotation.

 81

Other useful expression of the rotation matrix is now derived. Letting

(2.5.3)

the rotation matrix can be written as (2.5)

Q =R + T cose + P sine (2.5.4)

where
2 2 2
u uv uw v +w -uv -uw
2 2 2
R uv v vw T -uv u +w -vw (2.5.5a)
2 2 2
uw vw w -uw -vw u +v

and

o -w v

P w o -u (2.5.5b)

-v u o

In fact, computing the dyadics involved in expression (2.3.17),

ee (ui + vj + w~) (u~ + vj + w~)

u 2 ii + uvij + uwik +
--
+ uv~~ " + V 2 J'J' + vwJ'k
__ +

+ uwki + vw~j + w2 kk (2.5.6)

1 = ii + jj + kk (2.5.7)

Hence

+ ujjxi+vjjxj + wjjx~ +

+ ukkxi + v~~xj + w~~~ (2.5.8)

But

i x i jxj kxk o (2.5.9)

82

and

i x j j x i k i x k k x i -j (2.5.l0a)

j x k k x j i (2.5.10b)

Thus

x e =- w~2 + vik

+ wji -ujk

-
--
vki + ukj
-- (2.5.11)

Dyadics (2.5.6) and (2.5.7) can be written in matrix form as

2
u uv uw 0 -w v
2
(::::) uv v vw , (1x~) w 0 -u (2.5.12)
2
uw vw w -v u 0

and
2 2
v +w -uv -uw
2 2
(~ - ee) -uv u +w -vw (2.5.13)
2 2
-uw -vw u +v

Substitution of matrices (2.5.12) and (2.5.13) into eq. (2.3.17) leads

directly to eq. (2.5.4). This expression of matrix Q is very useful

because it allows one to determine the sign of e without requiring to

compute the image r' of a vector r under Q.

Indeed, from eqs. (2.5.5a) and (2.5.5b), it is clear that matrices Rand

! are symmetric, whereas g is skew sYQffietric. Hence, and from Theorem

1.7.1, P sine can be obtained as

1 T
P sine = -(Q
2 _ - Q
_ ) (2.5.14)

i.e. eq. (2.5.4) can be regarded as the cartesian decomposition (see Section

1.7) of matrix Q. NOw, calling e i the ith component of vector ~ , as

given by eq. (2.5.3) and taking definition (2.5.5b) and eg. (2.5.14) into
 83

account, one obtains

-e 1sin6 (2.5.15a)
2 (q23- q 32)
e 2 sin6 (2.5.15b)
2 (q13- q 31)
1 (2.5.15c)
-e 3 sin6
2 (q12- q 21)

Introducing the alternating tensor e, 'k defined as

1)

1,if i,j and k are in cyclic order

1, if i,j and k are in anticyclic order

0, if at one index is repeated

eqs. (2.5.15) can be written as

from which, if e i does not vanish,

qk,-q'k
sgn6 = e, 'k sgn( ) )
1) e,
1

follows directly.

Exercise 2.5.1 Given matrices T and as defined in eqs. (2.5.5a) and

I(2.5.5b),
~,

prove that t =- E2 and devise an algorithm to compute E given t.

Exercise 2.5.2 Use eq. (2.5.16) to dete~ine the sign of 6 for the rotation

matrix of Example 2.3.1 and verify the result thus obtained with the one

obtained previously.

I
Exercise 2.5.3 (Euler's angles). A rigid body can attain an arbitrary

configuration starting from any reference configuration, 0, by means of the

composition of three rotations about coordinate axes as follows: Attach

axes Xo ' Yo and Zo to the body in the reference configuration and rotate

the body through an angle ¢ about zO' thus carrying the axes into Xl' Yl

and zl (=zo), respectively. Next, rotate the body through an angle 6 about

axis Y1 , thus carrying the axes into X2 ' Y2 and z2' respectively. Finally,
84

rotate the body through an angle $ about Z2 so that the axes coincide with

their desired final positions, X3 , Y3 , Z3' Angle $ is chosen so that axis

Z3 be contained in the plane of Zo and Xl' whereas angle a is chosen so as

to carry axis Zl(=ZO) into Z3(=Z2)' Show that the revolute carrying the body

from configuration 0 to configuration 3 is

sacej>

sasej> (2.5.16)

-sac$ sas$ ca

Moreover, show that the angle of rotation of ~03' a , is given as

a = cos ~
cos 2" 2 cos a2 (2.5.17)
 85

2.6 GENERAL MOTJQN or ~ RIGID BODY AND CHASLES' THEO~!

In the previous sections only the motion of a rigid body about a fixed point

was discussed. There are rigid-body motions, however, with no fixed point.

Such motions are studied in this section.

Consider a motion under which one point is displaced from A to A' and another

one is displaced from R to R', as shown in Fig 2.6.1

This motion can take place in any of three different ways, namely i) any

pair of points A,R of the body undergo a displacement to A', R', respectively

in such a way that line A' R' is parallel to line AR; this motion is referred

to as pure translation; ii) a line of the body remains fixed, in which case,

according to Euler's Theorem (Theorem 2.3.1), the motion is referred to as

pure rotation; iii) no point of the body remains fixed under the motion, in

Fig 2.6.1 General motion of a rigid body

86

which case it is referred to as general motion.

The motion from configuration 1 to configuration 2 can be regarded as the

composition of two motions: first the rigid-body is displaced from 1 to I

without any rotation. Hence, the lines connecting any pair of points in 1

are parallel to those connecting them in the intermediate configuration I.

Since this is a rigid-bodY motion, the length of each segment remains

unchanged. Thus, letting e,e', ;-,;-' and r" be the position vectors of

points A,A', R,R' and R", respectively,

~1I-2-'=!"-e (2.6.1)

Next, to take the body into its final configuration, 2, a rigid-body rotation

Q, about point A', must be performed.

Thus,

(2.6.2)

Substitution of (2.6.1) into (2.6.2) and rearrangement of the terms yield

!'=e'+g(;--e) (2.6.3)

which is an expression for the final position R' of any point R of the rigid

body in terms of: i) its initial position,!, ii) the initial and the

final position of any other point A, and iii) the rotation Q accompanying

the motion. The above expression could have also been obtained considering

first a rigid~ody rotation about point A from 1 to an intermediate config~

ration I' in which all lines connecting any pair of points are parallel to

the corresponding lines in 2 and, since the motion is rigid, the segments

thus defined are of equal lengths; then, perform a pure translation from

I' to 2. Summarizing: The general motion of a rigid body is completely

defined by the initial and final positions of anyone of its points and

the rotation involved.

 87

Exercise 2.6.1 Obtain eq. (2.6.3) by performing first a rotation and then

a translation.

The main result in this section is Chasles'Theorem, which states that, given

any rigid-body motion,it can always be obtained as the rotation about a line

of the body, known as "the screw axis", followed by a translation parallel*

to the axis of rotation. Moreover, the displacements of all points of the body

along the screw axis are of minimum magnitude. The displacement vector of

a point is defined as the vector between the final and the initial positions

of the point, e.g. the displacement of point R in the previous discussion is

=a'-Qa+(Q-I)r
... ... ... - (2.6.3a)

From eq. (2.6.3) notice that ~ is a linear function of one single variable,

r. Hence, the norm of u is a linear function of f only. The square of

this norm is quadratic in r and is given as

T T T T T
q, (r) =u u=r (Q-I) (Q-I) r+2 (a' -Qa) (Q-I) r+ (a' -Qa) (a' -Qa) (2.6.4)

The theorem is now proved via the minimization of q,(!). This function has

one extremum at the point fO where q,'(fo)=~. The derivative q,'(=) is next

computed, and zeroed at !O.

Applying the "Chain rule" to q"

auJT aq,
(-=-
q,'(r)
- =
ar -au

* The direction of a pure translation of a rigid body is understood here as

the direction of the displacement vectors of the points of the body.
88

where, from eq. (2.6.3~),

au
ar = 12- I (2.6.5a)

and

It = 2u (2.6.5b)
llu -

Thus, letting ~O=~(:O)' the zeroing of the gradient of ~ at :=:0 leads to

T
(9-!) ~O:=~ (2.6.6)
or

(2.6.6a)

NOW, if both sides of eq. (2.6.6) are multiplied by Q, one obtains

(2.6.6b)

thereby concluding that the minimum-norm displacement ~O lies in the real

spectral space of 12, i.e., it is parallel to the axis of rotation of Q.

~fuat is now left to complete the proof of Chasles' Theorem is to determine

the set of points of the rigid body having a displacement vector parallel

to the rotation axis. This is done next.

Substituting ~, evaluated at ~O' as given by eq. (2.6.3a) into eq. (2.6.6),

and rearranging terms leads to

_ _ _ _ _0 =(Q-I)T(Qa-a')
(Q-I)T(Q-I)r _ _ __ _ (2.6.6c)

from which ~O cannot be solved for, since (g-!) , and hence (9-~)T(g_~),iS

singular. In fact, it can be readily proved that this matrix is of rank 2.

IExercise 2.6.1 Prove that (~_!)T(g_!) is of rank 2, except for g=!.

Although :0 cannot be solved for from the latter equation, interesting

results can be derived from it. Indeed, given a point RO' with position

vector fO' of minimum-magnitude displacement ~O' define a new point SO'

 89

with position vecto~ eO given as

eO '" Eo + ~~
whe~e ~ is the unit vecto~ pa~allel to the axis of rotation of Q.

MUltiplying §O' as given befo~e, times (~~~)T(Q_!) gives

T T T T
(g-~) (g-~):O=(g-~) (g-~) (:O+a:)=(g~~) (g~~):O+ (g-~) (g-~):

but ~, being parallel to the rotation axis of Q, is in the null space of

T
Q-I; hence, in the null space of (Q-I) (Q-I). The~efo~e, the second te~

on the ~ight-hand side of the latter equation vanishes, the latter equation

thus ~educing to

i.e. eO also satisfies eq. (2.6.6c). In conclusion, all points eO of

minimum-magnitude displacement, ~O' lie on a line parallel to the axis

of ~otation of Q.

2.6.2 Show that the EO satisfying eq. (2.6.6) actually yields

From Exercise 2.6.1, if Q~I, the ~ank of Q-I is exactly 2. Therefore, two

of the th~ee sCalar equations of (2.6.5) are linearly independent. These

two equations can be exp~essed in matrix fo~ as

~:o = c (2.6.7)

whe~e A is a 2 x 3-rank-two mat~ix and vectors :0 and ~ are 3-and 2-dimen-

sional, ~espectively. Now, since the rank of ~ is 2, ~T , being 2x2, is

nonsingular and hence, the minimum_no~ solution to eq. (2.6.7) is (See

Section 1.11)

(2.6.8)

The geometric interp~etation of the p~evious result is that :0' as given

by (2.6.8), is pe~pendicular to the sought axis. This axis is "the sc~ew

90

axis" and is totally determined by the axis of rotation, which gives its

direction, and the point ~O whose position vector, ~o' is given by eq.

(2.6.8). The name "screw" comes from the fact that the body moves as if

it were fastened to the bolt of a screw whose axis were the screw axis.

Other facts motivating the name of the screw axis will be shown later.

Another method of finding a point on the screw axis is via Rodrigues'

formula as it appears in (2.6). This procedure can be developed as

follows: As was pointed out from eq. (2.6.6), the minimum-norm displa-

cement is parallel to the axis of rotation. Hence, the displacement of RO

must satisfy

where a is a scalar. Substituting the initial and the final position

vectors of R in Rodrigues' formula, eq. (2.5.3),

, _ e
~0-~0-tan2 ~x ~O+~O
(' ) (2.6.10)

which, together with eq. (2.5.3) for vectors a and a', denoting the

initial and the final positions of point A, yields

a'-r'-(a-r )=tan~xKa'-r')+(a-r ») (2.6.11 )

- -0 - -0 2- - -0 - -0 .

From eq. (2. 6. 9) ,

ex(r'-r )=0 (2.6.12)

- -0 -0 -
Hence, eq. (2.6.11) becomes
6 6 (2.6.13)
~'-~-a~=tan~x(~'+~)-2tan2 ~x~O
6
MUltiplying both sides of eq. (2.6.13) times cot~x,

cot~x(~'-~)=~x(~x(~'+~»)-2~X(~X~0)
=~x(~x(~'+~»)-2(~·~0)~+2(~·~)~0 (2.6.14)

To determine ~O from eq. (2.6.14, it is necessary to impose one extra

 91

condition on it, which is done next. Let be the particular point on

the screw axis which is closet to the origin; hence,

5J .~=o

and so, substituting this vector into eq. (2.6.14) and solving for ~O in

the same equation, leads to

(2.6.15)

which is an alternate expression for :0' The foregoing result is

summarized next.

THEOREM 2.6.1 (CHASLES). The. mof.,.t ge.neJLai. cUbpiac.e.me.n.t 06 a tUg-Ld body

.[f., e.qtUvale.n.t .to a :tJr..a.nf.>ia.t-i.on .toge..titeJr. wUh a tw.ta.t-i.on about an axM
paJta..Ue.f. .to .the. :tJr..a.nf.>ia.t-i.on.
Alernatively, Chasles'Theorem can be stated as follows:

"G-Lve.n an alLbWta.!ty cUb piac.e.me.n.t 06 a tUg-Ld body, .theJr.e. e.xM.tf.> a f., e..t 06
po-i.n.tf.> 06 .the. body, c.onf.>.t-i.tut-Lng a Une., f.,uc.h .that aU po-Ln.tf.> on .that
Une. undeJr.go a cUbpf.ac.e.me.n.t paJta..Ue.f. .to .the. Une., wh-Lc.h .[f., 06 min-i.mum
Euc.Ude.an nOIlm"
A property of the screw axis is established in the next theorem.

THEOREM 2. 6. 2 The. cUb plac.e.me.n.t ve.c..tOfL6 06 aU .the. po-Ln.tf.> a 6 a tUg-Ld

body undeJr.go-Lng an alLb~y mo.t-i.on have. .the. f.,ame. p40je.c..t-i.on along .the.

Proof:

Let P be an arbitrary point of a rigid body and S a point on the screw

axis; let pI and S· represent the corresponding points after the

displacement. From eq. (2.6.3), the displacement of P, u , is given in

-P
terms of the position vectors of P, Sand S', by

u =s'-QS+(Q-I)p (2.6.16)
-P - -- - - ~
92

The projection of u onto the screw axis is computed now by obtaining the
-p
scalar product of u times uS' From eq. (2.6.16) this becomes
-p -
T T T T
~p~s=(~'-g~) ~s+P (g-~) ~S (2.6.17)

where the second term on the right hand side vanishes because, as already

s h own, ~S
. .
1S an e1genvector of 9 and 9.
T Thus, eq. (2.6.17) becomes

From the above expression it follows that the projection of u onto the
-p
screw axis has lenght II ~s II, q. e. d

Using the same notation as above, the final position vector of a point of

a rigid body undergoing an arbitrary motion and its displacement can be

expressed as

(2.6.18)

u =u +(Q-I) (p-s) (2.6.19)

-P - S .: _ --

where the two terms of the right hand side are orthogonal.

Hence it is clear that the displacement of any point of the rigid body is

known i f the following quantities are given:

i) The magnitude of the screw displacement, II~s II

ii) One point of the screw axis, RO' whose position vector is !:O

iii) The axis of rotation, ~

iV) The angle of rotation, e

Given the above data, vector ~s is obtained as

(2.6.20)

and matrix Q is given by eqs.(2.5.1) or (2.5.4). Point RO and vector ~

completely determine the screw axis, henceforth called L. From Theorem

2.6.2 it is clear that a rigid body undergoing an arbitrary motion, moves

 93

as i{ it were welded to the bolt of a screw whose axis where L and whose

pitch were given by

(2.6.21)

For this reason, the pair (L,Q), which completely determines a rigid-body

motion, is called a "screw", and rigid-body motions are thus referred to

as "screw motions". It was shown in section 2.3 how to obtain the matrix

Q, given a rigid-body motion with a fixed point. vectors ~O and ~S' which

define L, are obtained from eqs. (2.6.15) or, alternatively, from eq. (2.6.7)

and eq. (2.6.20).

The following interesting result is derived immediately from Theorem 2.6.2

COttoUaJty 2.6. 1 A tU.gid-body motion AA a M:ta:U.on about a Mxed point i6

and only i6 the oJdhogonai. plLojection 06 the fupi.a.cement 06 one point 06

the bo dy 0n the .6 ClLew aw vani6 hu .

Another useful result is the following

COMUMy 2.6.2 The d£66eJLenc.e veuOtt 06 the fupi.a.c.emeYLt.6 on any:two 06

the poin.t.6 06 a tU.gid body undeJLgoing an aJtbUJr.aJr.y motion AA peJLpend£c..ulaJt

to the .6 ClLew aw.

IExercise 2.6.3 Prove corollaries 2.6.1 and 2.6.2

Clearly, the motion of anyone plane of a rigid body completely determines

the motion of the body. Futhermore, three noncollinear points determine

a plane; thus it follows that the motion of any three noncollinear points

of a rigid body determine the motion of the body. In other words, knowing

the initial and the final positions of three noncollinear points of a rigid

body, one can determine the axis, the displacement and the rotation of the

corresponding screw. In the following, formulae are derived to compute

the screw parameters of a rigid-body motion in terms of the motion of

94

three noncollinear points of the body. The usually applied formulae

require that the displacements of the involved points be noncovlanar. Now,

if three points of a rigid body are collinear, their displacements under

any motion are coplanar. The converse, however, is not true, for three

noncollinear points of a rigid body could have, under special circumstances,

coplanar displacements, as is proved in Theorem 2.6.4. To prove this,

a previous result is derived in the following

THEOREM 2. 6. 3 16:the d.l6 plac.ement6 06 :thtr.ee Yto Ytc.olliYteaJt poirr.t6 06 a

M.g-i.d body aJte identic.ai, :the body undeJr.goe1l a pWte :tJr.a.n6£.atioYt.
Proof:

Let A,B, C be three noncollinear points of a rigid body, and ~,~,~ their

respective position vectors. Using eq. (2.6.19), the displacements of

these points can be written as

u =u +(Q-I) (a-s)
-A -S - - - -

u =u +(Q-I) (b-s)
-B -S - - --

where s is the position vector of a point S on the screw axis.

Subtracting the third equation from the first and the second ones, and

recalling that the three displacements are identical, one obtain:s

(Q-I) (a-c) =0

and

(Q-I) ':':--c)=O

Hence both a-c and b-c E N(Q-I)*, i.e. e-2 and ~-2 lie in the same one-dimen

sional space spanned by the real eigenvector of Q. This cannot be so

* N (!> and R ('!') denote the nu':'l space and the range of '!', as defined in
section 1.3
 95

because A,B,C were assumed to be noncol11near. Thus, the onl~ possib1lity

for the two latter equations to hold is that 9=!, i.e. the motion contains

no rotation and hence 1s a pure translation. q.e.d.

THEOREM 2.6.4 The non-~dentieat* ~plaeem~ 06 ~~ee po~~ 06 a 4lg~d

body Me eoplancvc. ~6 and ant!! ~6 one 06 ~e 60Uow.i.ng &ee eon~11l> iA

mu:
~l The motion iA a pUlte IlOmilon
ill The motion iA geneJta1., bu,t ~he po~~ Me eo~necvc.

~l The motion iA geneJta1. and ~e po~~ Me no~ eo~necvc., bu,t lie ~n a

plane pcvc.aUei. :to ~he .6 ctw a.x"U.

Proof:

(Sufficiency)
i) If the motion is a pure rotation and the origin of coordinates is

located along the axis of rotation, the displacement u of any point

of position vector ! is then

u=(Q-I)r
- -
i.e. ~ER(9-~). Since N(Q-I) is of dimension 1, namely the axis of

rotation, then from eq. (1.3.1), R(Q-I) is of dimension 2, namely

a plane passing through the origin, normal to the axis of rotation.

Thus, all displacements are coplanar,thereby proving this part.

ii) Let A,B and C be the given three collinear points of the rigid body

undergoing a general motion. Let ~,~ and ~ be their respective

position vectors. Hence, vectors c-a and b-a are linearly dependent

and they are related by

*If the displacements of the three noncollinear points were identical,

the motion would be a pure translation, according to Theorem 2.6.3.
96

(iL1)

From eq. (2.6.3),

.!lc=.£I.'+,9(p-.£I.)-p

=~'_~+~+(,9-}) (~-~)-~

_A+a (Q-1)
=u _ _ (b-a)
__ (ii.2)

But, also from eq. (2.6.3),

(Q-1) (b-a)=u -u (iL3)

- - - - -B-A
Hence, eq. (ii.2) can be written as

thus making evident that the three involved displacements are coplanar.

iii) Using eq. (2.6.19), the displacements of points A, Band Care

u =u +(Q-1) (a-s)
_A -S - - --

Since A, Band C lie in a plane parallel to the screw axis, vectors ~-~,

c-a and ~S are coplanar and hence they can be related as

or

Substituting the latter expression into ~C' after cancellations and

rearrangement of terms,

u =u -a (0-1) (a-b)
-C -A ~ - --
But, from the above expressions for ~A and ~B'
 97

and so, from the latter expres.sions for ~c'

u ;:(1-a)u +auB
-c -l\-

thereby showing the linear dependence, of the three involved displacements

Hence, the said displacements have been shown to be coplanar.

(Necessi ty)

If ~A' ~B and ~c are coplanar, then

det(u ,u ,u )=0
-A -B -C

Introducing eq. (2.6.3), ~B and ~C can be written as

u
_B =u _ _ (b-a)
_A +(Q-I) __

u =u +(Q-I) (c-a)
-C -A - - --

Hence, the above condition, rega·rding 1;he vanishing of the determinant, can be

weitten, -after proper simplifications, as

or, in Gibbs notation,

(g-!) (~-~)x(g-!) (=-~) '~A=O

From (2.6,p.S), the first product can be expressed as

where

e and ~ being the angle of rotation and the unit vector parallel to the

axis of this rotation.

IExercise 2.6.4 Derive the above expression for a

The double product thus can vanish if anyone Of the following conditions

is met:

i) e.u =0
- -A
98

which, from Corollary 2.6.1, states that the body undergoes a pure

rotation

ii) 0=0

which is satisfied under one of the two following conditions;

ii.1 ) 1-cosB=0

which implies 8=0; i.e. the motion reduces to a pure translation.

This case, however, has been discarded in the present analysis,

for the displacements have been assumed to be non-identical (See

Theorem 2.6.3)

ii.2) ~~(~-~). (S-~)=O

which in turn is satisfied under one of the following two conditions:

ii.2.al ~,~-~ and S-~ are coplanar, i.e. points A, and C lie in a

plane parallel to the axis of rotation (Picture it!)

ii.2.b) (~-e)x(S-e)=O

which implies that A,B and C are collinear, thus completing

the proof.

COJr.OUMY 2.6.3 M.6ume. a JUgid body undeJtgoe..6 an aJl.bi:tJtaJl.y motion and c.hoo.6e.
any ~hJr.e.e. nonc.oUine.aJl. poi~ 06 ~he. body, A,B and C. L~ng ~A' ~B and ~C

be. ~he. ~hJr.e.e. lte..6uLUng di.6 piac.e.me.~, ~he.n ~he. .:two d..i.66eJte.nc.e. ve.do!t.6 ~A -~C

and ~B-~C aJl.e. paJl.aUe..t i6 and onty i6 ~he. poi~ Ue. in a piane. paJr.aUe..t ~o

~e. .6c.!tw aw fi6 ~e. motion ..i..6 ge.neJtai. 16 ~he. motion ..i..6 a pUlte. Ito~a.tion,

~he..6e. poi~ Ue. in a piane. paJr.aUe..t ~o ~he. aw 06 lto~onJ

jExercise 2.6.5 Prove Corollary 2.6.3

Further consequences of Theorem 2.6.4 are next stated.

ColtoUaJr.y 2.6.4. The. di.6piac.e.me.~ 06 any.:two poi~ 06 a JUgid body c.anno~

be. paJr.aUe..t and d..i.66eJte.~, un.f.e..6.6 ~e. body undeJtgoe..6 a pUlte. Ito~on
 99

Exercise 2.6.6 Prove Corollary 2.6.4. Hint: Use eq. (2.6.19) and the fact

that the two terms of its right-hand side are orthogonal.

COILOUAJty 2. 6. 5 16 t:he cU.6 plac.ement6 06 any two point6 06 a JUgid body Me

pcvta.ilei., :then eit:hell. il t:he cU.6plac.emen.t6 Me identic.al. and bei.ong :to poinU
lying on a line paJLai.i.ei. :to :the .6C1tW ax..U tOlt:to :the ax..U 06 lto:to.;Uon, i6

t:he mo.t.i.on i.A one 06 pUlte lLO:to.;Uonl, olt ill t:he cU.6pi.a.c.ement6 Me di66e11.en:t,
in whic.h C.M e t:he mo.t.i.on i.A a pUlte lLO:ta..t.i.on and t:he .6a.id two poinU Ue on
a line in:teJL6 ec.:ting t:he ax..U 06 Ito:ta..t.i.o n.

COILOUAJty 2. 6. 6 Keeping t:he no:ta:tio n bWl.Oduc.ed in Theoltem 2. 6. 3, le:t a

Jtigid body mo.t.i.on be de6ined by UB=SUA , Q and ~C=Q, S being a nonzeJLO .6C.a.i.M.

The motion i.A :then a pUlte lLO:ta:tion and ,{;fA ax..U i.A paJLai.i.ei. :to vec.:tolt

~-~-S (~-~J.

IExercise 2.6.7 Prove Corollaries 2.6.5 and 2.6.6

The procedure enabling one to compute the screw parameters can now be

established. This is based upon the "tree-diagram" shown in Fig 2.6.2, which

is next described. Given the compatible displacement vectors of three

noncollinear points of a rigid body, these can exhibit several different

relationships amongst them, all of which are shown in that figure. A set of

displacement vectors of points of a rigid body are said to be compatible if

they are so defined as to meet the definition of a rigid-body motion given

in Sect. 2.2, i.e. if they correspond to a set of displaced configurations

of points amongst which the distances are preserved. Even if the distances

are preserved, however, the displaced configuration could involve a reflec-

tion instead of a rotation. This situation is discarded within this context

because the motion is supposed to be defined by three points, and the

involved transformation of points is supposed to be a rigid-body motion.

 Three displacement vectors of
-
8
corresponding three noncollinear

7g~egiven

1. No vector vanishes 2. One vector, and 3. Two vectors, and 4. All three vectors
only one, vanishes only two, vanish. vanish.
Apply formula 1 Motion is a zero-
displacement pure
/~ translation.
1. vectors are 2. vectors are 1. the remaining 2. The remaining
coplanar noncoplanar. two are parallel. two are nonparallel.
l~formula2 Apply formula 1 Apply formula 2

1. Differences are 2. Differences are

parallel. nonparallel
" ~formula 2
1. Both differences 2. At least one
vanish. difference
Notion is a does not vanish.
pure translation Apply formula 1

Fig.2.6.2. Tree diagram showing the different possib)(j relationships amongst the displacements of three
noncollinear points defining a rigid-body motion.
 101

In order to define a reflection, four points are needed. The three displac~

ment vectors can exhibit the following relationships amongst them;

CASE 1. No vector vanishes. This in turn comprises the following cases:

1.1. The given vectors are coplanar, which in turn comprises the

following

1.1.1 The difference vectors are parallel, which again

comprises two cases, namely

1.1.1.1 Both difference vectors vanish, in which case

the motion is a pure translation.

1.1.1.2 At least one diference vector does not vanish

1.1.2 The difference vectors are nonparallel

1.2. The given vectors are noncoplanar

CASE 2. One vector, and only one, vanishes. This, in turn comprises the

following subcases.

2.1. The nonvanishing vectors are parallel.

2.2. The nonyanishing vectors are nonparallel.

CASE 3. Two vectors, and only two, vanish.

CASE 4. All three vectors vanish. The motion is a pure displacement with

zero displacement.

The crucial step in the present computational procedure is the computation

of ~, the unit vector parallel to the screw axis. To compute ~ is a very

simple matter if the displacement vectors observe the relationship of

case 2. If they correspond to cases 1 or 3, however, a new motion can be

defined arising from the given one,that falls either in case 2.1 or in

case 2.2, as will be shown next. Case 4 is of course trivial and thus

need not be discussed. In either case 2.1 or 2.2, a particular procedure

to compute ~ should be followed. Once ~ is known, the remaining parameters,

102

i.e. the angle of rotation, e, the position vector of the point on the screw

axis lying closest to the origin, r o' and the slide displacement, s, defined

as the orthogonal projection of the displacement field on the screw axis,

can be computed resorting to identical formulae, regardless of the case at

hand, except for e= 180 0 , in which case fO cannot be computed using the

general formula. An alternate one is resorted to in this case.

In order to prove that the computation of ~ for cases 1 or 3 can be reduced

to that of case 2, two previous results will be proved, namely*

TheOlLem 2.6.5 G..i.ven a JUg..i.d..body motion deMned by the c:U6plac.emenU 06
~ee nonc.oll..Ln~ po..i.nU, ~uc.h that no c:U6plac.ement vanihh~, de6..i.ne a new

motion by aM..Lgn..Lng new c:U6plac.ement vec.tOM ~A' ~B and ~C to po..i.nU A, B

and C, It~pec.tive£y. 16 th~e vec.toM aILe deMned ~

then the matJt..[x d~c.JUb..i.ng the ItOtation ..i.nvolved ..i.n the new motion -fA

..i.den:U.c.al to that ..i.n the g..i.ven one.

Proof:

From eq. (2.6.3a), ~A can be written as

(2.6.22)

where, clearly, instead of f, one has written ~. Adding ~ to the right-hand

side of eq. (2.6.22) and subtracting it from the same side does not alter

that equation. Hence,

u = a'-a + Q(c-a)-(c-a)
-c - - - - - --
which can readily be rewritten as

u = u + (Q-I) (c-a)
-C -A - - --
* The notation introduced in Theorem 2.6.3 still holds.
 103

or, alternatively, as

(2.6.23a)

Similarly,

(2.6.23b)

From the latter equations one has immediately

and

u'= u -u
~B ~B ~C
= (Q-I) (b-c)
~ - --
or, since u~ has been defined as zero,

u' (2.6.24a)
-A

u' (2.6.24b)
-B
which are expressions formally identical to eqs. (2.6.23a and b), with

~A' ~B and ~c exchanged for ~i' ~B and ~C' vectors e, P and ~ and matrix

Q remain in the second pair of expressions, however, which completes the

proof.

TheOJtem 2.6.6 G.iven a JLi.g.£d-body motion de6.{.ned by .the c:U6pla.c.ement6 06

.thILee no nc.ollinealt po.int6, .6 uc.h .that :two 06 .the.6 e, and 0nly :two, van..£.6 h,
de6.ine a new motion by a.6.6.£gn..£n.g new c:U6pla.c.emen..t vec..tolL6 !:!-,4., !:!-S' !:!-c .to
po.int6 A, Band C, Jte.6pec.Uve1.y. Le.tUng ~C be .the un..£que nonvan..£.6h.£ng

vec..toJt, de6.{.ne ~A =-~C ' ~S =-~C' ~C = ~ •

Then, .the ma..tJt.i.x de.6c.JUb.ing .the Jto.ta.t.£on .involved .in .the new motion .£.6
.iden.Uc.a.l .to .that .in .the g.iven one.
Proof:

Since eqs. (2.6.23a and b) are valid regardless of whether any involved

displacement vanishes, one can apply them to the case at hand, i.e. for
104

Q u + (Q-I) (~-c;:) (2.6.2Sa)

-C
0 u + (Q-!l (!?-~) (2.6.2Sb)
-C
and hence,

Recalling the given definitions of ~i' ~~ and ~c one obtains readily

u' ~c + (Q-!) (!-~) (2.6.26a)

-A

~c + (Q-!) (~-£) (2.6.26b)

and the proof follows by introducing the argument resorted to for proving

Theorem 2.6.5.

As an application of the foregoing results, one can compute ~ for the motion

at hand by first defining new motions leading to Case 2.

Next, the computation of g for Case 2 is discussed. Since this contains two

subcases, each is discussed separately.

CASE 2.1: One vector, and only one, vanishes, the remaining two being

parallel. Let ~B = S~Af Q, ~C Q, Sf 0 Then, according to

Corollary 2.6.6, the screw axis is parallel to vector

(2.6.27)

Vector g is thus computed as

(2.6.28)

CASE 2.2: One vector, and only one, vanishes, the remaining two being

nonparallel. Let ~C o and ~A x ~B f Q Then, the screw axis is

perpendicular to both BA and ~B and hence, is given as

w u x u (2.6.29)
-A -B

~/, ,~" (2.6.30)

From the foregoing results, then follows that Cases 1.1.1.2 and 3 give rise
 105

to a new motion falling into case 2.1. Cases 1.1.2 and 1.2 lead to motions
falling into case 2.2. Cases 1.1.1.1 and 4 are pure translations, their
corresponding screw parameters thus being very simple to compute. Indeed,
the direction ~ of the screw axis for Case 1.1.1.1 is that of the given
identical displacements, the angle of rotation is zerQ, the slide displac~

ment is the magnitude of the given displacements and the point of the
screw axis lying closest to the origin can be arbitrarily defined as the
origin itself, since all points of the body possess identical displacements.
Once ~ is known, e can be computed directly as the angular displacement of
a line of the rigid body undergoing a pure rotation, either falling in case
2.1 or in case 2.2. In fact, considering either of these two cases, and
referring to Fig 2.6.3, the orthogonal projections of points A and A' (the
displaced position of point A) on the axis of rotation, L, coincide at A".
According to that figure, then

->- ->-
-1 AliA AliA' (2.6.31)
e cos

I
A

A'

Fig 2.6.3 Angular displacement of a line of a rigid body

undergoing a pure rotation.

where
a-c- ~-=). ee (2.6.32a)
106

and
(2.6.32b)

Notice, however, that eq. (2.6.31) does not provide the sign of e with

respect to e. This is determined according to Theorem 2.3.2 as

-->- -->-
sgn(e) = sgn (A"A'~ A"A'.!) (2.6.32c)

with e and e known, the position vector of the point on the screw axis

lying closet to the origin, ~O' can be computed by application of eq.

(2.6.15), except if e =0, TI,in which case the cotangent function appearing

in that equation becomes infinity. The first possibility, e = 0, is dis-

carded, because this corresponds to a pure translation, which case falls

either in case 1.1.1.1 or in case 4. Thus the only case that still has to

be dealt with is that corresponding to e = TI. In order to treat this case

one needs the following result:

TheOflem 2.6.7 Given a JUgid motion involving a 180 0 -fWtation, let S be a

point 06 the .6cJtew axM and let A be an Mb-dJuvty point 06 the body ou:t.6ide

the .6C/1.ew axM. MO/z.eoveJL, let ~,q.'~S and ~A be the /z.ef.>pecUve pO.6i.tion and
di.6plac.ement vectoM 06 tho.6e poiit.t.6. Then, a .6ec.ond point on the .6cJtew

aw i.6 loc.a.ted by vectOfl Il+j ~A

Proof:
1 1
If the point located by e + 2~A is on the screw axis, then vector e + ~A-§

is parallel to this axis. Thus, denoting by Q the involved rotation matrix,

the following equality holds:

Q_(~- + ~u -s)
2-A -
= a+ ~ -s
- 2-A-
(2.6.33)

Thus, all that need be proved is eq. (2.6.33). This follows from the fact

that, according to eq. (2.6.19), ~A can be written as

U
(2.6.34)
-A
 107

Now, (Q-;);) (~-:) lies naturally in the range of (Q-~) (by definition) and

hence is perpendicular to its null space, i.e., to ~S. Then, if (~-!l (e-~)

is a vector perpendicular to ~S or equivalently, to the screw axis, its

image under Q must be its negative, because, by assumption, 6=TI. Thus

- - - - - - - --
Q(Q-I) (a-s)=-(Q-Il(a-s) (2.6.35)

On the other hand, making use of eq. (2.6.34),

@(e+ 21YA-§)=9 (~+1~S +

1
2(9-!) )
(~-§)-~ =

= ~u + 9(~-~)
2-S_ - -
+ ~(Q-I)la-s»)=
2 - --
1 1
= ~S + Q (~-~) + 28 (g-!) (~-~l
By virtue of eq. (2.6.35) the latter equation becomes
1 1 1
g(~ + ~A-~)= ~S + g(~-:)- 2(g-~) (~-:)

Adding and subtracting a-s to the left-hand side of the latter equation

leads to

Q(a + ~
2A
-s)= ~ +
2S
a-s + (Q-I) (a-s)- ~(Q-I) (a-s)
_ 2_

a + ~(u + (Q-I) (a-s)}- s =

2 -S - - --
1
~ + ~A -~, q.e.d.

1
Now, if vector e+ ~A is located on the screw axis, the point of that

axis lying closest to the origin, RO' is the one whose position vector is

perpendicular to ~. Thus, the position vector, ~O' of RO' is computed as

1 1
~O = ~ + ~A - (~+ ~A) .~~ (2.6.36)

which is the formula that is to be used to compute :0 when 6 =TI.

To complete the computation of the screw parameters, only the slide dis-

placement, s, need be computed. This is easily done as

(2.6.37)
108

thereby completing the computation of the screw parameters of a rigid body,

considering all possible particular cases that could arise within this

context.

Example 2.6.1 Determine the screw parameters of the motion under which the

cube ABCDEFGH of Fig 2.6.4 is carried into configuration A'B' C'D'E'F'G'H'.

~----~------ H

F F-----+------<

o
,,
,,
y

II
I

,,
F:'-- - -

x
B'
"
A'

Fig 2.6. 4 Motion of a cube

 109

Following the foregoing algorithm, the motion is first classified under one

of the different cases appearing in Fig 2.6.2. To this end, choose the

displacements of any three points, namely B, F and H. These are

;=- 2.e.~, tL
"- -H

i.e. no displacement vanishes and two are parallel. Hence, the said

description of the motion leads to case 2.1. To compute vector ~ a new

motion is defined as follows:

u'
-B

One has then ~~ = ~~ , i.e. a = 1. Thus, the screw axis is computed by

application of eqs. (2.6.27) and (2.6.28), i.e.

h - f - (e-f) = h - e

Angle S is now computed by first finding the projection of point, say B,

on the screw axis, B", and then computing vectors B"B and B"e', following

formulae (2.6.32a and b), i.e.

B"e' = b' - f - (b'-f).ee

thus obtaining

B"B = f(_i j- ~)
3 --

Hence, from eq. (2.6.31)

.e. 2
coss = - - =
2.e.2 2

Thus S could be either 60° or -60°. Its sign is determined according to

eq. (2.6.32c) as
110

sgn(e)

-1 -4
2
=sgn (det .t 13 o -1
9
-1

Hence,

e 60 0

The position vector Eo of the point on the screw axis lying closest to the

origin can thus be computed by application of eq. (2.6.15), using point F

as base point. Thus,

Performing the above computations, one obtains

and

SUBROUTINE SCREW, whose listing appears in Fig 2.6.5, implements the

foregoing algorithm. This subroutine makes use of the subsidiary subroutines

EXCHGE, CROSS and SCAL, listings of which appear in Figs 2.6.6, 2.6.7 and

2.6.8.

Exercise 2.6.8. In a manufacturing process it is required to position the

workpiece of Fig 2.6.9 in configuration 2 starting from configuration 1,

by means of an arm fastened to the bolt of a screw. Determine the location

of the axis of this screw as well as its pitch. If the operation is to take

place in n screw revolutions plus a fraction, what is the value of this

fraction?
 111

SUBROUTINE SCREW(AIN,BIN,CIN,AFIN,BFIN,CFIN,E,RHO,THETA,DISPL)
c
c THIS SUBROUTINE COMPUTES THE SCREW-PARAMETERS OF A RIGID BODY MOTION.
c
c
C INPUT:
C THE X, Y AND Z-COORDINATES OF THREE NONCOLLINEAR POINTS OF THE
C RIGID BODY IN BOTH ITS INITIAL (AIN.BIN,CIN 3-DIMENSIONAL VECTORS)
'"<., AND FINAL (AFIN,BFIN,CFIN 3-DIMENSIONAL VECTORS) CONFIGURATIONS.
C
C OUTPUT:
C 1. THE DIRECTION E, OF THE SCREW AXIS, A 3-DIMENSIONAL VECTOR.
(; 2. THE LOCATION RHO OF THE POINT ON THE SCREW AXIS LYING CLOSEST
C TO THE ORIGIN.
C 3. THE ANGLE OF ROTATION (SIGN WITH RESPECT TO E INCLUDED), THETA.
C 4. THE SCALAR DISPLACEMENT DISPL, ALONG E (SIGN WITH RESPECT TO
C E INCLUDED).
C
C SUBSIDIARY SUBROUTINES:
C
C CROSS(A,B,C) COMPUTES THE CROSS PRODUCT OF VECTORS A AND B, IN THIS
C ORDER, AND STORES THE PRODUCT IN VECTOR C.
C SCAL<A,B,S) COMPUTES THE SCALAR PRODUCT OF VECTORS A AND BAND
C STORES THE PRODUCT IN THE SCALAR S.
C EXCHGE(A,B) EXCHANGES FIELDS A AND B.
C
C 3-DIMENSIONAL VECTORS A, B, C ARE AUXILIARY FIELDS.
C
REAL AIN(3),BIN(3),CIN(3),AFIN(3),BFIN(3),CFIN(3),UA(J),UB(3)
,UC(3),A(3),B(3),C(3),E(3),RHOC3)
LOGICAL LO(3)
COMMON ZERO
c
C COLLINEARITY OF GIVEN POINTS IS VERIFIED. WHEN POINTS ARE COLLINEAR,
C ZERO IS SET EQUAL TO -1 AND SUBROUTINE RETURNS TO MAIN PROGRAM.
DO 10 1=1,3
LO(I)=.FALSE.
ACI)=AINCI)-CINCI)
10 B(I)=BIN(I)-CIN(I)
CALL CROSSCA,B,C)
CALL SCALCC,C,S)
S::SQRTCS)
IFeS-ZERO) 20,20,30
20 ZERO=-l.
WRITE(6,1000)
RETUf(N
C
C DONE
C COMPABILITY IS VERIFIED. IF THIS IS NOT MET, THEN ZERO IS SET EQUAL
C TO -2, -3, OR -4, DEPENDING UPON WHETHER DISTANCE AC, BC, OR AB DOES
C NOT REMAIN CONSTANT THROUGHOUT THE MOTION.
30 DO 40 1=1,3
C(I)=AFINCI)-CFIN(I)
40 CONTINUE
t

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (first part)

112

CALL SCAL(A,A,Sl)
Sl=SORT(Sl)
CALL SCAL(C,C,S2)
S2=SURT(S2)
IF(ABS(Sl-S2).LE.ZERO) GO TO 50
ZERO=-2.
WRITE(6,1010)
RETURN
50 DO 60 1=1,3
C(I)=BFIN(I)-CFINCI)
60 CONTINUE
CALL SCAL(B,B,S1)
CALL SCAL(C,C,S2)
Sl-SURT(Sl)
S2=SORT(S2)
IF(ABSCS1-S2).LE.ZERO) GO TO 70
ZERO=-3
WRITE(6.1020)
RETURN
70 DO 80 1=1,3
ACI)=AIN(I)-BIN(I)
80 B(I)=AFIN(I)-BFINCI)
CALL SCAL(A,A,Sl)
CALL SCAL(B.B,S2)
Sl=SORT(Sl)
S2-S0RT(S2)
IF(ABSCS1-S2).LE.ZERO) GO TO 90
ZERO=-4.
WRITE(6.1030)
RETURN
C
C DONE
C DISPLACEMENT VECTORS ARE COMPUTED
90 DO 100 1=1,3
UA(I)=AFIN(I)-AINCI)
UB(I)=BFIN(I)-BIN(I)
100 UC(I)=CFIN(I)-CIN(I)
C
C DONE
C NUMBER Of VANISHING DISPLACEMENTS IS DETERMINED AND STORED IN NUZE.
C DISPLACEMENT MAGNITUDES ARE STORED TEMPORARILY IN E. IF NUZE.EQ.O
C THEN NUZE IS SET EOUAL TO 4.
CALL SCAL(UA,UA,E(l»
CALL SCAL(UB,UB,EC2»
CALL SCALCUC,UC,E(3»
NUZE=O
DO 110 1=1,3
E(I)=SORT(E(I»
IF(E(I).GT.ZERO) GO TO 110
NUZE=NUZE+l
LO(I)=.TRUE.
110 CONTINUE
t

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (second part)

 113

C DONE
WRITEC6.1060) NUZE
IFCNUZE.EQ.0INUZE=4
C
EACH CASE CNUZE=I,2.3 AND 0) IS NOW INVESTIGATED.
GO TO(111.211.311.411) NUZE

C IF ONE, AND ONLY ONE. VECTOR VANISHES. THE SUBROUTINE INVESTIGATES

C WHETHER THE REMAINING ONES ARE PAR~LLEL OR NOT. FIRST. THE
C VANISHING VECTOR IS DETECTED BY SETTING THE INtEGER VARIABLE IN
C EQUAL TO 1.2 OR 3. DEPENDING UPON WHETHER UA.UB OR UC. RESPECTIVELY.
C IS THAT WHICH VANISHES.
111 DO 120 1=1,3
IF(LOCI»IN=I
120 CONTINUE
GO TO (121.131.141),IN
121 CALL EXCHGECUA.UCI
CALL EXCHGECAIN,CIN)
CALL EXCHGECAFIN.CFIN)
GO TO 141
131 CALL EXCHGECUB.UC)
CALL EXCHGE(BIN,CIN)
CALL EXCHGECBFIN.CFIN)
141 CALL CROSS(UA,UB.C)
CALL SCALCC,C,S)
S=SQRT(S)
c
THE FORMULA TO COMPUTE THE DIRECTION OF THE SCREW AXIS IS
C CHOSEN DEPENDING UPON WHETHER THE TWO NONVANISI1ING VECTORS
C ARE PARALLEL OR NOT.
IF(S.GT.ZERO) GO TO 150
WRITEC6,1070)
GO TO 509
150 WRITEC6,1080)
GO TO 600·
C
C IF EXACTLY TWO VECTORS VANISH, IN IS SET EQUAL TO 1,2 OR 3. DEPEND-
C ING UPON WHETHER UA. UB OR UC. RESPECTIVELY. IS THE NONVANISHING
C VEe"TOR.
211 DO 221 1=1,3
IFCLOCI»GO TO 221
IN=!
221 CONTINUE
C
C ALL VECTORS ARE RELABELLED SO THAT THE NONVANISHING vEcrroR IS
C STORED IN FIELD UC. VECTOR E IS THEN COMPUTED USING THE
C FORMULA REALISED IN STATEMENTS 501-520.
GO TO C231.232.233).IN
231 CALL EXCHGECAIN.CIN)
CALL EXCHGECAFIN,CFIN)
CALL EXCHGECUA.UC)
GO TO 233
232 CALL EXCHGECBIN.CIN)
CALL EXCHGECBFIN.CFIN)
CALL EXCHGECUB,UC)

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (third part)

114

C UA-UC AND UB-UC ARE STORED IN UA AND UB, RESPECTIVELY.

233 DO 240 I~1,3
UA(I)~UA(I)-UC(I)
240 UB(I'=UB(II-UC(l)
GO TO 509
c
L IF ALL THREE VECTORS VANISH.A MESSAGE IS WRITEN AND SCREW RE-
C TURNS TO MAIN PROGRAM.
311 WRITE(6,1040)
ZEFW'''··-5
F~ETUI~N

L; DONE
C ONE-. lWO- AND THREE- VANISHING-DISPLACEMENT CASES WERE ALREADY
C DEALT WITH. NO-VANISHING-DISPLACEMENT CASE IS NEXT INVESTIGATED.
C FIRST IT IS INVESTIGATED WHETHER THE GIVEN VECTORS ARE
C COPLANAR AND, IF SO, WHETHER THEIR DIFFERENCES ARE PARALLEL.
C THE FORMULA EMPLOYED TO COMPUTE VECTOR E IS DECIDED UPON
C ACCORDINGLY.
111 CALL CROSS(UA.UB,C)
CALL SCAL(UC.C.S1)
C UA-UC AND UB-UC ARE STORED IN UA AND UB RESPECTIVELY.
DO 420 1'''1.3
UA(I)~UA(I)-UC(II
420 UB(I)=UB(II-UC(I)
CALL CROSS (UA.UB.C)
CALL SCAL(C.C.S2)
S2··"St:IIH ( S2 )
JUMP'-l
IF(ABS(Sl).LT.ZERO)JUMP~JUMF+l
IF(S2.LT.ZERO)JUMP~JUMP+l
GO TO (421,422.423),JUMP
421 WRITE(6,1090)
GO TO (JOO
422 WRITE(6.1100)
GO TO 600
c
L IF VECTORS ARE COPLANAR AND DIFFERENCES ARE PARALLEL, INVESTIGATES
C WHE1HER MOTION IS A PURE TRANSLATION.
423 CALL SCALCUA.UA.UAUA)
CALL SCAL(UB,UB.UBUB)
UAUA,,"SQRT ( UAUA )
UElUB""Smn ( UIllJB)
IF(UAUA.LE.ZERO.AND.UBUB.LE.ZERO)GO TO 900
WFUTE(6.1110)
c
C COMPUTES VECTOR E. FIRST THE SCALAR FACTOR BETA RELATING
C PARALLEL VECTORS UA AND UB IS COMPUTED. VECTOR E IS STORED
C TEMPORARILY IN C.
509 CALL SCAL(UA.UA,UAMAG)
CALL SCAL(UB.UB.UBMAG)
CALL SCALCUA,UB.UAUB)
·8

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (~ourth part)

 115

UAMAG~SQRT(UAMAG)
UBMAG=SQRT(UBMAG)
IFCUAMAG.LE.ZERO) WRITEC6,1120)
BETA=UBMAG/UAMAG
IFCUAUB.LE.O)BETA=-BETA
DO 510 1-1,3
510 ECI)=BINCI)-CINCI)-BETA*CAINCI)-CINCI»
GO TO 605
600 CALI CROSSCUA,UB,E)
605 CALL SCALCE,E,EE)
EE=SORTCEE)
DO 610 1-1,3
610 ECI)-ECI)/EE
C
C DONE
C lHE ANGLE OF ROTATION IS COMPUTED.AUXILIARY VECTORS A AND B
C ARE INTRODUCED.
DO 710 1=1,3
ACI)=AINCI)-CINCI)
CCI)=AINCI)+UACI)
710 BCI)=CCI)-CINCI)
CALL SCALCA,E,APROY)
CALL SCALCB,E.BPROY)
DO 720 1=1.3
ACI)=ACI)-APROY*ECI)
720 BCI)mBCI)-BPROY*ECI)
CALL SCALCA,B,AB)
CALL SCALCA,A,AA)
THETA=ARCOSCAB/AA)
CALL CROSSCA,B,C)
CALL SCALCC,E,CE)
IFCCE.lE.O)THETA=-THETA
C
r DONE
C COMPUTATION OF RHO AND DISPl.
COTH=COSCTHETA)
DIF=l+COSH
DIF=ABSCDIF)
IFCDIF.LE.ZERO) GO TO 830
DO 810 1=1,3
UACI)=AFINCI)-AINCI)
810 CCI)=AFINCI)+AINCI)
CAll CROSSCE,C,A)
CALL CROSSCE.A,B)
CALL CROSSCE,UA,RHO)
DO 820 1=1,3
RHOCI)=COTANCTHETA/2.)*RHOCI)
820 RHOCI)-CRHOCI)-BCI»/2.
GO TO 840
830 DO 850 1-1,3
850 RHOCI)-AINCI)+UA(I)*0.5
CAll SCAlCRHO,E,S)
DO 860 1=1,3
860 RHOCI)=RHOCI)-S*ECI)

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (fifth part)

116

210 CnLL SC~L(Un.EvDISPL'

m~'IIJI":N
700 DO 905 I~1,3
"'0:-:; Uo"l (I) "'AFIIH I) "·('lIN (I)
WRITE(6,1050)(UA(I),I~1,3)
ZEI:W'''''-6
RE'IUF~N
1000 FOR~AT(5X,'POINTS ARE COLLINEAR.MOlION IS UNDEFINED"/)
1010 FORMAT(5~,'M01ION 12 NOT RIGID.L~NGrH AC DOES NOT REMAIN",
• CONST AtH • ' I )
1020 FORMAT(5X, 'MOTION IS NOT RIGID.LENGTH BC DOES NOT KEMAIW',
• CONSTANT,'/)
1030 FORMnT(5X, "MOTION IS NOT RIGID.LENGTH AB DOES NOl REMAIN',
" CONSTANT. 'I)
1010 FORMAT(5X, "NO MOTION.ALL THREE DISPLACEMENTS VECTORS ARE',
" ZERO."/)
1050 FORMAT(9X,"VECTORS DIFFERENCES ARE BOTH ZERO "I
9X,"THE MOTION IS PURE TRANSLATION. "1115X,'THE "
'DISPLACEMENT HAS THE FOLLUWING X-,Y-AND Z COMPONENTS :"
/15X.F12.5,5X,F12.5,~X,r12.5,/)
1060 FORMAT(9X,"NUMBER OF VANISHING DISPLACEMENTS IS',15)
1070 FORMAT(9X, "DIFFERENCES ARE PARALLEL"/)
1080 FORMAT~9X,'~IFFERENCES ARE NONPARALLEL'/)
1090 FORMAT(9X,'VECTORS ARE NONCOPLANAR"/)
1100 FORMAT(9X.·VECTORS ARE COPLANAR AND DIFFERENCES ARE NONPARALLEL'/)
1110 rORt'\AT (9X, • VECTor.:: DIFFr::I'~ENCES AI:~E PARALLEL" I)
1120 FORMAT(lX,'THE MAGNITUD OF THE NONVANISING VECTOR UA WAS'
"COMPUTED AS ZERO BETWEEN STATEMENS 509 AND 510',/)
END

Fig. 2.6.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCREW (sixth and last part)

SUBROUTINE EXCHGE (A.B)

c
C THIS SUBROUTINE EXCHANGES THE FIELDS OF A AND B, I.E •• IT
C RETURNS B AS A AND A AS B.
C
REAL A(3).B(3).AUX(3)
DO 10 I='1.~5
AUX ( I ) "A ( I )
ACI) ''''B (I)
B(I)-=AUX(I)
10 CONTINUE
F~ETURN
END

Fig. 2.6.6 Listing of SUBROUTINE EXCHGE

 117

SUBROUTINE CROSS (A.B,C)

c
r THIS SUBROUTINE PERFORMS THE CROSS PRODUCT OF A AND B. IN THIS ORDER.
C AND STORES THIS PRODUCT IN C.

REAL A(3),B(3).C(3)
DO 10 K=1.3
C(K)=O.
DO 10 L=1,3
DO 10 M=1,3
N=(L-K)*(M-L)*CK-M)
CCK)=C(K)-N*A(l)*B(M)/2.
10 CONTINUE
RETURN
END

Fig. 2.6.7 Listing of SUBROUTINE CROSS

SUBROUTINE SCAl CA,B,S)

c
C THIS SUBROUTINE PERFORMS THE SCALAR PRODUCT OF VECTORS A AND B
C AND STORES THIS PRODUCT IN S.
r
REAL A(3),B(3)
S=O.
DO 10 1=1,3
S=StA(I)*B(I)
10 CONTINUE
RETURN
END

Fig. 2.6.8 Listing of SUBROUTINE SCAL

118

Fig 2.6.9. Motion of a workpiece

Exercise 2.6.9 (Taken from (2.7» Let ~,~,~' and r' be the position vectors

of the initial and the displaced positions of points A and R of a rigid body

under the screw motion

:'=~'+~(~-~>

Q being the rotation of the screw. Show that the set of points of the body

that, under the given motion remain equidistant from a fixed point P, lie

in a plane.

Exercise 2.6.10 The rectangular plate shown in Fig 2.6.10 is displaced from

configuration 1 to configuration 2. Determine the locus of the points of the

plate that undergo a displacement of minimum magnitude from 1 to 2.

What is the value of this displacement?

 119

.....- - -.... C (in the Y-Z plane)

1

a B,
~~=--~:....-------- ..... Y

x
C2 (in the x-z plane)

Fig. 2.6.10. Rigid plate undergoing a general displacement.

2.7 VELOCITY OF A POINT OF A RIGID BODY ROTATING ABOUT A FIXED POINT.

In the previous sections the motion of a rigid body when moving between

two finitely_separated configurations was analysed. In this section and

the following ones, the motion of a rigid body between two infinitesimally-

separated configurations is analysed. The variables involved in the body

motion are considered to be functions of time and results concerning their

time derivatives are obtained.

Let yet) be the image of vector ~ under a pure rotation Q(!). Clearly,
120

~ is an independent variable; however, its image, y(t),is a function of

time. If the origin of coordinates is placed at the fixed point, then

y(t)=Q(t)x (2.7.1)

Differentiating the above equation with respect to time, one obtains

y(t)=Q(t)x (2.7.2)

which is an expression for the velocity of the point located by vector ~

in its initial configuration, at time t. Expression (2.7.2), however, is

not practical to compute the velocity of the said point, for it requires

knowledge of the point position in its initial configuration. Solving for

~ in eq. (2.7.1) and introducing the corresponding value in eq. (2.7.2)

yields
• • T
v(t)=y(t)=Q(t)Q (t)y(t) (2.7.3)
- -
which is an expression for the velocity of a point of a rigid body moving

about a fixed point, in terms of the current position vector of the moving

point. The matrix poduct, Q(t)QT(t), called the angular velocity* of the

rigid body, represented by ~(t), is a skew symmetric matrix. Then, the

velocity ~(t) can be expressed as

- -
v(t)=n(t)y(t)
-
(2.7.4a)

where

I
Exercise 2.7.1 Show that, if Q(t) is orthogonal, then Q(t)QT(t) is skew

symmetric.

* Truesdell (2.8) prefers to call it "the spin" and so it is found also

under this name in the literature
 121

Exercise 2.7.2 Show that the velocity of a point of a rigid body moving

about a fixed point is perpendicular to its position vector (directed from

the fixed point).

Since ~(t) is skew symmetric and 3x3 it is totally determined by three

independent scalars, thus being isomorphic to a cartesian vector, ~(t),

called also the angular velocity of the rigid body. Using cartesian vector

notation, the velocity ~(t) then can be expressed as

~(t)=~(t)x~(t) (2.7.5)

where the components w1. of w and ~ .. of ~ are related by W.=-E .. k~.k' the
- 1) - 1 1) )

alternating symbol Eijk being that defined in Section 2.5.

Since ~(t) is skew symmetric and 3x3, it has one zero eigenvalue, as is

shown below. Furthermore, its other two eigenvalues are complex (and

conjugate, of course). Indeed, assume Q(t) is in its canonical form, i.e.

cose -sine
°
(Q(t»)= sine cose
° (2.7.6)

sine
°
-sine -cose
°
(Q(t»)= cose -sine
°e (2.7.7)

° ° °
From the above expressions,

° -1
°
Q(t)QT(t)
° °e (2.7.8)

° ° °
which makes evident that all vectors of the form (~) = (o,o,a)T, a being

any scalar, correspond to a zero eigenvalue. The other two eigenvalues

122

are readily found to be

A1 = i,A 2 =- i (2.7.9)

where i is the imaginary unity, 1=1.

The null space of g(t) (see Sec. 1.3) is, from the foregoing discussion,

of dimension 1, i.e. a line. All the points lying on that line have zero

velocity, the line thus being called "the instantaneous axis of rotation"

of the rigid body. A cone rolling without slipping on a plane is a simple

example of a rigid body rotating about a fixed point, its apex; its

instantaneous axis of rotation is clearly, the element of the cone

touching instantaneously the plane. Another example would be a sphere

rotating on a plane in such a way that the contact point remains fixed;

the instant axis of rotation of the sphere is thus the diameter passing

through the point of contact.

Exercise 2.7.3 A cone of revolution rolls on a conic surface, also of

revolution, without slipping, in such a way that both appices are coincident.

What is the instantaneous axis of rotation of the cones in motion?

Exercise 2.7.4 Show that the spin matrix n can be written as

where A is a constant matrix and a is the time derivative of e , the

iangle of rotation.
 123

Exercise 2.7.5 If the revolute is given in terms of Euler's angles, as

appearing in ego (2.5.j6)/ show that vecto~ ~ is given as

0 ccp scps6 ~

(..u)
~ 0
= 0 scp ccps6 e (2.7. 9a)

0 c6 1jJ

or, alternatively, as

s6s1jJ c1jJ 0 ~

(.~) 3= s6c1jJ -s1jJ 0 e (2.7. 9b)

c1jJ 0 n 1jJ

where reference frames 0 and 3 were described in Exercise 2.5.3

Additivity of the angular velocity

In what follows it will be shown that the angular velocity, as opposed to the

rotation, is additive. That is to say, if a rigid body undergoes a sequence

of rotations, the overall rotation matrix is obtained not as the sum of

individual matrices, but as their product. If the rigid body, however, rotates

in such a way that its angular velocity is the composition of rotations

about certain given axes, the matrix of the overall angular velocity is the

sum of the individual matrices of angular velocities about those axes. Math-

ematically this difference can be stated as: Whereas rotation matrices form

a group under multiplications, angular velocities do under additions.

Indeed, let a rigid body rotate from configuration 0 to configuration

about a given axis of rotation LO' which exists by virtue of Euler's Theorem.

Furthermore, let ~Ol be the rotation matrix carrying the body from configur~

tion 0 to configuration 1. Next assume the body undergoes a second rotation,

carrying it from configuration 1 to configuration 2, about axis L 1 , the

corresponding rotation matrix being ~12' From the results of Section 2.4,

the overall rotation matrix is given as

124

(2.7.11)

But usually g12 is not readily described in reference frame 0, but in that

labelled 1. Thus, the following similarity transformation (See Section 1.5)

has to be introduced in eq. (2.7.11)

(2.7.12)

Substituting eq. (2.7.12) into eq. (2.7.11), one obtains

(2.7.13)
The overall angular velocity of the body, ~, is then

(~) 0= (~O) 0 (~~2) 0=«§01) 0 (~12) 1+(?01) 0 (§12) 1) (~~) 1 (~~1) 0

=(~Ol)0(~12) 1 (~~2) 1 (~~l)O+(~Ol)O(~l) 1 (~~) 1 (~~l)O (2.7.14)

Now, let ~O and ~1 be the angular-velocity matrices of the rotations about

axes LO and L 1 , respectively, i.e.

(2.7.15)

Substitution of eqs. (2.7.15) into eq. (2.7.14) yields

(2.7.16a)
or, alternatively,

(2.7.16b)

or, in invariant form,

(2.7.16c)

Now it is a simple matter to prove the result contained in the following

Exercise 2.7.7 Show that the angular-velocity matrices constitute a group

Iunder the operation of addition.

2.8 VELOCITY OF A MOVING POINT REFERRED TO A MOVING OBSERVER.

In what follows, an observer will be understood to be a set of coordinate

axes provided with a clock (2.8,p.26). Assume a point Po' located by vector

x , is the origin of a coordinate system in motion with respect to another

-0

coordinate system, which will be arbitrarily referred to as "fixed".

 125

The latter s~stem constitutes a ~ixed observer, whereas the first, a moving

one.

Let x be the position vector of a VOint P, in motion with resvect to both

observers. Vectors and matrices expressed with respect to the fixed

observer will be indexed with letter F, whereas those expressed with

respect to the moving one will be indexed with letter M. Let ~ be the

position vector of P in the moving observer and Q the rot~tion dyadic from

the fixed observer to the moving one.

Hence,

(2.8.1 )

where it is understood that all three vectors are functions of time.

The velocity of P is obtained differentiating both sides of eq. (2.8.1)

with respect to time, i.e.

(2.8.2)

where Vo is the velocity of point Po and, since

(2.8.3)

then

(2.8.4)

Thus, eq. (2.8.2) becomes

(~O)F +(~)F(~)F+(~)F(~)M =

(vO)F +(Q)F(Q)F(~)M +(Q)F(~)M (2.8.5)

where the first two terms of the right hand side represent the velocity of

P as if it were one point of the rigid body defined by the moving observer*

* See Section 2.9

126

and the last term is the velocity of P as measured by the moving observer.

Matrix (Q)
_ F transfers the description of yelocity(i)
_ M to the fixed

observer. Thus, eq. (2.8.5) states that the velocity of point P equals

that of point P as if it were fixed to the moving coordinate axes, plus

the velocity of point P as if the moving observer were fixed.

Given any two points, P 1 and P 2, moving with velocities Y, and Y2'
respectively, 'the relative velocity of P 2 with respect to P 1 is defined

as

v =v-v (2.8.6)
-2/1 -2 -1

Similarly, the relative angular velocity of body 2, moving with angular

velocity ~2' with respect to body 1, moving with angular velocity ~1' is

defined as

Q =Q-Q (2.8.7)
-2/1 -2 -1

or, alternatively,

(2.8.7)

2.9 GENERAL MOTION OF A RIGID BODY

Let a rigid body B undergo the most general motion, i.e., in general, no

point of B remains fixed. Let ~P be the velocity of one of its points,

P, with position vector ~P and angular velocity ~.

Thus, the relative velocity, y-yp,of any other point R(located by ~ ) with

respect to P, is given by

v-v =Q(x-x ) (2.9.1)

- -P - - -P

for Y-Yp is the velocity that R would have if P were fixed. From eq.

(2.9.1) ,

(2.9.2)
 127

is the velocity of point R, and is given in terms of the velocity of another

point, ~, the angular velocity Q and the position vector of R with respect

to p.

Given two rigid bodies in motion, body 1 rolls without slipping with

respect to body 2 if, and only if, there exists a set of points on both

and 2 such that the relative velocity of points on that set is zero.

Regarding the velocity y, as given by eq. (2.9.2) as the relative velocity

of one point R of body B with respect to body C, the fixed observer, the

condition for B to roll without slipping on C is that there exists a set

of points, whose position vector is given by ~, for which v=O. But for

this to happen, the condition is

v =-Q(x-x) (2.9.3)
-p - - -p

which states that ~p is in the range (see section 1.3) of~. However, it

was shown in Section 2.8 that the null space of Q if of dimension 1; hence

-eq. (1.3.1)- the range of Q is of dimension 2, thereby existing vectors

. E3 not be l
1n '
ong1ng to th e range of ~. If Yp happens to lie outside the

range of ~, it is impossible to find a vector ~ for which eq. (2.9.3) is

satisfied. Those vectors lying outside the range of Q lie necessarily

on its null space, i.e., on a line parallel to the eignevector of ~

corresponding to its zero eigenvalue or, equivalently, are parallel to

the vector ~ associated with Q. In case yp has a nonzero component along

the null space of Q, body B is said to slide on body C, which is the case

of the worm-gear or of the hypoid gear couplings. In these couplings there

are power losses due to the involved sliding and, since the dissipated

power is proportional to the sliding velocity, the contact between the

two mechanical elements under consideration should take place along points

of minimum magnitude of sliding velocity. For hypoid gears this set

128

of points lie on a line which, paralleling Chasles' Theorem, is called

the instantaneous axis of the screw motion of body B with respect to C

or, for short, the instantaneous axis . Indeed, let the sliding velocity

be given by eq. (2.9.2). Finding the points of minimum magnitude of sliding

velocity corresponds to finding the vectors x of expression (2.8.2) which

T
minimize the quadratic form ¢(~)=y y, which has a stationary value

(Section 1.10) when ¢' (~) vanishes.

Applying the "chain rule" to ¢ (~) ,

'av T
CP' (x)=2(~5J v (2.9.4a)
0_ -

where, from eq. (2.9.2),

dy
(2.9.4b)
dx

Thus, points ~O yielding an extremum of CP(~) satisfy the equation

rlTv =- rlv=O (2.9.5)

Exercise 2.9.1 Show that the gradient of ¢(~) is twice the left hand side
I
of eq. (2.9.5).

Since rl has one zero eigenvalue (and only one), eq. (2.9.5) states that

the minimum-magnitude velocity, given by

(2.9.6)

is in the null space of 9, i.e. is a vector parallel to w. Notice that

eq. (2.9.6) does not yield a unique vector ~O for, if any vector a~ (in

the null space of rl) is added to ~O' the velocity YN of the new point, is

given by

Hence, the points of minimum-magnitude velocity lie on a line passing

through one point ~O' in the direction of ~, this line being the instanta-
 129

neous screw axis of the motion under study. The particular point Po on the

screw axis, located by ~O' is chosen such that ~O be normal to the screw

axis; thus, ~O happens to be the minimum-norm vector satisfying (2.9.6).

This vector can be found in a similar way as vector :0 of eq. (2.6.8) was

found, namely, choose two linearly independent equations out of eq (2.9.5)

and form the system

Ax =b (2.9.7)
--0 -
where A is a 2x3 matrix and b is a two-dimensional vector. Hence, the

minimum-norm solution ~O is given as

x =AT(AAT)-lb (2.9.8)
-0 - -- -
An alternative way of finding ~O is now presented, expressing eq (2.9.5)

in cartesian vector form, namely,

-wx(v +wx(rO-r »)=0 (2.9.9)

- -P - - -P -

which can be expanded as

~x~p+~x(~X(:o-:p»)=~
or, expanding the double cross product*,

~xvp+(~. (Eo-Ep»)~_~2(Eo-Ep)=Q

If now EO is specified to be normal to ~,i.e., to be the minimum-norm

vector of all those satifying eq. (2.9.9), then i t can be obtained from

the above equation as

:O=:p+ ~(~~p-(~.:p)~) (2.9.10)

w

which is an expression similar to that appearing in eq. (2.6.15).

130

The foregoing results are summarized in a theorem similar to that of

Chasles'.

THEOREM 2.9.1 Arty JUgid-body motiOrt iI.> e.qt.Uvllie.n..t:to a .6CJtW motion,

eompo.6e.d 06 a velocity ~o artd a .6pirt about art axi.6 pana1~el :to ~O . The.
poin..t.6 who.6e. veloei:ty iI.> ~O M.e. ioeate.d Ort a lirte. paJtllif.el :to ~O' eaUe.d

the. axi.6 06 :the. irtMantane.otM .6CJte.w and ~Q iI.> 06 minimum magrtilude.. The.

.6 CJtW axil.> pa4.6 e..6 :tM01Lg h point Po whO'-> e. PO.6itio rt ve.c;tOft iI.> give.rt e.i:theJt

by e.q. ( 2 • 9. 8) Oft by e.q. ( 2 • 9. 10)

The counterpart of Theorem 2.6.2 now follows:

THEOREM 2.9.2 The. velocit.ie..6 06 aU the. poin..t.6 06 a JUgid body urtdeJtgoirtg

art attb,{;.f;/r.aJc.y motion have. ide.ntielli pJtoje.etiOrt.6 alOrtg :the. axil.> 06 :the.

Proof:

The velocity of any point of the rigid body can be written as

Dot multiplying both sides of the above equation times ~(a vector parallel

to the screw axis) yields

~.~=~p.~+~~(~-~p).~

But the second term of the right hand side clearly vanishes. Hence

v.w=v .w q.e.d.
- - -P -
By virtue of the latter result, the projection of the velocities of all

the points of a rigid body in motion along the screw axis is given by

I I~ol I , which is called the sliding. The pitch of the instant aneous

screw is given by

(2.9.11 )
 131

which is the counterpart of eq. (2.6.21a)

The sliding velocity, YO' can then be obtained as

YO = (YA·~h (2.9.12)

To completely determine the instantaneous screw, only the angular velocity

need be computed. This is done in what follows, after deriving some

results similar to those of Section 2.6. In fact, within the algorithm

derived next, to compute all the parameters of the instantaneous screw,

the angular velocity ~ is first computed, as will be shown in what

follows.

Co/toil.aJty 2.9.1 I6 ;the ve1..ocU.y 06 at ieM;t on.e poin.;(; 06 a JUgid body

hM a vatU6hbtg oJt;thogon.ai pltojec.:t.<.on. on. il.6 an.gui.aJt v e1..0 cU.y, ;the body
un.deJtgoe1l a pUlte /to;ta.t-i.on..
The foregoing Corollary is a direct consequence of Theorem 2.9.2 and so

its proof is left as an exercise for the reader.

I Exercise 2.9. 2 Prove Corollary 2.9. 1

THEOREM 2.9.3 The d-i.66etten.c.e ve&o/t 06 ;the ve1..oUtie1l 06 an.y :two po~

06 a JUg-i.d body un.dettgo-i./1.g an. aJtbftJtaJty motion. .u, pettpen.d-i.c.ui.aJt ;to ;the
ax.i6 06 ;the ..i.n6;tan.;tan.eou.6 ~c.Jte.w.
132

Proof

Let v and YB be the velocities of two points, A and B, of a rigid body.

-A
From eq. (2.9.2) these are related by

Hence, the difference, ~, is given by

which makes clear that d lies in the range (See Section 1.3 of ~,

thereby being normal to the null space of g, i.e., normal to the screw
axis. Alternately this result can be proved resorting to Gibbs' notation.

This way, ~ can be written as

~ = !!!x(e- a )
and hence

-
d.w= wx(b-a).w
...... ...
which vanishes because the double product at the right hand side contains

two identical vectors, q.e.d.

THEOREM 2.9.4 16 the vei..oci;UeA 06 .thJr.ee nonc.oRlineM pob!;t6 06 a. JUgid

body Me '<'derr.:ti.c.ai., the body undeJr.goeA a. pWLe tlr.aYr4i.a.:Uon.

Proof

Let YA, YB and Yc be the respective velocities of points A,B and c. Referr-

ing these to the velocity of an arbitrary point P, one obtains

~A=YP+g(~-~)

YB=Yp+g(!?-I;l)

~c:p+~(:-~)

Subtracting the third equation from the first two yields

~A-~c=~(~-~)=9

~B-~c=g(~-~)=9
 133

which implies that both ~-~ and b-c lie the null space of ~. This space,

however, is of dimension 1, as discussed in Section 2.7. Since points

A, Band Care noncollinear, vectors ~-~ and b-c are linearly independent

and hence cannot be simultaneously in the null space of ~,unless ~= 0,

the motion thus reducing to a pure translation, q.e.d.

THEOREM 2.9.5 The noMdenlic.a1. ve1..oei;Uv., 06 :thJr.ee pointA 06 a JUgid body

Me c.oplanM i6 and on£y i6 one 06 :the 60Uowing c.onditiOn6 J.J., me:t:

u) The motion J.J., geneJLai., btLt :the pointA Me c.oiUneM

iU) The motion J.J., geneJLai. and :the pointA Me no:t c.oiUneM, btLt lie in

a piane pMa1.ie1.. :to :the .6 CAW aw.

Proof

(Sufficiency)

i) If the motion is a pure rotation, the velocity of any point with

position vector r is given by

v = ~r

which states that v lies in the range (See Section 1.3) of ~ , which

is of dimension 2, as was discussed in Section 2.7. This means that all

velocity vectors lie in a plane perpendicular to the null space of g,

i.e. they are perpendicular to the axis of rotation, thereby showing

that these velocities are coplanar.

ii) Let A, Band C be three collinear points of the rigid body and let ~, b

and ~ be their respective position vectors. The velocities of these

points, referred to an arbitrary point with position vector pare

v_A=v_P +~(a-p)
__ _

v_B =v_P +~(b-p)

_ _ _

vc=v +~(c-p)
- _P - - -
134

Since the points are collinear, their position vectors are related by

Now, adding na to ~c and subtracting it simultaneously from the same

expression, one obtains

v_c =v
_p +n(a-p)+n(c-a)
_ _ _ _ _ _

whose first two terms can be readily identified with YA • Moreover,

substituting c-a in the third term of the latter equation by a(~-~), as

given above, leads to

v =v +an(b-a)
-c -A - - -
But

n(b-a)=v -v
- - - -B-A
Hence, the expression for ~c is transformed into

or, equivalently,

thereby proving the linear dependence of ~A' ~B and ~c. Hence these

vectors are coplanar.

iii) The velocities of the three given points, A,B and C, are referred to

that of a point P on the screw axis. These velocities take on the

form appearing in iil. Thus, the velocity of P, Yp ' is parallel to

the screw axis. On the other hand, the fact that A, Band C lie in

a plane parallel to the screw axis allows one to establish the

following relationship

or, equivalently,
 135

substituting the latter eXPression in YC as given in ii).leads to

Yc=Yl?+~(:-,p)=

=yp+~(~-,p)-a~(~-~)+B~p

whose two first terms can be readily identified as YA' its fourth term

vanishing because it lies in the null space of n. Hence

v =v -an(b-a)
-c -A - - -

But

n(b-a)=v -v
- - - -B-A
Thus, the latter expression for v
-c is transformed into

which shows the linear dependence of the three given velocity vectors,

i.e. that they are coplanar.

(Necessity)

Assuming that the velocities YA, YB and YC of three given points A,B and

C are coplanar, the following relationship holds

det(yA, ¥B' ¥c)=O

Referring YB and YC to YA one has

YB=YA+~(!?-~)

YC=YA+g(~-~)

Thus, the above expression for the determinant becomes

det(v , v +n(b-a), v +n(c-a»)= 0

-A -A - - - -A - - -
Subtracting the first column of this determinant from the remaining ones

does not change the value of the determinant. Hence

136

which is equivalent to

n(b-a)xn(c-a).v =0
- - - - - - -A
Introducing Gibbs' notation, and expanding the resulting expression,

!] (,g-!,!)xfl (g-~) = (~IX (!?-~») x (Wx (9-e»);=

.w) (c-a)
- -- -- - -
=(wx(b-a). (c-a»)cJJ-{wx(b-a)
- - - --
where the expression in brackets in the second term of the rightmost-hand

side clearly vanishes. Hence

which vanishes under one of the following conditions:

i) w.v
- -A
=0
which implies, under Corollary 2.9.1, that the motion is a pure

rotation

which means that points A, Band C are collinear

which indicates that vectors W' !:'>-e and 9-e are coplanar, q.e.d.
A direct consequence of the foregoing result is the following

Co~ollany 2.9.2 A6~ume a ~g~d body und~ motion and ehoo~e any t~ee

noneoltin~ po~nt¢ A, Band C 06 the body. Letting ~A' ~B and ~C be the

.:thttee ~nvolved ve£.oUtiu, then the M66~enee veetoM ~A-~C and ~B-~C
(and, eo~equent.e.y, ~A-~B) Me paAalle£. ~6 and only ~6 the po~nt¢ Ue ~n a
plane paAalle£. to the ~Mew aw ( ~6 the motion i6 gen~. 16 the motion
~edueu to a pMe ItOtation, then the i.Md plane i6 paJtalle£. to the aw 06
ItOtatio n. )
IExercise 2.9.3 Prove Corollary 2.9.2

More results connected with the present discussion are the following
 137

COItoUalUj 2.9.3 The. ve1.oc);Uu, 06 any two po.i.YLt6 06 a JUg.i.d body c.annot
be. paJtaU.e1. and cU66eJte.n.t, unl.u,.6 the. body undeJtgou, a. pUlte. JLO.ta.tion

COlLoUaJr.y 2.9.4. 16 .the. ve1.oc);Uu, 06 any two po.i.YLt6 06 a JUg.i.d body Me.

pcvta.Ue1., .the.n e.UheJt.i.) the. ve1.oc);Uu, Me. .i.de.n:U.c.al and be1.ong to po.i.YLt6
ly.i.ng on a Une. pa.lLalle1. to the. ax.i.6 06 the. .i.n.stan.ta.ne.oU.6 .6c.ILe£IJ oIL ill
.thO.6e. ve1.oc);Ue..6 Me. cU66eJte.n.t, .i.n wh.i.c.h C.Me. .the. motion .i..6 a pUlte. JLO.ta.lion
and .the. po.i.nt6 Ue. on a 1bIe. .i.n.te.M e.c.ling .the. ax.i.6 06 ILO.ta.lio n.

COlLoUaJr.y 2.9.5 G.i.ve.n thILe.e. nonc.olline.M po.i.YLt6, A, Band C, 06 a JUgid

body in molion, .6uc.h that ~C=Q and ~A and ~B Me. pa.JLa.lle1., i.e.. ~B=6~A'

the.n the. body undeJtgoe..6 a pUlte. 1L0.ta.lion and ffi ax.i.6 pM.6e..6 thILough C and

.i..6 pa.JLa.lle1.to ve.c..tOIL ~-£--6(~-£.), ~,~ and £. being the. pO.6ilion ve.c..tOM 06

A, Band C, lLe..6pe.c.live1.y.
The computation of the parameters of the instantaneous screw is next dealt

with. These parameters are: i) the angular velocity ~, ii) the position

vector of the point of the instantaneous screw lying closest to the origin,

r , and iii) the sliding velocity, v, i.e. the orthogonal projection of the
-0
velocity field on the screw axis.

The procedure enabling one to compute the aforementioned parameters is now

established. This is based upon the tree diagram appearing in Fig. 2.9.1.

This diagram is equal to that of Fig 2.6.2, except that instead of containing

displacement vectors, it contains, velocity vectors. Thus, all cases shown

in the "branches" of that tree appear in Fig 2.9.1. It is assumed that the

given points are noncollinear and that the three velocity vectors are

compatible. By virtue of Theorem 2.10.1, the orthogonal projections of the

velocities of two points of a rigid body on the line joining these points
are identical.
 Three velocity vectors of !ll
correspondinq three noncollinear
7ig~re given

1. No vector vanishes 2. One vector, and 3. Two vectors, and 4. All three vectors vanish.
only one, vanishes only two, vanish. Motion is a zero-velocity
Apply formula 1 pure translation

1. Vectors are 2. Vectors are 1. The remaininq /.. The remainig

/~
coplanar noncoplanar. two are parallel. two are nonparrtllel.
Apply formula 1 Apply formula 2
t~fO~Ul'2
1. Differences 2. Differences are
are parallel. nonparallel

\~'mUla2
1. Both differences 2. At least one
vanish. difference
Motion is a does not vanish.
pure translation Apply formula 1

Fig 2.9.1. Tree diagram showing the different possible relationships amongst the velocities of three
noncollinear points defining a rigid-body motion.
 139

The crucial step in the present computational procedure is the computation

of ~. To compute this vector is a simple matter if the velocity vectors

observe the relationship of case 2. If they correspond to cases 1 or 3 ,

however, a new motion can be defined arising from the given one, that falls

either in case 2.1 or in case 2.2, as will be shown next. Case 4, being

trivial, need not be further discussed. In either case, 2.1 or 2.2, a parti£

ular procedure to compute ~ shouldbe followed. Once ~ is known, the

remaining parameters, i.e. and v, as described before, can be computed

resorting to identical formulae, regardless of the case at hand.

In order to prove that the computation of ~ for cases 1 or 3 can be reduced to

that of case 2, two previous results are needed, namely.

THEOREM '2. 9.6. Given a JUgid -Oody molion de.6.i.ned by .the ve.1.ocU..i.v.. 06 .thJr.ee

nonc.oLUneaJz. poin.t6, !.>uc.h .tha.t no veloc..i..ty van.i.l.>hv.., deMne a new molion by

M!.>ign.i.ng new veloc.dy vec..tOM ~A' ':!B and ':!C .to poin.t6 A, Band C, lLv..pec.-

lively. I6 .thv..e vec..toM Me de6.i.ned M

.then .the angu1aJz. veloc.dy 06 .the new molion .i.I.> identic.a! .to .the given one.

Proof:

From eq. (2.9.2), ~A and ~B can be written as

v YC + ~ (e-S:) (2.9.13a)
-A
v
-B !'C + f!(e-c:) (2.9.13b)

Hence,

and

and recalling the definitions of ~i' ~~ and ~c' the latter equations
140

become, then,
v' (2.9.14a)
~A

v' (2.9.j4b)
~B

which are expressions analogous to those of eqs. (2.9.13a and b), except
that Y~' Y~ and Y~ have been placed instead of YA , YB and YC ' respectively.
~ , ~, e and c remain, however, thereby completing the proof.

THEOREM 2.9.7. G~ven a ~g~d-body mo~on den~ned by ~he veto~t{~ on ~~ee

nonc.oLUneaJt pO~nX6, -6u.c.h ~h~ :two on ~h~e, and on1..y :two, va~h, deMne

a new mo~on by aM~g~ng new vetoc.ily veuoM ~A ' ~B and ~C ~o pO~nX6 A,

Band C, Jt~pe~vety. L~ng ~C be ~he u.~qu.e nonva~Mng vetoc.ily,

deMne

~A =- ~C' ~B =- ~C' ~C = Q
~hen ~he angLLtaJt vetoc.ily 06 ~he. new mo~on ~ ~de~c.a£ ;to ;th~ On ;the

g~ve.n one.

Proof:

Since eqs. (2.9.13a and b) are valid regardless of whether any involved

velocity vanishes, one can apply them to the case at hand, i.e. for

~A = ~B = 9 and ~cl 9· Thus,

Q ::c + s:!(~-~) (2.9.15a)

Q Yc + ~ Cf>-S:) (2.9.15b)

Hence,

and

-v ~C
= 0 + r2(b-c)
~ ~ ~ ~

Recalling the definition of v~, v~ and v~, the latter equations become

v'
~A
(2.9.16a)
 141

~B = ~~ + g{~-~) (2.9.16b)

and the proof follows by introducing the argument ~esorted to for proving

Theorem 2.9.6, q.e.d.

As an application of the foregoing results one can compute ~ for the given

motion by first defining motions leading to case 2 of Fig 2.9.1. Next the

computation of w for that case is discussed. Since this contains two

subcases, each is discussed separately.

CASE 2.1 One vector, and only one, vanishes, the remaining ones being

parallel. Let

(2.9.17)

Then, according to Corollary 2.9.5, l1l is given as

(2.9.18)

Since the axis of rotation passes through C, YA can be written as

v w x (a-c) (2.9.19)
-A - --
Upon substitution of ~ as given in (2.9), eq. (2.9.19) is

transformed into

YA a(b-c)x(a-c)

and hence

(2.9.10)

CASE 2.2 One vector, and only one, vanishes, the remaining ones being non-

parallel. Let

(2.9.21)

Since the axis of rotation passes through C, ~A can be written as

(2.9.22)

and hence
142

v xv
~B ~A
~ (V • (a-c)
~B ~ ~
w-(v .w) (a-c))
~ ~B ~ ~ ~
(2.9.22)

where the scalar product YB ' ~ vanishes, due to the fact that the

motion is a pure rotation.

Thus, one can solve for w from eg. (2.9.22) as

(2.9.23)

where the denominator does not vanish by virtue of Corollary 4 and

the nature of this case. Indeed, the denominator can be written as

v~B . (a-c)=
~ ~
wx(b-c).
~ ~ ~
(a-c)
~ ~

which vanishes only if the given points lie in a plane parallel to the

axis of the instantaneous screw. Since the differences v~A -v

~C
(=v~A )

and YB-YC(=Y B) are nonparallel, by virtue of Corollary 4, the points

lie in a plane not parallel to the axis of the instantaneous screw,

and the denominator does not vanish.

Once ~ is known, the position vector, ~O' of the point on the axis of the

instantaneous screw lying closest to the origin, is computed by application of

eg. (2.9.10). The sliding velocity v is computed simply as the orthogonal

projection of the velocity field on the screw axis, i.e. as

(2.9.24)

thereby completing the computation of all the screw parameters defining a

rigid-body motion for infinitesimally separated positions.

The foregoing algorithm is implemented by SUBROUTINE INSCRU, whose listing

appears in Fig 2.9.2. This subroutine uses EXCHGE, CROSS and SCAL as

subsidiary subroutines. Listings of the latter are shown in Figs 2.6.5,

2.6.6 and 2.6.7.

 143

S
SUBROUTINE INSCRUCA,B.C.VA,VB,VC,RHO,SPIN,SPEED)
r
C THIS SUBROUTINE COMPUTES THE PARAMETERS OF THE INSTANTANEOUS
e SCREW OF A RIGID-BODY MOTION.
e INPUT:
C THE X,Y AND Z COORDINATES OF THREE NONCOLINEAR POINTS,
e A,B AND C OF A RIGID BODY AND THEIR CORRESPONDING
e VELOCITIES. VA,VB AND VC. FIELDS A.B,C,VA.VB AND VC ARE
e THREE DIMENSIONAL, THEIR ELEMENTS BEING THE X,Y AND Z
e COMPONENTS OF THE CARTESIAN VECTORS STORED IN THEM.
e OUTPUT:
C 1.- THE POSITION VECTOR RHO OF THE POINT ON THE INSTANTANEOUS
e -SCREW AXIS LYING CLOSEST TO THE ORIGIN.
e 2.- THE SPIN. THIS VARIABLE IS LABELED 'SPIN",
e 3.- THE SLIDING SPEED. I,E THE PROJECTION OF THE VELOCITY FIELD
C ON THE AXIS OF THE INSTANTANEOUS SCREW. THIS VARIABLE IS
r LABELED ·SPEED".
C SUBSIDIARY SUBROUTINES:
r EXeHGECA,B) -EXCHANGES FIELDS A AND B.
C CROSSCU.V.W)-COMPUTES THE CROSS PRODUCT OF VECTOR U TIMES
C VECTOR V, IN THIS ORDER. AND STORES THE PRODUCT
r IN VECTOR W.
C SCALCU.V,S) -COMPUTES THE SCALAR PRODUCT OF VECTORS U AND
C V AND STORES THE PRODUCT IN THE SCALAR S,
C
REAL A(3).B(3),CC3),VA(3),VBC3),VCC3),RHOC3),SPINC3).AUC3),BUCl),
CU(3)
LOGICAL LO(3)
COMMON ZERO
C
C IT IS VERIFIED WHETHER THE GIVEN POINTS ARE COLLINEAR. IF
C THEY ARE, ZERO IS SET EQUAL TO -1 AND SUBROUTINE RETURNS
C TO MAIN PROGRAM. DIFFERENCE VECTORS ARE TEMPORARILY STORED
C IN THE SPIN AND RHO FIELDS.
C
DO 10 1=1,3
SPINCI)=ACI)-C(I)
10 RHOCI)=BCI)-CCI)
CALL CROSS(SPIN,RHO,CU)
CALL SCALCCU,CU,S)
S=SQRfCS)
IFCS.GT.ZERO) GO TO 30
ZERO=-l
WRITEC6,1000)
RETURN
C
C DONE
C COMPATIBILITY IS VERIFIED. IF THIS IS NOT MET, ZERO IS
C SET EQUAL TO -2.,-3.,-4., DEPENDING UPON WHETHER DISTANCE
r AC, BC OR AB HAS A NONZERO TIME RATE OF CHANGE.
C
*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (first part)
1~

$
30 CALL SCALeVA,SPIN,SA)
CALL SCALeVC,SPIN,SC)
IFeABSeSA-SC).LE.ZERO) GO TO 40
ZERO=-2.
WRITEe6.1010)
RETURN
40 CALL SCALeVB,RHO,SB)
CALL SCALeVC,RHO,SC)
IFeABS(SB-SC).LE.ZERO) GO TO 50
ZERO=-3.
WRITEe6.1020)
RETURN
50 DO 60 1=1.3
60 AUeI)=BeI)-AeI)
CALL SCALeVA,AU,SA)
CALL SCALeVB,AU,SB)
IFeABS(SA-SB).LE.ZERO) GO TO 70
ZERO=-4.
WRITE(6.1030)
RETURN
C
C DONE
C NUMBER OF VANISHING-VELOCITY VECTORS IS DETERMINED AND
C STORED IN NUZE. DISPLACEMENT MAGNITUDES ARE TEMPORARILY
r STORED IN AU. IF NUZE.EQ.O, THEN NUZE IS SET EQUAL TO 4.
r
70 CALL SCALeVA,VA,AU(l»
CALL SCALeVB,VB,AU(2»
CALL SCALevc,vc.AU(3»
NUZE=O
DO 80 1=1.3
Loel'=.FALSE.
AUCI)=SQRT(AUCI»
IFCAUCI).GT.ZERO) GO TO 80
NUZE=NUZE+l
LoeI'=.TRUE.
80 CONTINUE
WRITEC6.1040lNUZE
IFCNUZE.EQ.O) NUZE=4
r
C DONE
C EACH CASE CNUZE=I,2,3,0) IS NOW INVESTIGATED. PARALLELISM AND
C EQUALITY OF VECTORS ARE THEN VERIFIED.
C
GO TO(100,200,300.400l,NUZE
c
C IF ONE, AND ONLY ONE VELOCITY VECTOR VANISHES, THE
C SUBROUTINE INVESTIGATES WHETHER THE REMAINING ONES ARE
C PARALLEL OR NOT.
C
*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (second part)
 145

$
100 DO 101 1=1,3
IFeLOeI» IN=I
101 CONTINUE
GO TO CI10,120,130),IN
110 CALL EXCHGEeVA,VC)
SALL EXCHGECA,C)
GO TO 130
120 CALL EXCHGEeVB,VC)
CALL EXCHGECB,C)
130 CALL CRosseVA,VB,AU)
CALL SCALCAU,AU,S)
S=SQRT(S)
DO 140 1=1,3
AU(I)=VA(I)
BU(I)=VBCI)
140 RHO(I)=B(I)-CCI)
r
C THE FORMULA TO COMPUTE THE DIRECTION OF THE SCREW AXIS IS
C CHOSEN DEPENDING UPON WHETHER THE TWO NONVANISHING VECTORS
C ARE PARALLEL OR NOT.
C
IF(S.GT.ZERO) GO TO 150
WRITE(6,1050)
GO TO 500
150 WRITE(6,1060)
GO oro 600
c
C IF EXACTLY TWO VECTORS VANISH, IN IS SET EQUAL TO 1,2 OR 3
e DEPENDING UPON WHETHER VA,VB OR ve, RESPECTIVELY, IS THE
C NONVANISHING VECTOR.
C
200 DO 202 1=1,3
IFCLO(I» GO TO 202
IN=I
202 CONTINUE
C
C ALL VECTORS ARE RELABELLED SO THAT THE NONVANISHING
C VELOCITY VECTOR IS STORED IN VC.
e
GO TO(210,220,230),IN
210 CALL EXCHGEeA,C)
CALL EXCHGECVA,VC)
GO TO 230
220 CALL EXCHGE(B,C)
CALL EXCHGEeVB,VC)
r
C VA-VC AND VB-VC ARE STORED IN AU AND BU RESPECTIVELY.
C
230 DO 240 1=1,3
AUeI)=VAeI)-VCeI)

*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (third part)
1~

240 •
BUeI)=VBeI)-VCCI)
GO TO 500
C
r IF ALL THREE VELOCITIES VANISH. A MESSAGE IS WRITTEN AND INSCRU
C RETURNS TO THE MAIN PROGRAM.
C
300 WRITE(6.1070)
ZERO=-5
RETURN
C
C DONE
C ONE, TWO AND THREE-VANISHING-VELOCITY CASES WERE AI_READY DEALT
C WITH. NO-VANISHING DISPLACEMENT CASE IS NOW INVESTIGATED. FIRST
C IT IS INVESTIGATED WHETHER THE GIVEN VECTORS ARE COPLANAR AND
C IF SO, WHETHER THEIR DIFFERENCES ARE PARALLEL.
C
400 CALL CROSS(VA,VB.CU)
CALL SCALevc.CU,S11
C
C VA-VC AND VB-VC ARE STORED IN AU AND BU RESPECTIVELY.
C
DO 402 1=1,3
AUeI)=VAeI)-VCCI)
402 BU(II=VBeII-VCCI)
CALL CROSS(AU,BU,CU)
CALL SCALeCU,CU,S2)
S2=SQRTCS2)
IND=l
IFCABSCS1).LT.ZERO)IND=IND+l
IFCS2.LT.ZEROIIND=IND+l
GO TO (410,420,4301,IND
410 WRITEC6,1080)
GO TO 600
420 WRITE(6,1090)
GO TO 600
C
C IF VECTORS ARE COPLANAR AND DIFERENCES ARE PARALLEL, INVESTIGATES
C WHETHER THE MOTION IS A PURE TRANSLATION.
C
430 CALL SCALCAU,AU,VA2)
CALL SCALeBU,BU,VB2)
VA2=SQRTeVA2)
VB2=SQRT(VB2)
IFeVA2.LE.ZERO.AND.VB2.LE.ZERO) GO TO 700
WRITE(6,1100)
c
C COMPUTES VECTOR SPIN. FIRST THE SCALAR FACTOR ALFA IS COMPUTED.
C
500 DO 502 1=1,3
RHOeI)=B(I)-CeI)
*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (fourth part)
 147

502 •
SPINCI)=ACI)-CCI)
CALL SCALCAU,AU,VA2)
CALL CROSSCRHO,SPIN,CU)
CALL SCALCCU,CU,ABC)
VA2=SQRTCVA2)
ABC=SQRT(ABC)
ALFA=VA2/ABC
CALL SCALCAU,CU,SG)
IFCSG.LT.O)ALFA=-ALFA
c
C DONE
C THE SCALAR FACTOR BETA IS COMPUTED
C
CALL SCALCBU,BU,SB)
CALL SCALCAU,AU,SA)
CALL SCAL(AU,BU,SAB)
SB=SQRT(SB)
SA=SQRT(SA)
BETA-SB/SA
IFCSAB.LT.O)BETA=-BETA
c
C DONE
c
DO 504 1=1,3
SPINCI)=RHOCI)-BETA*SPIN(I)
504 SPINCI)=SPIN(I)*ALFA
C
C DONE
C RHO AND SPIN ARE NEXT COMPUTED
C
GO TO 610
600 CALL CROSSCAU,BU,CU)
CALL SCALCAU,RHO,DEN)
DO 602 1=1,3
602 SPINCI)=CUCI)/DEN
610 CALL SCAL(SPIN,SPIN,W2)
CALL SCALCSPIN,A,COFW)
CALL CROSSCSPIN,VA,RHO)
DO 612 1-1,3
612 RHOCI)=ACI)t(RHO(I)-COFW*SPINCI»/W2
CALL SCALCVA,SPIN,SPEED)
W2=SQRTCW2)
SPEED-SPEED/W2
c
C DONE
C
RETURN
700 WRITEC6,1110)CVACI),I=I,3)
ZERO=-6
RETURN
*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (fifth part)
148

~~
lOOO FORMAT(5X,'POINTS ARE COLINEAR. MOTION IS UNDEFINED'I)
1010 FORMAT(5X,'MOTION IS NOT RIGID. LENGTH AC DOES NOT REMAIN',
, CONSH~NT' I)
:1.020 FORMAT(5X,'MOTION IS NOT RIGID. LENGTH BC DOES NOT REMAIN',
, CONSTANT'/)
l03() FORMAT(5X,'M0110N IS NOT RIGID. LENGTH AB DOES NOT REMAIN',
, CONSTANT'/)
:1.040 FORMAT(SX,'NUMBER OF VANISHING VELOCITIES IS :',15/)
:l.0~)() FORMAT(5X,'VELOCITIES ARE PARALLEL'/)
lO/,O FORMAT(5X,'VELOCITIES ARE NONPARALLEL'I)
lO/v FORMAT(5X,'NO MOTION. ALL THREE VELOCITY VECTORS ARE ZERO'I)
lOBO FORMAT(5X, 'VELOCITIES ARE NONCOPLANAR'I)
:1.0'10 FORMAT(5X, 'VELOCITIES ARE COPLANAR AND DIFFERENCES ARE NON',
'PAF~ALl.. El. ' I)
:1.1.00 FORMAT(5X,'VEl.OCITIES ARE COPLANAR AND DIFERENCES ARE "
'PARAl.LEl.'I)
:1.110 FORMAT(5X,'MOTION IS PURE TRANSl.ATION'/5X,'THE VEl.OCITIES
'HAVE THE FOLLOWING X-,Y- AND Z- COORDINATES:'I
3(5X,F12.5)1)
END
*
Fig. 2.9.2 Listing of SUBROUTINE INSCRU (sixth and last part)
 149

2.10 THEOREMS RELATED TO THE VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION IN A ~OVING RIGID BODY.

Some results concerning the velocity field in a rigid body in motion are

now obtained, the main result of this section being the Aronhold-Kennedy

Theorem. First a very useful result is proved.

THEOREM 2. 10.1 The. ve.loc.J.;U.e.f., 06 :two po-in-t6 06 a lLig-id body have. -ide.n;t[c.a£
c.ompone.n-t6 a£ong the. t£ne. c.onne.c.t-ing them.

Proof:

Let a and 9 be the position vectors of two points, A and B, of a rigid body

in motion. Thus, for any configuration,

(b-a). (b-a)=const (2.10.1)

from the rigidity condition. Differentiating both sides of eq. (2.10.1),

(1')-a) • (b-a) =0

or, alternatively,

(2.10.2)

This theorem is used to check the compatibility of the given velocities of

a rigid body in subroutine INSCRU of Sect. 2.9.

Exercise 2.10.1 The triangular plate of Fig 2.10.1 is constrained to move

in such a way that vertex C remains on the Z-axis, while vertex A remains

on the X-axis and side AB remains on the X-Y plane. Vertex C has a velocity

~c=-5~zm/sec.

i) Determine the velocity of vertices A and B

ii) Determine the angular velocity of the plate

iii) Locate the instant aneous screw axis of the motion of the plate, and

cbmp'ute the pi t.ch of its screw.

150

."..~B~_ _ _.....~y

Fig 2.10.1 Triangular plate in constrained motion

THEOREM 2.10.2 (Aftonhold-Kennedy). Given ~htee nigid bodie6 in mo~on, ~e

/te6uLUng ~htee in6.taM .6C1tW a.Xe6 ha.ve one COJrnlon noJtma.l iMeMec:ti.ng all
~htee a.Xe6.

Proof:

Referring to Fig 2.10.2 let SB and Sc be the instant aneous screw axes of bodies

Band C, respectively, with respect to body Ai let ~B and ~C be the relative

sliding velocities of the instant screws SB and Sc' with respect to A.

Finally, let Q and Q be the relative angular velocities of bodies Band

-B -C

C, respectively, with respect to body A,and ~, the common normal to SB and

SC' joining both axes. It will be shown that the third instant screw axis,

SB/C' passes through the common normal B*C*.

Let P be any point of the three-dimensional Euclidean space, with position

vector r. Points P ,P and P of bodies A, B and C, coincide at P. Let

ABC
 151

v~p-~ , v~PB and v~pc be the velocities of each of these points. Furthermore,

let v be the relative velocity of PB with respect to Pc and let B* and

C* be the points in which the common normal intersects SB and Sc'

B*
~B
.. - W
-B
Fig. 2.10.2 Instantaneous screws of two bodies in
motion with respect to a third one.

Thus,

Y=YpB-YpC=

= (YB+gB;)-(YC+gc(;-£»)= (2.10.3) *

=YB/C+gB/C!+gc£

It is next shown that, if P is a point of the relative instant aneous screw axis

SB/C' then it lies on the line defined by points B* and C*. This is done

* v~B/C is to be interpreted as the relative velocity of B* with respect

to C*.
152

via the minimization of the quadratic form

T
<P(;)=y y (2.10.4)

<P (:) has an extremum at a point :0 where its gradient vanishes.

The said gradient is, applying the "chain rule" again,

(2.10. Sa)

Thus, at point :0'

n (v +n c+n r )=0 (2.10.5b)

-B/C -B/C -C -B/C-O -
from which !O cannot be solved for, since n is singular, of rank
-B/C
two. One possible way to find :0 is imposing on it the minimum-norm condi-

tion, as done previously in similar instances. Another possible way is to

write eq. (2.10.5) in Gibbs' notation as

':l B/C x (':l B/Cx : 0) ~ B/C x (yB/C + cx~) =9

Expanding the first term and imposing the condition that ~B/c.Eo be zero,

one obtains

from which,

:0=- 2 (YB/C +~Cx~)x~/c (2.10.6)

':lB/C

which is parallel to vector c. Since r is parallel to vector ~, the

-0
common normal to axes SB and Sc' then SB/C passes through line B*C*, q.e.d.

IExercise 2.10.3 Show that~, as given by eq. (2.10.6), is parallel to ~.

One application of the Aronhold-Kennedy Theorem arises in the pitch-surface

synthesis of the coupling of two bodies whose relative motion is the

composition of sliding and rotation, as is the case in hypoid gears. This

is shown in the following example.

Example 2.10.1 Let L1 and L2 be the non-intersecting non-parallel axes of

two shafts required to be coupled. These axes are shown in Fig 2.10.3.
 153

z .....- - - d - - -........;j
iL
2

Fig 2.10.3 An application of the Aronhold-Kennedy Theorem

In order to have the most efficient coupling, it is required that this takes

place along points of minimum-magnitude relative velocity, i.e. on the axis

of the instantaneous screw of shaft 2 with respect to shaft 1.

From Theorem 2.10.2, that set of points constitutes line L 3 , normal to the

Y-axis, a distance a from L 1 ; Hence, line L3 is determined by distance a

and angle a. Point Q, the intersection of line L3 and the y-axis is found

from the minimum condition on the relative velocity magnitude. Let ~Ql
154

and v 2 be the velocities of points Q1 and Q2, with respect to the fixed
-Q
axes X, Y, Z.

Thus,

v =aw e (2.10.7a)
-Q1 1-z

v = (d-a)w e (2.10.7b)
-Q2 2_x

Assuming a required reduction m, i.e.,

W2=mw1 (2.10.8)

eq. (2.10.7b) can be rewritten as

~Q2= (d--a.)mlU1~x (2.10.7c)

Next the quadratic form ¢ (a), obtained squaring the relative velocity

magnitude, is minimized.

¢(a)=(v -v ). (v -v )=
-Q2 -Q1 -Q2 -Q1

=w2 (lm 2 ( d-a) 2 +a2) (2.10.9)

1

¢(a) has an extremum when ¢' (a) becomes zero, i.e.

¢' 2( 2
(a)=w 1 -2m (d-a)+2a)=0 (2.10.10)

from which the minimizing value of a is obtained as

m2 d
a (2.10.11)

Angle a is now obtained from the relationship

Thus

cosa.~--- (2.10.12)

summarizing, the pitch surface (on 1) is a ruled surface whose elements are

lines a distance a form the X axis, making an angle a with this axis.
 155

This is a one-fold hy,Perboloid ot revolution. Hence the name "hypoid" given

to such gears.

One very im,POrtant consequence of the Theorem 2.10 . 2 now follows.

COlloUMy 2. 10. 2 G..Lve.n thlle.e. Jt..tg..Ld bod..tel.> ..Ln moUo n, A, Band C, :the.Jte. e.w:tJ.,
an ..L/U):tan:ta.ne.ow., aw 06 pWte. Ilo:ta:t..ton (..L . a.p.Il . ) 06 B wilh Ilel.>pe.c.:t to C
..L6, and only ..L6, the.Jte. e.wt La'l.>.p.ll. 06 both Band C w..t:th Ilel.>pe.c.:t to A
and :thel.>e. ..Ln:teJL6e.c.:t, :the. ..L. a.p.ll. 06 B wilh Ilel.>pe.c.t to C paM..Lng thllough
the. I.>a..td ..Ln:teJL6e.c.:t..ton. FWt:the.JtmOlle., aU thlle.e. axel.> Me. c.opi.a.nM.
IExercise 2.10 . 4 Prove Corollary 2.10.2.

As an application of Corollary 2.10.2, solve the following problem .

Example 2. 10.2 (Kane(2.9 )~ A shaft, terminating in a truncated cone C of

semivertical angle a, see Fig 2.10.4, is supported by a thrust bearing

consisting of a fixed race R and four identical spheres S of radius r. When

the shaft rotates about its axis, S rolls on R at both of its poi nts of

contact with R, and C rolls on S.

Proper choice of the dimension b allows to obtain pure rolling of C on S.

Determine b

Fig 2.10.4 Shaft rotating on thrust bearings.

R C
* Taken from: Kane, T.R.,
Dynamics,
Dr. Thomas Kane 8
8 - _ - + _J '-----L-_ __
817 Lathrop Drive
Stanford, CA - 94305
156

Solution:

From Corollary 2.10.2, if all C, Sand R move with pure rolling rel~tive

motion, then the i.a's.p.r. all coincide at one common point. Clearly, the

i.a.p.r. of C with respect to S is the cone element passing through the

contact point (between C and S), whereas the i.a.p.r. of C with respect to

R is the symmetry axis of C. The intersection of those two axes is the

cone apex, which henceforth is referred to as point o. Length b is now

determined by the condition that the i.a.p.r. of C with respect to R passes

through o.
Now, two points of this axis are already known, namely, the two points of

contact of S on R, henceforth ref e rred to as points P1 and P2 . Then, the

geometry of Fig 2.10.5 follows

I'" b
I
----''i~. r...,
Fig 2.10.5 Instantaneous axes of pure rotation of
bodies C, Sand R of Fig 2.10.4.

From Fig 2.10.5 it is clear that axis SSR makes a 45° angle with axis SCR.

Let T be the contact point between C and S. From a well-known theorem of

plane geometry,
 157

(2.10.13)

Applying the Pythagorean Theorem to triangle OT'T,

-2
OT (2.10.14)

But

OT' b - rcos6 (2.10.15a)

and

T'T = b + r + rsin6 (2.10.15b)

Hence,
-2
OT 2r 2 (1+sin6)+2br(1+sin6-cos6)+2b 2 (2.10.16)

Also,

I2b (2.10.17a)

OP 2 (2.10.17b)

Substitution of eqs. (2.10.16) and (2.10.17 a and b) into eq. (2.10.13)

yields

r(1+sin6)+b(sin6-cos6)=0

from which,

b=r 1 + sin6 (2.10.18)

cos6-sin6

One more consequence of Theorem 2.10.2 is summarized in the following

COlLoilaJLtj 2. J 0.3 (ThJr.e.e. c.e.n;te.IL The.OILem). In. pi.an.e. motion. :the. :thJr.e.e. ~1U;tan.~

ne.oU6 axe;., (ce.n;teJL6 bl ;tw c.on;te.x:t) 06 :thlLe.e. ~g~d bo~e.6 ~n. motion. Ue. on. a
Un.e. (2. 10)

2.11 ACCELERATION DISTRIBUTION IN A RIGID BODY MOVING ABOUT A FIXED POINT

It was shown in Section 2.7 that the velocity of a point of a rigid body

moving about a fixed point is given by

~(t)=~(t)y(t) (2.11.1)
158

where net) is the rigid-body angular velocity and yet) is the

current position vector of the point under consideration.

The acceleration a(~) of the said point is now obtained differentiating both

sides of eq. (2.11.1) with respect to time; thus

~(t)=9(t)K(t)+~(t)~(t)

But yet) is v(t), the above equation taking on the form

~ (t) = (~tt) +~2 (tl h: (t) (2.11.2)

The matrix in brackets appearing in eq. (2.11.2) is referred to, by analogy

with eq. (2.11.1), as the angular acceleration matrix The acceleration

of the point under study is formed by two components, as appearing in eq.

(2.11.2), namely, the tangential acceleration , ~(t)y(~), and the normal

acceleration , ~2(t)y(~), the former being tangential and the latter being

normal to the velocity.

I_Ex_e_r_c_i_s_e_2_._1_1_._1 Show that ~ (t)I tt) and ~2 (t)y (t) are, respectively,

Iparallel and normal to the velocity.

There is one implicit fact in the above result, namely, in the square matrix

vector space, one scalar product (See Section 1.7) can be defined as Tr(AB T ),

A and B being matrices of the same space.

In this context, matrices 9(t) and 9 2 (t) are orthogonal, i.e., its scalar

product vanishes.
• 2
IExercise 2.11.2 Show that Tr(~9 )=0

Result (2.11.2) can be expressed, in Gibbs' notation as

(2.11.3)

thereby making the result of Exercise 2.11.1 apparent

 159

2.12 ACCELE~TION DISTRIBUTION IN A RIGID BODY UNDER GENERAL ~OTION.

Consider now the most general case of rigid-body motion, in which none of

the points of the body remains fixed.

From eq. (2.9.2), the velocity of a point-whose position vector is ¥(t)-

of a rigid body under general motion is

(2.12.1)

where yp(t) and v (t) are the position vector and the velocity, both known,
- -p
of a given point p of the rigid body. The acceleration of a general point,

~(t), of the body under consideration is next obtained differentiating both

sides of eq. (2.12.1) with respect to time, i.e.

(2.12.2)

and, from eq. (2.12.1),

(2.12.3)

which, when substituted in eq. (2.12.2), leads to

(2.12.4)

which, except for the term ~p(t), is identical to eq. (2.11.2), with

:(t)-:p(t) instead of yet) of that equation.

The relative acceleration, ~(t)-~p(t), of the general point with respect

to P is clearly given as

e (t) -ep (t) = (0 tt) +0 2 (t») (: (t) -:p (t)) (2.12.5)

which again, is seen to be composed of both a tangential and a normal

component.

Paralelling previous sections, the set of points of minimum-magnitude

acceleration is now determined. ThUS, the function ~ defined as

~ (y)=a Ta t2.j2.6)
160

is now minimized over y. Applying the "chain rule" to it,

( oa JT
_ = 2 - Cly-a
<P' (y) (2.12.7)

where, from eq. (2.12.4),

(2.12.8)

Hence, the minimum-magnitude acceleration satisfies

(2.12.9)
• 2
i.e. the minimum-magnitude acceleration is in the null space of rl+rl .

If both ~ and S/ have the same null space, then that minimum-magnitude

acceleration lies in that space. Since both ~ and rl are skew symmetric,

vectors w and ~ lying in their null space, can be defined in such a way

that, for any vector r,

(2.12.10)

Hence it becomes clear that for ~ and rl to have the same null space, ~ and

o should be parallel. Furthermore, ~

2
and rl have the same null space

(prove it) and hence, for rl and rl 2 to have the same null space, ~ and W

should be parallel. A simple case for which Q and rl 2 have the same null

space is that for which the rotation axis, ~, has a constant direction.

In fact, if this is so, then

rle=O (2.12.11)

for all time t. Differentiating the latter expresion with respect to time

yields

But, since the magnitude of e is unity and its direction is constant, e=O

and hence, the latter equation leads to

(2.12.12)
 161

thereby showing that, under the conditions stated, if § is in the null

space of ~, then it is also in the null space of ~. Hence, when the

instant screw axis has a contant direction, the minimum-magnitude acceler~

tion is parallel to that direction. If the involved matrices do not have

a conunon null space, then the only possibility of eq. (2.12.9)

to hold is if a=O. The latter condition is equivalent to

• 2
~p+(~+~ ) (~o-~p)=~

or

(2.12.13)
2
which has a unique solution if ~ and ~ do not have a common null space,

for then, the sum of them becomes of full rank, i.e. in that case
• 2
rank(~+~ )=3, and hence this sum is nonsigular. In this case, then, one

single point of the body, located by the position vector ~O' has a zero

acceleration. This point is called an aeeet~on pole and its position

vector is given as
• 2-1
Y =y - W+rl) a (2.12.14)
_0 _p - - -p

Example 2.12.1 For a rigid-circular cone rolling without slipping on a

plane, its acceleration pole is its apex (prove it)

Exercise 2.12.2 The system shown in Fig 2.12.1 is an inversion of the

worm-gear mechanism and is composed of a rigid arm OA of lenght b that can

rotate freely about .axis EE', this axis being normal to the plane of

motion of OA. A rigid wheel is coupled to OA at A in such a way that the wheel

can rotate freely about axis FF' passing though A; this axis is perpendicular

to both OA and EE'. If OA rotates at a constant rate p and the wheel rotates

about FF' at a constant rate q, show that the point of the disk on OA, a

distance d from 0, has zero acceleration, the distance d being given by

162

2
d=
--L-
2 2 b
P +q

~p
,
,,

Fig 2.12.1 Inversion of the worm-gear mechanism

An extensive account of this topic is presented in (2.11)

 163

2.13. ACCELERAT~QN QF ~ ~VING POINT REFERRED TO A MOVING OBSERVER.

COR,I,OLIS' THEORE~T

In Section 2.18 it was shown that the velocity (v)* of a moving point,
-'F

referred to a fixed observer, given in terms of its position vector, (~)M'

referred to a moving observer is given by

(2.13.11

where Q and ~ are the rotation and the angular velocity matrices, respec-

tively, of the moving axes with respect to the fixed ones.

The accelaration, (~)F' of the moving point, in the fixed observer, is now

obtained differentiating eq. (2.13.1) with respect to time, namely

(2.13.2)

where

(2.13.3)

But
(2.13.4)

Hence

(2.13.5)

Substitution of eqs. (2.13.4) and (2.13.5) into eq. (2.13.2) yields

But

and, similarly,

* All vectors and matrices appearing in this section are functions of time,
but for simplicity the argument (t) has been dropped.
164

and hence,

substituting the two latter expressions into eq. (2.13.6) one obtains
2 ~

(~)F=(~O)F+(~+~ )F(g)F(~)M+(9)F(~)M+2(~}F(9}F (~)M (2.13.7)

which is an expression for the acceleration of a point in terms of

measurements of its position, velocity and acceleration, taken by a moving

observer. The first two terms of eq. (2.13.7) are identical to the right

hand side of eq. (2.12.4) with y-y substituted for ~; hence, the two said
- -p -

terms constitute the acceleration of a point fixed in the moving observer,

coincident with the moving point under study, at a particular time. The

third term stands for the acceleration of the moving point, as measured by

the moving observer, and the fourth term is an acceleration term arising

from the rotation of the moving observer, as is apparent from eq. (2.13.7);

this term is known as Coriolis' acceleration Equation (2.13.7) constitutes,

then, the Theorem of Coriolis. (2.11)

Exercise 2.13.1 The mechanism shown in Fig 2.13.1 is a component of a

quick-return mechanism used in a crank shapero Assuming that disk 2 rotates

at a constant angular velocity w2 =1800 rpm, determine graphically the angular

acceleration of link 3, for the given configuration.

Hint: Two points, B2 and B3, coincide at B. Find the acceleration of B3 via

eq. (2.13.7), referred to an observer fixed in 2.

 165

.JU-_ _ 4

~ig 2.13.1 Driving system of a quick-return mechanism

166

REF ERE N C E S

2.1 Euler L., "Du movement de rotation des corps solides autour d'un
axe variable", Memoirs de l'.Academie de Sciences de Berlin (15),
1759, pp. 210-240

2.2 Synge J. L. , "Classical Dynamics", in FIUgge S., ed., Encyclopedia of

Physics, Vol. 111/1, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1960, pp. 18-19.

2.3. Rodrigues 0., "Des lois geometriques qui regissent les deplacements
d'un systeme solide dans l'espace, et de la variation des coordonnees
provenant de ces deplacements consideres independamment des causes
qui peuvent les produire", Journal de Mathematiques Pures et .Appliquees,
vol. 5, 1st Series, 1840, pp. 380-440

2.4 Bisshop K.E., "Rodrigues' formula and the screw matrix" Journal of
Engineering for Industry, Trans • .ASME, Series B, vol. 91, February
1969.

2.5 Gupta V.K., "Kinematic analysis of plane and spatial mechanisms",

Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 95,
May 1973.

2.6 Fox E.A., Mechanics, Harper & Row, N. York, 1967, p. 11

2.7 Roth B., "The Kinematics of Motion Through Finitely Separated

Positions", Journal of Applied Mechanics, Trans. ASME, Series E,
September, 1967.

2.8 Truesdell C., A First Course in Rational Continuum Mechanics, vol. I.

Academic Press, N. York, 1977. p. 38.

2.9 Kane T.R., Dynamics, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., N. York, 1968,
p. 66.

2.10 Cowie A., Kinematics and Design of Mechanisms, International Texbook

Company, Scranton, Penn, 1961, p.144.

2.11 Veldkamp G.R., "Acceleration axes and distribution in spatial motion"

Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 91,
Feb. 1969.

2.12 Coriolis G., "Memoire sur les equations du mouvement relatif des
systbmes des corps", J. Ecole Poly technique, 15, cahier 24, 1835,
pp. 142-154.
3. Generalities on Lower-Pair Kinematic Chains

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The coupling of rigid bodies constitutes a kinematic chain, each of its

bodies thus being referred to as a link of the chain. If every link of
a kinematic chain is coupled to at least two other links, the chain is
said to be closed. If some links of the chain, however, are coupled to
only one link, the chain is open. A given kinematic chain, though open,
may contain a subset of links that constitute a closed kinematic
subchain, which is referred to as a loop. Whether closed or open,
kinematic chains can contain one or multiple loops, thus being referred
to as single-loop or multiple-l0£P kinematic chains. Of course, an open
kinematic chain may contain no loop.

Closed kinematic chains are referred to as linkages, whereas open ones are
called manipulators. Linkages have been the main object of study within the
modern Theory of Machines and Mechanisms for over a century [3. 1J ' though
it seems that linka~es appeared in the 13th century. They are comprised
within a wider class of mechanical devices known as mechanisms. A widely
accepted definition of mechanism is [3. 2J: "an assemblage of rigid or
resistant bodies connected together for the purpose of transforming motion".

The interest for the study of mechanisms arose orginally in mechanical

engineering. The underlying theory, however, has been found to embrace
other areas such as biomechanics, and so, it finds wide applications in
the study of some living entities like the lOCOMotion systems of humans
and animals. The wide variety of mechanisms defined previously, can
be divided into two classes, namely, lower-pair and ~per-pair mechanisms.
These terms are discussed in the present chapter, together with other
related items such as degree of freedom, kinematic pair and classification
of kinematic chains.

3.2 KINEMATIC PAIRS

A kinematic pair is the coupling of two mechanical elements. If these two

168

elements are rigid bodies, the pair can oe either one ot two kinds: il lower
pair or ii) upper pair. A lower pair exists when one element is coupled to
the other via a wrapping action and contact takes place along a surface. If
contact takes place along a line or a point, the resulting coupling is
referred to as an upper pair.

3.3 DEGREE OF FREEDOM.

The degree of freedom of a kinematic chain is defined as an integer numOer

corresponding to the minimum numOer of generalised [3.3J coordinates required
to specify geometrically a configuration of the chain . If the degree of
freedom of a chain is positive, it constitutes a mechanism; if it is zero,
it corresponds to a statically determined structure, whereas, if negative,
it corresponds to a statically underdeterrnirBd (hyperstatic) structure, the
negative of its degree of freedom being referred to as its redundancy.The
degree of freedom of a rigid body free to move in space is thus equal to
six,namely,a translation along each of three noncoplanar directions,plus
a rotation (e.g.Euler's angles)about each of three noncoplanar directions
(not necessarily corresponding to the three previous directions) . Constraints
are imposed on rigid bodies to make their motion useful for a certain purpuse,
thus diminishing their degree of freedom. Kinematic pairs are in fact
constraints imposed on the involved bodies.
3.4 CLASSIFICATION OF LOWER PAIRS

All possible lower pairs can be put into one of six different types, namely,
i) Revolute (R), ii) Prismatic (P), iii) Screw (H), iv) Cylindric (C),
v) Spheric (S) and vi) planar (E), physical models of which are shown in
Fig 3.4.1, their kinematic models appearing in Fig 3.4.2.
The revolute pair only allows rotation about one axis, therefore imposing
five constraints: prevention of translation along three directions and of
rotation about two axes.
The prismatic pair only allows translation along one direction, also imposing
five constraints: prevention of translation along two directions and of
rotation about three axes.
The screw pair allows translation along one direction and rotation about
the same direction, both being related. Thus, five constraints are also
 169

imposed by this pair, namely, prevention of tranlation along three (or,

alternatively, two) directions and of rotation about two (Dr, alternatively,
three) axes.
The cylindrical pair allows two independent motions, namely, translation
about one axis and rotation about the same axis. This pair imposes clearly,
four contraints.
The spherical pair allows rotation about three non coplanar axes, thus
imposing three constraints: prevention of translation along three non-coplanar
directios.
The planar pair allows translation along two independent directions and
rotation about one axis perpendicular to the plane of those directions. Thus,
this pair imposes three constraints.

A link supplied with two kinematic pairs is referred to as a dyad.A dyad

containing one revolute and one prismatic pair is referred to as an R-P dyad.
Similarly are R-R, R-C, S-S, etc. dyads defined.

Herve [3.~ has introduced the most rational classification of mechanisms

by resorting to the theory of groups. In fact, each lower pair allows a
set of relative motions of the two coupled bodies. These motions can be
regarded as subsets of the group of rigid-body motions (See Sect.2.4). It
can be readily shown that each of these subsets constitutes in turn a group.
Thus, the set of relative motions allowed by a revolute pair constitute the
subgroup of rotations about a fixed axis passing through a given point A
and parallel to a given unit vector e. All these rotations differ only by
the angle of rotation. This group is in turn a subgroup of the group of
rotations about point A, which is, in turn, a subgoup of the group of
general rigid-body motions. The subgroup associated with the revolute pair
can therefore be characterised by point A and vector e.Hence, it is
represented by gR(A,:).

On the other hand, the set of relative motions allowed by the prismatic
pair is that of tran~lations along a direction parallel to the unit vector
e, which clearly constitute a subgroup. This is in turn a subgroup of the
group of pure translations, i.e. along three non coplanar directions. The
subgroup associated with the prismatic pair is thus characterised by the
unit vector e and is hence represented by g (e).
P -
170

x
y

b) Prismatic
a) Revolute

z
2

c) Screw d) Cylindric

e) Spheric f) Planar

Fig . 3 . 4.1 Lower Pairs

 171

b) Prismatic

)
~
e=px
c) Screw
/.Je
d) Cylindric

f) planar

e) Spheric

Fig. 3.4.2 Kinematic models

of lower pairs
172

The screw pair allows a relative motion of a rotation about an axis passing
through point A and parallel to the unit vector .,..
e l plus a translation along
a direction parallel to vector e. Both the rotation and the translation are
not independent, however, for they are related by the pitch p of the screw.
The corresponding subgroup, hence, is characterised by point A, the pitch p
and vector =, its representation thus being gH(A,P'~)'

The cylindrical pair defines in turn a subgroup being characterised by a

rotation about an axis passing through point A and parallel to the unit
vector =, plus a translation along a direction parallel to vector :. In
this case, however, both the angle of rotation and the amount of translation,
are independent. The subgroup associated with this pair is then characterised
by point A and vector e, its representation being 9c (A,:).Clearly,

The spherical pair defines a set of relative motions that constitutes the
subgroup of rotations about a given point A. Hence, this subgroup is
characterised by point A, its representation being gS(A). Clearly

9 R (A, :)c.g s (Al

The planar pair defines a set of relative motions that constitute the
subgroup of motions lying in a plane perpendicular to the unit vector e.
Hence, its representation is 9E (:).Clearly

The reader can verify that all of the foregoing defined sets actually
constitute subgroups, by recalling the definitions introduced in Section
2.4.

A word of caution is in order: if A and B are any two points and e is a

unit vector not parallel to line AB, then,

i) 9 (A,el and 9 (B,el are independent

R - R-
 173

ii) 9 (A,p,e) and 9 H (.B,p,e) are independent

H - -

iii)if p1q, 9H(A,p,~) and 9H(B,q,~) are independent. However, gH(A,p,e) ,

9 H (A,q,~)C9c(A,:).

The validi_ty of the foregoing statements is accepted almost intuitively.

They will become clearer in the following discussion, which requires some

previous definitions.

The number of independent variables that is required to define the relative

position of two coupled links is referred to its degree of freedom, f. Thus,
fi is said to be the degree of freedom of the kinematic pair Pi' The concept
of degree of freedom of a kinematic pair can be extended to any subgroup of
the group gr of rigid-body motions, the corresponding concept being that of
dimen6~on. Hence, the dimension of 9r is six, which is symbolically repre-

sented as

Subgroups of gr that are not associated with one of the lower pairs already
defined are the following:

The ~den.t{;tlj .tIta.n.6 fiolUn<Lti.on 1.., leaving all points of space unchanged. One
can think of two links coupled by a pair corresponding to 1.. if the coupling
is rigid.

The p£.ane .tM.n6iati.on 9 (e ,e ), corresponding to a relative translation

T -1 -2
along two independent directions defined by the nonidentical unit vectors

:1 and ~2'

The ~p~ .tIta.n.6iati.on 9T(:1':2'~3),corresponding to a relative translation

along three independent directions defined by the noncoplanar unit vectors

:1'~2 and :3'

The .tIl.an6la..t.ing-~CJ!.ew transformation, 9y (p, ~1 ':2 ':3)' corresponding to the

motion of a screw of pitch p and axis parallel to the unit vector :3,whose
bolt can undergo a translation parallel to the plane defined by the
174

nonidentical unit vectors :1 and :2' vector :3 is perpendicular to each :1

and :2'

The tnan6lating gimbal transformation, defining the motion of a rigid body

mounted on a frame and free to rotate about one axis fixed on this frame
and parallel to the unit vector ~. Moreover, the frame can translate freely in
the space. This transformation thus defines a subgroup represented by 9 (e).
X -

The gen~al ~g~d-body mo~on transformation gr' allowing a rigid body to

move freely with respect to a "fixed" frame. This can also be thought of
a translating three-axis gimbal transformation, its three axis being
noncoplanar.
The foregoing definitions are summarized in Table 3.4.1

Now, the concept of kinematic pair can be extended. In analysing a

kinematic chain composed of bodies 1,2, ... ,i-1,i, one may be interested
in studying the motion of body i relative to body 1. Whatever the couplings
of bodies 1 and 2, 2 and 3, ... , i-1 and i may be, the motion of body i

with respect to body 1 will be a subset of the group of rigid-body motions.

This subset may in turn be a subgroup itself or may not. Moreover, should this
subset be a subgroup, it mayor may not be associated to a kinematic lower
pair. Thus, the coupling between bodies 1 and i is a generalization of the
concept of lower paix and is henceforth referred to as the ~on L (1, i).
In particular, if i = 2, i.e. if no intermediate links exist between links
and i, then L (1, i) coincides with the corresponding lower pair. One can
think of L (1, i) as "the product" or "composition" of the liaisons L (1,2),
L (2,3), •.. , L (i-i, i), in this order, Le. as

L(1,i):: L(1,2,) .L(2,3)· ••• 'L(i-1,i)

(3.4.1)

where each L(k,k+1) is actually the pair connecting bodies k and k+1.
Since to each liaison L(k,k+1)there
, corresponds a kinematic lower pair,and
each of these 1S associated with a subgroup, def1'n1't1'on
(3.4.1) must be
actually interpreted as a product of subgroups, ,
1.e. as
 175

TABLE 3.4.1 Subgroups of the group of rigid-body motions

associated kinematic
Group dimension lower pair

1.. 0 rigid

gp(:) 1 prismatic (P)

9 R (A,e)
_ 1 revolute (R)

9 H (A,p,e)
_ 1 screw (H)

gT(:1':2) 2 none

9 C (A, _e) 2 cylindric (C)

gT (':1'':2' ':3) 3 none

gE (~) 3 planar (E)

gy (P':1':2' ':3) 3 none

gs (A) 3 spheric (s)

9 X (e)
_ 4 none

gr 6 none
176

{L ( 1 , i) } = {L ( 1 , 2) } • {L (2 , 3) }. ... {L (i -1 , i) }

The product of any two subgroups of Table 3.4.1 is a subset of gr endowed with
the properties of the two given subgroups. Thus, the product of gp(~) and
gR(A,~) is gC(A,~), a subgroup of that table. In general, however, that product
need not be in turn a subgroup.

Example 3.4.1. Assuming L (1,2), L (2,3) and L C3, 4) are identical to revolute
pairs of parallel axes, then {L(1,2)}.{L(2,3)}.{L(3,4)}equals gE(~)' ~
being parallel to the given revolute axes.

Example 3.4.2. The intersection of gs (A) and gR(A,.:) is gR(A,~). That of

gH(A,p,~) and gC(A,~) is gH(A,p,~). However, that of gT(~1'~2) and gR(A,:),
.: being perpendicular to both ':1 and ~2' is --t.

The foundations needed to establish a classification of linkages and hence,

formulae to compute their degree of freedom have now been laid down.

3.5 CLASSIFICATION OF KINEMATIC CHAINS

If links i,j and k of a kinematic chain are coupled so that i and j are
coupled through L(i,j) and j and k, through L(j,k), the arising liaison
L(i,k) can be obtained, according to Section 6.4, as

{L (i, k) } ::{ L(i, j) . L (j , k) } ={L ti / j) }. {L (j , k) } (3.5.1)

The dimension of the composed liaison is related to that of the single ones
as

dim {L (i, k) }=dim {L (i, j) }+dim {L (j, k) }-dim {(Li, j) } fl{L (j ,k) } (3.5.2)

If the groups {L(i,j)}and{L(j,k)} are such that their only common transfor-
mation is the identity, they are said to be independent. One then has

{L (i, j) } fl {L (j , k) } =--t
 177

the dimension of this intersection thus being O.

Example 3.5.1. Let L(i,j) be identical to gC(A,~) and L(j,k), to gH(A,p,~).

One has the kinematic chain shown in Fig 3.5.1

e A
.........- - --o-------.-------r---Hl-f-H+---
i
j

Fig 3.5.1 CR open chain

In that chain,

dim {LtL,jl}=dim gc(A,:1=2

dim {L(.j,k)}=dim HH(A,p,:)=1

dim {L(.i,j)}. {L(j,k) }=dim gH(A,p,:)=1

Hence
dim {L(.i,k)}=2+1-1=2

The foregoing example makes it clear that it may happen that the dimension
of a kinematic chain composed of n links, dim {L(1,n)},does not equal the
n-1
sum of the dimensions of its liaisons, E {L(.i,i+1)}. This difference is,
1
therefore, an integer m that can be different from O. One then has

n-1
m _ E dim {L(i, i+1)} - dim {L(l,n)} (3.5.3)
1
178

In formula (3.5.3.), if m is different from 0, this indicates that there exist

within the kinematic chain under study some degrees of freedom that are "idle"
or "passive", i.e. degrees of freedom not affecting the transmission of
motion from link 1 to link n. For example, the kinematic chain of Fig. 3.5.1
contains one idle degree of freedom, for the subgroup gC(A, ~) generated by
its cylindrical pair can be regarded as the composition of the subgroup
gR(A,~) generated by a revolute pair and the subgroup gp(~) generated by a
prismatic pair. Its screw pair, in turn, generates a subgroup gH(A, p, ~ which
can be regarded as the composition of the aforementioned subgroups gR(A, !J and
gp(~)' both of them related by the pitch p. The two pairs, thus, generate one
identical subgroup, which can be thought of as being gH(A,p,~). The dimensioa of
this is 1, which is thus the said idle degree of freedom.

The computation of the degree of freedom of kinematic chains is next pursued.

To this end, a classification due to Herve [3.4) is now introduced. A kinematic
chain is said to be t4iv~ if any possible liaison between two of its links
is a subset of one particular subgroup of gr (see Table 3.4.1). It is said
to be exeep~onal if any such possible liaison is a subset not of one particular
subgroup of gr' but of several ones of these. Finally, it is said to be
p~doxieal if its mobility cannot be analysed with the sole aid of the
theory of groups. Experience shows that paradoxical chains possess certain
axes of symmetry which produce their mobility.

Formula (3.5.3) can be applied to either open or closed kinematic chains.

It can be applied to closed kinmematic chains if an ~ liaison between bodies
and n is introduced. This formula will thus help find the degree of
freedom of a linkage, i.e. of a closed kinematic chain, provided that this is
not paradoxical.

Now a formula providing the degree of freedom of trivial chains is introduced.

Let 9 be the subgroup of the i~~ dimen6~On d, containing all possible liaisons
between anty two links of a given trivial chain. Moreover, let fi be the
degree of freedom of the kinematic pair Pi' r i being its restriction,
defined as d-f i • If the chain is composed of n links, its degree of freedom
will be
 179

n
F=d(n-j)-L r i (3.5.4)
1

If the chain contains m idle degrees of freedom, as given by formula (3.5.3),

these will be included in F. To compute the actual degree of freedom of the
given trivial chain, Fa' then m should be subtracted from F, i.e.

F F - m
a

where m, as given by eq. (3.5.3), is the number of passive degrees of

freedom of the linkage. Formula (3.5.4) is referred to as a generalised
Chebyshev or Kutzbach-Grubler formula.

The following examples are taken from Herve [3.4J.

Example 3.5.2. Consider the HHHRRH linkage of Fig 3.5.2, whose 4 screws
have distinct pitches.

2----~

~~==~~L-~~6

o C

Fig 3.5.2 HHHRRH linkage

180

First of all, it will be decided whether the linkage contains passive or idle
degrees of freedom. To this end, only the liaison L(1,5) will be investigated,
for it is clear that L(5,6) and L(6,1) are independent, i.e.

{L(5,6)} {L6,1)}=i

One proceeds as follows

L ( 1 , 5) = L ( 1 ,3). L ( 3, 5)

where
L ( 1 ,3) =L ( 1 ,2) • L (2 , 3)

Now,

and

The composition of gH(A,p,~) and gH(A,q,~) is gc(A,~) [3.4],i.e.

Also,
L(3,5)=L(3,4) .L(4,5)

where

and
{L (4, 5) }=g R (B, u
_')

The composition of 9H (B,q'u')

_
and 9R
(B,u')is-gC(B,~')
-
[3.<ij. Thus,

{L(3,5)}=g (B,u')
c -

NOW,
 181

which equals gC(A,~l.gR(B,~·), both groups having a common t:.::anslation

along ~I I~', which yields thus one passive degree of freedom.

Thus, the dimension of {l(1,5)} equ~ls that of 9c (A,ul.g

~. R
(B,u'),
~
which is
three, for one has

From Table 3.4.1,

dim 9 (B-u'l=l
R N

Thus,
dim {L (1,5) }=3

4
However
Edim {L (i, i+1) }=4
1

Thus
m 4 - 3

thereby showing that the liaison L(1,5) contains one passive degree of
freedom. Moreover, the liaison l(5,1) cannot contain extra passive degrees
of freedom. Thus, the linkage contains one passive degree of freedom. In
order to find the degree of freedom of the linkage, the group 9 of minimum
dimension d, containing the subgroups of all pairs is now determined. This
is done analysing the open chain l(1,6).
182

where v is parallel to u,u' and s. Thus,

Furthermore, fi=1 for each pair of the linkage. Hence, r i =4-1=3, for each
pair. Substituting these values into formula (3.5.4), one has

F=4(6-1)-6x3=2

Since m was found to be 1, one has

F = 2 - 1 =1
a

The passive degree of freedom of this linkage is the translation of link 3

parallel to vector u, which does not affect the motions of the other links.

Example 3.5.3 Consider now the linkage of Fig 3.5.3.

Fig 3.5.3 PPP linkage

In this linkage the directions 0, 0' and Oil of the prismatic pairs were
chosen coplanar. Hence, all links translate, without rotating, in the
plane defined by these directions. Hence, g=gT':1':2) ,as given in Table
3.4.1. Here, vectors ~1'~2 are parallel to the aforementioned plane.
Thus,
dim 9 =2

Furthermore, f i =1,for i=1,2,3 and hence, r i =1, for i=1,2,3. The degree of
 183

freedom of the linkage is thus, f~Qm formula (3.5.4),

F=2 (.3-1) -3x:1=1

Moreover, since all pairs generate independent groups, the linkage contains no
idle degrees of freedom and hence, F=l is its actual degree of freedom.

Example 3.5.4. Consider now a modification of the previous linkage, depicted

in Fig 3.5.4, where each prismatic pair was substituted by a cylindrical
pair, vectors u, u' and u" being coplanar.

yu'

Fig 3.5.4. CCC linkage

This linkage is exceptional and thus, its degree of freedom cannot be found
with the aid of formula (3.5.4). The said degree of freedom is still 1, for the
rotational degrees of freedom introduced by the cylindrical pairs are not
active. In fact, if A, Band C denote arbitrary points lying on the axes of the
pairs associated with vectors g, g' and g", respectively, one has
gR(A,~) figT(~'~') ,£
gR(B,g')fi gT(g,g') ,£
(Cu")fig(uu')
g R'~ T ~,~ ,£
i.e. each rotation is independent of the plane translation generated by the
translations along vectors g and y'.
184

Examples of paradoxical chains are the Bennett mechanism (3.5), which is

further discussed in section 5.3, and the 10-link planar linkage arising
from the superposition of all three cognate linkages associated with the
RRRR planar linkage, in accordance with the Roberts-Chebyshev Theorem (3.6).
Further examples of paradoxical chains are the mechanisms described by
Bricard [3.7), all of which possess an axis of symmetry providing the
otherwise nonexisting mobility.

IExercise 3.5.1. Determine the degree of freedom of each of the links

appearing in Fig. 3.5.5.
 185

-+r!:---t-I_ 2---111111 1 2

a) RHP coaxial linkage

b) 6R linkage for which the axes of

pairs R12 , R23 and R34 are parallel,
as well as those of R4S ' RS6 and
R61 · Link 4 undergoes pure translation.

x
y 1

c) RHRRR linkage with the axes d) RRHHR linkage with the axes
of pairs R12 , R23 and R34 of R12 , R23 ahd RS1 parallel.
being parallel, that of RS1
being perpendicular to them.

Fig 3.S.S Different types of linkages.

186

3. 6 LINKAGE PR,OBLEMS I.N THE THEORY OF MACHINES l\ND MECHl\N:;rSMS.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of problems in The Theory of Machines
and Mechanisms regarding lower-pair mechanisms or linkages, namely,

i) analysis

and

ii) synthesis

The analysis problem is concerned with obtaining the different variables of

interest involved in the motion of a given linkage. What is meant by the
latter term is that not only the topology of the mechanism (whether it is
RRRR or RSCR, etc.) is given, but also its geometry, i.e. its relevant
dimensions. The problem is said to be solved when all the variables of
interest (output) of the linkage motion are obtained in terms of other
arbitrarily assigned variables (input). If the linkage has a degree of
freedom one, then the input of the linkage contams-one single variable,
sufficient to render the other variables determined. If the linkage has a
double degree of freedom, then the input contams two variables, and so on.
The variables of interest can be obtained via different means, namely, i)
a system of algebraic* equations expressing explicity the output in terms
of the input (This is very seldom obtained), ii) a discrete set of digital
values of the involved** variables (most commonly being the case), iii) an
analog readout (oscillogram), i.e. the cathode-ray-tube graph obtained in
the oscilloscope of an analog computer, or iv) the actual plot obtained by
mechanically recording the output of an existing linkage. In the first
three cases the output does not exactly correspond to the mechanism itself,
but to its mathematical model; the output is thus obtained via simUlation.

*Algebraic equations as opposed to differential or integral equations,since

no inertia is involved in a purely kinematic analysis.
** This
set could be obtained in tabular form or, if a mechanical plotter is
used, in graphical form.
 187

In the ~ourth c~se, the output can co~respond to the ~ctual mechanism if it
is ~ccessible fo~ m~s~ements or ,if it is not, then to its
physical model. An exqmple of the latter arises in the case of trying to
measure joint motions' in a living being, as: is recorded in [3.8J where
an experiment was made to me~sure rotations of the human subtalar and ankle-
joint complex through the rotations of its physical model, an RRRR spherical
linkage.

The synthesis problem is concerned with obtaining the relevant dimensions

of a linkage of a given topology to perform a given operation. In this re-
spect, the synthesis problem can also be thought of as one of system
identification [3. ~, since it is intended to obtain the parameters defining
it starting with an input-output relationship. The synthesis problem can in
turn be subdivided into two wide categories, namely, i) exact synthesis and
ii) approximate synthesis. In the first case the arising system of equations
is meant to be solved exactly, whereas in the second one,it is intended to
obtain a "solution" satisfying the system with a minimum error. In either
case, three basic synthesis problems can be defined, namely,

i) Function generation
ii) Rigid-body guidance
iii) Path generation

The function-generation synthesis problem is one of finding a linkage (of

a given topology) such that its input and output links have given
coordinate motions. The rigid-body guidance synthesis problem is concerned
with finding a linkage (of a given topology) such that one of its links
follows a prescribed set of configurations. Finally, in the path-generation
problem, a mechanism of a given topology is sought, with the property that
one of its links contains one point passing through a prescribed set of
positions.

In any case, the term finite is associated with the synthesis problem if the
data are finitely separated. Otherwise, the synthesis problem is said to
be of an infinitesimal character, as would be the case when trying to
satisfy conditions imposed on velocities or on acelerations. The analysis
problem is discussed in Chapter 4, whereas the three synthesis problems,
both exact and approximate, are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6, respectively.
188

References

3.1 Nolle H., "Linkage coupler curve synthesis: A historical review-I.

Developments up to 1875", Mechanism and Machine Theory, Vol. 9, 1974,
pp. 147-168.

3.2 Hartenberg R.S. and Denavit J., Kinematic Synthesis of Linkages, Mc Graw-
Hill Book Co., New York, 1964, p. 28.

3.3. Synge J.L., "Classical Dynamics", in Fliigge S., editor, Handbuch der Physik,
Vol. 111/1, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1960, pp. 38-43.

3.4 Herve J. M., "Analyse structurelle des mecanismes par groupes de deplacements
Mechanism and Machine Theory, Vol. 13, 1978, pp. 437-450.

3.5 Bennet G.T.,"A new mechanism", Engineering, Vol. 76, 1903, pp. 777-778.

3.6 Hartenberg R.S. and Denavit J., op. cit., pp. 169-176.

3.7 Bricard R., Lexons de cinematique, Vol. II, Gauthier-Villars et Cie,

Paris, 1927, pp. 316-319.

3.8 Wright D.G., S.M. Desai and W.H. Henderson, "Action of the subtalar and
ankle-joint complex during the stance phase of walking", The J. of Bone
and Joint Surgery, Vol. 46-A, No 2, March 1964, pp. 361-382 and 464.

3.9 Eykhoff P., System Identification: Parameter and State Estimation,

John Wiley and Sons Inc., London, 1974.
4. Analysis of Motions of Kinematic Chains
4.1 INTRODUCTION.

Two methods of analysis of linkage motions are presented in this chapter,

both of them based on matrix computations. Methods based on Cartesian vector

algebra or descriptive geometry can also be applied, as shown in (4.1).

However, these are usually ad hoc methods and become cumbersome in many

instances. The main aim of this chapter is to establish the methods required

to obtain a (usually implicit) relationship between the input and the output

variables of single-degree of freedom linkages.

4.2 THE METHOD OF DENAVIT AND HARTENBERG (4.5).

This method first appeared in (4.2) to (4.4) and is based on a closure

relationship of successive affine transformations. An affine transformation

is a change of coordinates involving a translation of the origin and a rotation

of axes. Let X1 ' Y1 , Z1 and x 2 ' Y2 , Z2 be two sets of coordinates related by

an affine transformation, as appears in Fig 4.2.1

Fig 4.2.1 Translation and rotation of

coordinate axes.
190

Thus, the position vector of any point P, referred to coordinates 1 and 2,

can be expressed as

(4.2.1 )

where e12 and ~12 are the translation vector and the rotation matrix, from

axes 1 to axes 2. Eq. (4.2.1) indicates the general form of an affine trans

formation. Symbolically, the transformation of (4.2.1) can be written as*

(4.2.2)

Affine transformations contitute a group under the composition operation

defined as

(4.2.3)

~23 is given through vector e23 and matrix ~23 as

(4.2.4)

and !13 is given through e13 and 913' correspondingly, as

(4.2.5)

Substitution of eq. (4.2.4) into eq. (4.2.1) yields

(4.2.6)

Hence

(4.2.7)

which, alternatively, can be written as

(4.2.7a)

* (T .. ). should not be mistaken as a matrix. It is in fact a nonlinear

-~J ~

operator.
 191

in agreement with the geometrical meaning, that is to say, the vector

connecting the origin 01 to the origin 03 equals the sum Of that connecting

01 to 02 plus that connecting 02 to 03. Also, from eq. (4.2.6),

(4.2,8)

thereby showing that the composition of two affine transformations is also

affine. Let the identity affine transformation !ii' be defined as

-
(x) 0= (Too)· 0 (x) 0
~ -~~ ~ - ~
(4 • 2 . 9 )

i. e. , To 0 is the coordinate transformation from coordinates i into themselves.

-~~

Clearly, its vector, ~ii' is the zero vector, and its matrix, ~ii' is the

identity matrix. To show that affine transformations in fact constitute a

group under the composition previously noted, all that remains to be estab-
-1
lished is the existence of an inverse transformation, !ij such that

(T-:- ~) 0 (T 0 0) 0 (x) 0 = (T 0 0) 0 (T -:- ~) 0 (x) 0= (x) 0 (4.2.10)

-~J J -~J ~ - J -~J ~ -~J J - J - J
where

(To 0) 0 (x) o=(ao 0) o+(Qo 0) 0 (x) 0

-~J ~ - J -~J ~ -~J ~ - J

and

(4.2.11)

Thus

(T~~) 0(T 0 0) 0 (x) 0= (a .. ) 0+ (Q .. ) 0 ( (a 0 0) 0+ (Q 0 0) 0 (x) 0) =

-~J J -~J ~ - J -J~ J -J~ J -~J ~ -~J ~ - J

=(ao 0) o+(Qo 0) 0 (ao 0) o+(Qo 0) 0 (Qo 0) 0 (x) 0 (4.2.12)

-J~ J -J~ J -~J ~ -J~ J -~J ~ - J

substituting eq. (4.2.12) into eq. (4.2.10) one obtains

(a 00) 0+ (Q 00) 0(a 0 0) 0= 0 (4.2.13a)

-J~ J -J~ ) -~J ~

and

(4.2.13b)
192

Hence

(4.2.14a)

and

(a-)1
.. ).) =- (Q .. ) ~ (a .. ) .
-1) 1 -1) 1
(4.2.14b)

Next, a general composition law for n transformations is derived.

Assuming that expressions similar to (4.2.7) and (4.2.8) hold for k trans-

formations, i t will be shown that they hold also for k+1, thereby obtaining

general relationships by induction. Thus,

(4.2.15)

(4.2.16)

Then,

and

Introducing a similary transformation to refer ~k,k+1 to k-coordinates,

(~l,k+l)l=(~lk)l (~k,k+1)k(~lk)~(~lk)1=(~lk)1 (~k,k+1)k=

=(~12) 1 (~23) 2··· (~k-1 ,k)k-1 (~k,k+1)k
Thus, in general

n-1
(a-1 n ) 1= 1: (a. . )
-1 1+1 1
(4.2.17)
1 '

and

(4.2.18)

which are useful relationships because they enable the analyst, first, to

compute the final rotation, from 1 to n, referred to coordinate system 1,

in term of successive rotations, from i to i+1, referred to coordinate system i.

 193

In general, however, a, '+1 will be more

'I""~,;L,.
read~ly referred to coordinate

system i, but the transformation to ~ystem 1 is easily ~erformed as

and (Q)
~li 1
can be obtained from (4.2.18) with n=i. The method of Denavit

and Hartenberg (MDH) is based on the closure equation

(4.2.19)

or, equivalently,

(4.2.20)

together with

(4.2.21)

where, according to the relationship (4.2.14a),

(4.2.22)

Next, the MDH is applied to a linkage composed of n links (rigid bodies)

coupled by any of the six lower pairs (R,P,H,C,S or E) introduced in

Chapter 3. Let the axis of the pair be defined as

i) the axis of rotation, if the pair is R,

ii) the direction of traslation, if the pair is P,

iii} the axis of rotation, which is identical to the direction of traslation,

if the pair is H or C.

iv) the direction of the normal to the plane of contact if the pair is E.

Only if the pair is spheric no single axis can be defined. In this case,

there is freedom to choose the axis of the pair and so, the analyst can

choose it to his best convenience.

TO implement the MDH, number the links successively 1,2, ••• ,n. Then

a) Let Zl be the axis of the pair coupling the first link (the fixed one)
'94

with the second one (the driving or input link), in such a way that the

variable denoting the input be positive along z,.

b) In general, let Zi be the qxis of the pair connecting links i and i+l.

c) Let Xi be the common perpendicular to Zi_l and Zi l directed from Zi_l

to Zi

d) Let a i be the distance between Zi and Zi+1' always positive.

e) Let si be the coordinate of the intersection of axis Xi _ 1 with axis Zi'

in frame Xi-Yi-Z i • Since it is a coordinate, its sign can be plus or

minus, depending on the position of the said intersection. The absolute

value of si is the distance between Xi and Xi + 1 .

f) Let u i be the angle between Zi and Zi+1' measured along the positive

direction of Xi + 1

g) Let 9i be the angle between Xi and xi +1 ' measured along the positive

direction of Z .•
~

h) construct the translation vectors (a . . 1)' and the rotation matrices

-~,~+ ~

(Q ..
-~,~+
1)"
.~
as is described next.

i) Apply the closure conditions (4.2.20) and (4.2.21) and from them obtain

the sought input-output relationship.

In order to construct the translation vectors (a . . 1)" it is necessary

-~,~+ ~

first to construct the rotation matrices (Q ..

-~,~+
1)"
~
which is done next.

The relationship between coordinate systems i and i+1 is shown in Fig 4.2.',

in agreement with the notation of f) and g).

 195

z. ~

~~------- Y.
~

\
\
\
X.
~
\
Xi+l

Fig 4.2.2. Relative position of coordinate systems i and i+1

Since Xi +1 is perpendicular to Zi (by definition), Xi and Xi +1 lie in a

plane perpendicular to Zi. Thus, Xi can be made coincident with Xi +1 by

means of a rotation through an angle 6i about Zi' as shown in Fig 4.2.3,

where Xi, Yi, zi are the original axes Xi' Y i , Zi after the said rotation,

so that Z! coincides with Z .•

~ ~

z.
~
z~
~

...... ...... Y~
~

8.
~
Y.
~

\
\
Xi \
Xi (=Xi+l)
Fig 4.2.3 ~tation through an angle ei about axis Zi.
196

Hence, from section 2.3,

cosS..~
-sinS. 0
~

(Q-~~
.. ).=
f
~
sine.
~
cosS.
~
0 (4.2.23)

0 0

Next notice that Xi + 1 (i.e.Xi> is perpendicular to Yi' Yi+l' Zi (Le.zi)

and Zi+l. Hence, Yi and Zi can be made coincident with Yi + 1 and Zi+1 by

means of a rotation through an angle a i about Xi. The relative position

of axes i' and i+l is shown in Fig 4.2.4.

From Fig 4.2.4 and section 2.3,

o 0

o cosa. -sina. (4.2.24)

~ ~

o sina. cosa.
Z'. ~ ~

\ 1

U.
\ 1

U.
1
~~------~~------- y~
1

Xi (=Xi+l)

Fig 4.2.4 Relative position of axes i' and axes i+l

Finally, from eq. (4.2.18),

(4.2.25)

the desired matrix is obtained as

 197

cose. -sine.cosa. sine.sina.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1.

{~i,i+1},i. sine.
1.
cosS.cosa.
1. 1.
-cose.sina.
1. 1.
(4.2.26)

0 sina. cosa.
1. 1.

Now it is possible to construct vectors (a. '+1)'. The relative configuration

~1.,1. 1.
of three successive links appears in Fig 4.2.5, where the notation of a) to

g) has been followed.

Fig 4.2.5 Three successive links of a linkage

From Fig 4.2.5,

(4.2.27)

with

(4.2.28)

and

1. 1.+ 1)'1.+ 1",(a.1. ,O,O)T

(o!6. (4.2.29 )
.
198

(~ .. 1)';L be~ng as given by e~. (4.2.26l.

~;L(;L+

Substituting (4.2.26), (4.2.28) and (4.2.29) into (4.2.27),

(a~;L,;L+;L
. . 1}.=(a.cos6.
;L
,a.sin6.;L;L
;L;L
,s.}T (4.2.30)

Expressions (4.2.26) and (4.2.30) enable the analyst to systematically

construct the affine transformations required to establish the closure

condition (4.2.19).

As is shown in Examples 4.2.1 and 4.2.2, it is not always necessary to

apply both closure conditions (4.2.20) and (4.2.21) arising from (4.2.19),

since only one suffices.

Example 4.2.1. Analysis of the universal joint. The layout of a universal

(or Hooke's) joint appears in Fig 4.2.6, where the DH notation has been

used. The universal joint is a special class of RRRR spherical linkages.

Obtain an input-output relationship of the form f(6 i ,64) = o.

Fig 4.2.6 Universal Jo~nt

 199

Since all coordinate axes involved in this linkage have a common origin,

the closure condition on the translation vectors is irrelevant and only

that on the rotation matrices will be employed. The rotation matrices

appearing in the present analysis are constructed from the fact that, in

this case,

0. 1:=0. 2:=0. 3=90 0

Constructing the rotation matrices according to egs. (4.2.26) and (4.2.30),

one obtains

Thus,

c8,C8 2c8 3+s8,s8 3 c8,s8 2 c8,C8 2S8 3 -S8,c8 3

(~'2)1(~23)2(~34)3:= s8,c8 2c8 3 -C8,s8 3 S8,S8 2 s8,c8 2S8 3 +c8,c8 3 (4.2.31)

On the other hand, from (4.2.26) and noticing that, for i:=n, i+'=1,

c8 4 -s8 4ca.4 s8 4 sa.4

(~41)4:= s8 4 c8 4 ca. 4 -c84 sa. 4

0 sa. 4 ca. 4

But, from (4.2.14a),

(~14) 1:=(~41)!
Hence,

c8 4 sa 4 0

(~14) 1:= -s8 4c a. 4 c8 4 ca. 4 sa. 4 (4.2.32)

s8 4 s a. 4 -c 84sa.4 ca. 4
200

Equating the (',2)-and the (2,2)-entries of both forms of (Q14)' -eqs.

(4.2.31) and (4.2.32) - one obtains

cos6,sin6 2 =sin6 4 (4.2.33a)

sin61sin82=cos84cos~4 (4.2.33b)

Eliminating 8 2 in the above expressions,

(4.2.34)

which is the input-output relationship meant to be obtained.

Example 4.2.2. Analysis of an RSRC linkage. A typical RSCR linkage is shown

in Fig 4.2.7, where the DH notation has also been used. The parameters and

variables have the values

a, a1 a2 a2 a3 2:. a4 = -
'IT
2 2

8, -¢ 82 62 83 83 84 84

a, = a a2 b a3 0 a4 0

s, = c s2 = 0 s3 = 0 s4 -s

For the analysis of this linkage, only the closure condition of the trans la-

tion vectors will be needed. Since these vectors, as given by eq. (4.2.30),

have to be expressed in one single coordinate system, the rotation matrices

will also be constructed. Thus,

c¢ s¢ca, -s¢sa,

(~'2)'= -s¢ c¢ca, -c¢sa, (4.2.35a)

0 sa, cal

C8 2 -s8 2 c a 2 s62s~2

s6 2 c6 2 c a 2 -c6 2 sa 2 (4.2.35bl
(223) 2=

0 sa 2 ca2
 201

c6 3 0 -$6 3

(~34} 3 ;= s6 3 0 c6 3 (4.2,35cJ

0 -1 0

c6 4 0 s6 4

(9 41 }4 s6 4 0 -c6 4 (4.2.35dJ

0 0

and

(<:12) 1 (accj> ,-ascj> ,+c) T (4.2.36a)

(<:23) 2 (bc8 2 ,bs6 2 ,0) T (4.2.36b)

(~34) 3 (0, 0, O)T (4.2.36c)

(~4l) 4 (0, o ,-s) T (4.2.36d)

The closure condition on the translation vectors requires that vectors (4.2.36)

be all expressed in terms of the Xl' Yl' Zl coordinate system, to yield

(4.2.37)

Performing the corresponding trasformations,

(4.2.38a)

(~34) 1 = (~) (4.2.38b)

(!,,), -(g,,},~,,), - ~l (4.2.38cl

Substituting (4.2.36a) and (4.2.38a) - (4.2.38c) into eq. (4.2.37), the

following scalar equations are obtained

(4.2.39al
202

(4.2.39b)

c+bsinCL 1sin6 2=0

which, for every value of the input angle ~(t), yields a nonlinear algebraic

system for the corresponding three unknownsa 1(t),6 2 (t) and s(t).

One method to solve the foregoing system is via the Newton-Raphson method,

as shown in Section 1.13, by application of the NRDAMP subroutine. However,

in this particular case it is not necessary to spend so much computer time

for, by introducing suitable trigonometric identities, the system (4.2.39)

can be reduced to
12 2 2 2
set) = asin~ + {b - c - a cos ~ (4.2.40)

which explicity provides the set of values of s for each value of ~.

A table of values for set) was obtained from a digital computer output, for

the following values of mechanism parameters:

a = 1.00 m, b = 3.00 m, c = 2.00 m

for a value of ~ constantly equal to 1500 rpm. Similar tables for velocity

and acceleration values were obtained via differentiation of set) by appli-

cation of second central differences. Curves appearing in Fig 4.2.8 were

obtained from the said tables.

Notice that eq. (4.2.40) could have also been obtained from the geometry

of the linkage of Fig 4.2.7, due to the simplicity of the linkage.

In more general instances, however, the geometry is not so simple and the

MDH becomes essential to perform the analysis.

In addition to the digital-computer method previously outlined, to obtain

the output set), set) and sCt) out of eq. (4.2.40), analog computer methods

can also be applied.

An analog computer is a (usually electrical) physical system whose behaviour

is governed by the same mathematical model governing the system

 203

Fig 4 . 2 . 7 Layout of an RSRC linkage

 '"
~

157 m/sec / - ............

\ /
I
\ /
\ /
\ 1-
/-'-....-----1.,... "\
2
12 340 m/sec / .

2 m \
\ ~

\ /
\ /
. 100 200 300 ¢ (degrees)
I /
\ \ I / /
\ \ /
\ I I
\
\ \/I /
\ 1 / s
\ I \ /
----s
\ ',- ./ / "'--/ ----s

Fig 4.2.8 Displacement, velocity and acceleration curves of an RSRC linkage.

 205

s'

Fig 4.2.10 Analog realization of eq. (4.2.41)

Fig 4. 2.11 lin RSCR linkage

206

under analys~s. The elements constituting an analog computer perform the

usual mathematical operations appearing in mathematical models, i.e.,

algebraic add~tion, multiplication, division, integration and differentiation.

Besides these operations, the analog computer is also supplied with function

generators. All these elements are symbolically represented as appearing

in Fig 4.2.9. An analog computer representation of a mathematical model is

usually called "a realisation" of the model, because via that representation

the model is taken into physical reality.

Equation (4.2.40) could readily be realized in an analog computer, and two

differentiations would have to be performed to obtain the acceleration

set). However, due to the noise present in every physical system, and the

fact that a differentiator is a noise amplifier, it becomes undesirable to

perform more than one differentiation. To avoid the second differentiation

to obtain set), then, eq. (4.2.40) is first differentiated to obtain

S' (CP)= -ds 5

= .. = (4.2.41)
dcp cp

which has to be integrated once, with initial conditions s=sO at cp =CPo'

and differentiated only once to obtain set). The analog realization of

eq. (4.2.41) appears in Fig 4.2.10

Details about analog simulation of linkages can be found in (4.6).

Concerning simulation of mechanical systeresin general, the reader can see

(4.7) .
A digital computer-oriented algorithm, based on an iterative procedure,

to obtain the history of all variables of a linkage is presented in (4.8).

Exercise 4.2.10 Given the RSCR linkage of Fig 4.2.11, obtain an input-

output relationship f(W,CP), an analog realization yielding cp,cp and cP

and curves cp vs. t, cp vs. t and cp vs. t, for the following values:
 207

~=:I .• )-~ x-J DIF )--x

X-j SIN )-SinX X-1 COS ) - cos x

1
X-4 SIN- ) - sin- 1x x - j COS- 1) - cos- 1 x
Ixl ~ 1 Ixl ~ 1

t-l CFG )-f(t) X-l~ )--rx

x~O

;=:1 X )-XY

Fig 4.2.9. Elements for analog realisations

208

la=0.5m, b=1.0m, c=0.25m, d=0.75m, e=0.5m, ~=1200rpm(const)

4.3 AN ALTERNATE METHOD OF ANALYSIS. Using the MDH one does not necessarily

obtain one single relationship for the input and the output variables, but

usually a system of nonlinear algebraic equations involving all the different

linkage variables which appear strongly coupled, as occurs with eqs. (4.2.39).

If the system is not very complicated, then it can happen that, after intro-

ducing appropriate trigonometric identities, one can obtain a single input-

output relationship where the only variables appearing are the input and the

output. If it is not obvious how to obtain the said single relationship, then

one is forced to solve a system, instead of one single nonlinear equation.

Gupta (4.10) has presented a method which does not require all the apparatus

of the MDH and yields a single relationship between the input and the output.

The method is based on an equation establishing the constancy of either a

link length or a link angle, throughout the linkage motion. The linkage is

assumed to have a single-loop which, for simplicity, is assumed to be composed

of just four links*: the fixed link, the input link, the coupler link and the

output link. Let A be a point on the input axis; B, a point of the pair

connecting the input and the coupler links; C, a point of the pair connecting

the coupler and the output links; and D, a point of the output axis. Further-

more, let ~O' eO' SO' go and ~,e,S,g, denote the position vectors of the

corresponding points in both, a reference configuration and a current config-

uration, respectively.

Let also 9 and E be the rotation matrices carrying the input and the output

links from the reference configuration to the current configuration. Then,

from the lenght constancy of the coupler link,

*This linkage could be RSSR, RSCR or its inversions. Spherical linkages

are dealt with next.
 209

(4.3.1)

where, clearly

b (4.3.2a)

and

(4.3.2b)

Hence,

which yiels the desired input-output scalar equation which was to be obtained,

after substitution into eq. (4.3.1), namely

II a-0 + ()
1lf
(b-0 - a ) - d
-0 -0
- R (c - d )
- -0 -0
112 = lib- 0-- 0
c 112 (4.3.3)

Equation (4.3.3) contains only two unknowns, the input and the output angles,

thereby showing how one single scalar equation for these two variables can be

obtained. The next example illustrates how to apply this method to spherical

linkages.

Example 4.3.1 Analysis of the general RRRR s2herical linkase.

The MDH can be applied, of course, to general spherical linkages, following

the same procedure applied to the universal joint.

The fact that the MDH introduces other variables besides the input and the

output, however, produces very cumbersome equations, algebraically difficult

to handle. The alternate method proves, in this case, to be particulary

helpful. Consider the RRRR spherical linkage appearing in Fig 4.3.1

210

Fig 4.3.1 General RRRR spherical linkage

Let ~O' ~O' SO' go and ~,p,g,g be the position vectors of points A, B, C

and D in a reference configuration and in a time-varying configuration,

respectively. Furthermore, let Q and ~ be the rotation matrices carruing

links 2 and 4, respectively, from the reference to the current configura-

tions. Thus,

(4.3.4)

and

c=Rc (4.3.5)
- --0
Clearly, ~=~O and g=gO· The cosine of a 3 in both the reference and the

current configurations is

(4.3.6a)

and

( cosa ) cur
3 = b Tc (4.3.6b)

where Ilb o II and II Co II are assumed unity, without loss of generality.

Since link 3 is rigid, u 3 remains constant throughout the linkage motion

 211

and, since II~II = 11~011 and II~II lie-0 II, one obtains
T T
~ ~ = ~o~o (4.3.7)

or, substituting the relations (4.3.4) and (4.3.5) in the above equation,

(4.3.8)

which is the scalar input-output relationship meant to be obtained.

The only variables appearing in eq. (4.3.8) are $ , contained in Q, and ~ ,

contained in R. Define the coordinate axes appearing in Fig 4.3.2, with Xi

and Xo directed along the axes of R12 and R41 , respectively.

z.1 ,z9

Fig 4.3.2 Fixed coordinate axes containing the

axes of R12 and R41

Matrices Q and ~, referred to i- and 0- axes respectively, are given as

0 0 0 0
(Q)
_ 1. 0 cos1jJ -sin1jJ , (~)o
1 (4.3.9)
0 cos~
-sin~J
0 sin1jJ cos1jJ 0 sincp coscp
212

vectors band c are shown in Figs 4.3.3a and 4.3.3b

-0 -0

Hence,

cosa 2 COSCl 4

(!?O) i sina 2 COSlj!0 (co)o sina 4 cosCPO (4.3.10)

w
sina 2 sin O sina 4 sincpO

In order to perform the products appearing in eq. (4.3.8) it is necessary to

express all vectors and matrices in the same coordinate axes.

The transformation matrix carrying the i-axis into the o-axes, referred to

the i-axes, is given as

cosa 1 -sinal 0

sinal cosa 1 o (4.3.11)

o o

Z.
l

/,h ..-
......"'0 /
/ ).

- _}--BO
/
/ /
,/

--- -
Wo - -
X.
l
(bl
(al

Fig 4.3.3 Reference configuration of points Band C.

 213

T
The product b T needed in eq. (4,3.8) is next computed
-0 9~ ~o
T T
~o~ ~~o
;=
(g~o I ~ (4.3.12)

which yiedls

(4.3.13)

When eq. (4.3.13) is substituted into eq. (4.3.8) one obtaines the desired

input-output equation

(4.3.13a)

in which ~ and ¢ are measured from the reference values ~o and ¢o'

respectively, as defined previously. If the said angles are measured from

the plane of the axes of R12 and R41 , instead, then the latter equation

becomes

(4.3.14)

The input-output equation for the universal joint can now be obtained as

a special case of eq. (4.3.14), letting °2=°3=°4=90 0 , thus obtaining

C01c~c¢+s~s¢ = 0 (4.3.15)

or

COl
-- + tan~ = 0
tan¢

which is equivalent to eq. (4.2.34) previously obtained. In fact, 04 of

eq. (4.2.34) corresponds to 01 in eq. (4.3.15) and

214

The method of Denavit and Hartenberg, as presented in section 4.2, is a

very well structured systematic procedure for the analysis of "single-loop

linkages", i.e, Those whose links are all binary*; but problems arise when

"multiple-loop linkages" are to be analyzed. Sheth and Uicker (4.9) have

generalized the notation of Denavit and Hartenberg, however, to overcome

the aforementioned situation and furthermore, to extend the application

of the MDH to the analysis of higher-pair mechanisms.

* If a link is coupled to 2 other links, it is called binary; if it is

coupled to 3, it is called ternary, and so on.
 215

4.4 APPLICATIQNS TO QPEN KI~TIC CHAINS ,

The method of Denavit and Hartenberg, described in section 4.2, can also be
applied to open kinematic chains. An example is next described, showing the
applicati on o~ the method to the analysis of a 3-degree- of-freedom manipulator.

Fig 4 . 4.1 Shows ~ 3-degree~f-freedom manipulator whose function is to position

point °4 , Of link numb.e r 4, in an arbitrary position given by the three cartesian
coordinates x,y,z, referred to frame X,-y,-z,. The manipulator is composed of 4
links and t~ee revolute pairs . The axes of pairs R'2 and R23 are perpendicular,
whereas those of pairs R23 and R34 are parallel. Moreover, axis z4 is chosen
parallel to these.

Fig 4.4.' Three-degree-of-freedom manipulator.

Following Denavit and Hartenberg's notation, one has

216

a =90 0 a =0 0 a =QO
1 ' 2 '3

The corresponding closure equation takes on the form

(4.4.1)

where r is the positon vector o~ 04 and the foregoing relation is assumed to

be referred to f:reame X1-¥1-Z1' :From eq. (4.2.30),

(4.4.2a)

(4.4.2b)

(4.4.2c)

Since all vectors in eq. (4.4.1) should be described in the same reference
frame,a change of coordinates should be introduced, namely

(4.4.3a)

(4.4.36)

From eq. (4.2.26) and the particular orientations of the axes of rotations,

o -s8
2
o (4.4.4)

Substituting expressions (4.4.4) into (4.4.3a and b),

(4.4.5)

Finally, substituting expressions (4.4.2a) and (4.4.5) into eq. (4.4.1) and
recalling that [rJ 1=[x,y,z]T, one has
 217

l1c81c82+l2 (c81C82c83-c81s82s83) =x (4,4.6a)

llS81c82+l2(~81c82c83-S81S82Se3)=y (4,4.6b)

lls82+l2(s82C83+c82C83)=Z (4.4.6cl

which are the sought relationships. These involve the angles of rotation of
each revolute pair, 8,,6 2 and 83 and the cartesian coordinates x,y,z, with
respect to frame X1-Y1-Z1' of the point which the manipulator is to position.
For a given manipulator, eqs. (4.4.6) allow to determine the set of values
the three angles of rotation should be given in order to take 04 form its
inital position, the one corresponding to 8,=8 2=8 3=0, i.e. ~cJ,=[ll+l2,0,OJT,
into a prescribed position [J;;J1=[x,y,z]T,

On the other hand, if the problem at hand is one of synthesis, i.e. if the
range of motions of point 04 is prescribed, the derived equations, (4.4.6), can
be used to determine the lengths lj and l2'
218

REF ERE N C E S

4.1 Beggs J.S., Advanced Mechanism, The Macmillan Company, N. York, 1966,
pp. 101-120 and 164-167.

4.2 Denavit J., "Displacement analysis of mechanisms based on (2x2)

matrices and dual numbers", VDI Ber., Vol. 29,1958.

4.3 Denavit J. and R.S. Hartenberg, "A Kinematic notation for lower-pair
mechanisms based on matrices", ASME. J. Appl. Mech., Ser. E., vol. 22,
June 1955

4.4 Denavit J. and R.S. Hartenberg "Approximate synthesis of spatial

linkages", ASME. J. Appl. Mech., Ser. E., vol. 27, No.1, March, 1960.

4.5 Denavit J. and R.S. Hartenberg, Kinematic Synthesis of Linkages,

McGraw-Hill Book Co., N. York, 1964.

4.6 Timm R.F., "Analog simulation of rigid link mechanisms", ASME J. Eng.
for Ind., Ser. B, vol. 89, No.2, May 1967.

4.7 Shigley J. E., Simulation of Mechanical Systems. McGraw-Hill Book Co.,

N. York. 1967.

4.8 Uicker J. J., J. Denavit and R.S. Hartenberg, "An iterative method for
the displacement analysis of spatial mechanism", ASME. J. Appl. Mech.,
Ser. E, vol. 31, June 1964.

4.9 Sheth P. N. and J.J. Uicker, "A generalized symbolic notation for
mechanisms", ASME. J. Eng. for Ind., Ser. B, vol. 93, Feb. 1971.

4.10 Gupta V. K., "Kinematic analysis of plane and spatial mechanisms",

ASME. J. Eng. for Ind., Ser. B, vol. 95, May 1973.
5. Synthesis of Linkages

5.1 INTRODUCTION. The problem of linkage synthesis of Applied Kinematics

was outlined in Chapter 3. In the present chapter, the problem of exact

synthesis is discussed and current methods of synthesis are presented. The

three usual problems of synthesis are discussed, namely

i) funtion generation

ii) rigid body guidance

iii) path generation

and exact solutions to the resulting design equations are meant to be

obtained, these solutions beinq exact up to round-off and/or measuring

errors. Chapter 6 deals with the problem where no p.xact solution can be

found, in which case the best approximation is sought, in the sense of

rendering the minimum quadratic error in the approximation.

5.2 SYNTHESIS FOR FUNCTION GENERATION

Due to the fact that a linkage is a coupling of rigid bodies, a finite

number of parameters (like those of the notation of Denavit and Hartenverg,

Ch. 3) defines it. Hence, the set of design equations is of an algebraic

character, i.e. no derivatives of the design parameters appear in them,

and the number of these parameters is finite. Hence, no linkage can be

obtained to produce an arbitrarily prescribed input/output function

pointwise in the whole continuum of values of the input where the function

is prescribed. The said function can only be produced at a finite set of

input values, the number of this set being equal to the number of indepen-

dent design parameters. Thus, the problem of linkage synthesis for function
220

generation can be stated as:

"Given a function f=f(x i ) (i=1.2 •...• n). defined over a discrete set {xi}~'

find the relevant dimensions of a linkage of a given topology* to produce

an input-output relationship that coincides with the function f at the

given discrete set {x.}n of input values". The method to solve this problem
1 1
consits of two stages. namely

i) Derivation of the input-output relationship for the prescribed

topology. and

ii) Determination of the linkage parameters from the above relationship.

The first stage is now discussed. In ch. 4 it was shown that the MDH** can

be applied to obtain an input-output relationship that. hopefully. does not

contain other variables than the input and the output. It was also shown

that an alternate method. less complex than that of Denavit and Hartenberg.

guarantees that only the input and the output variables will appear in the

input-output relationship. That method. however. is restricted to single-

loop mechanisms. whereas that of DH can be extended to multiple-loop

mechanisms. Hence. either method can be applied in the first stage of this

problem. for single-loop linkages. The second stage is carried out by two

different approaches. which are next discussed. It is assumed that an

input-outout implicit function has been obtained, this function having the

general form

f(x .• y .• p)=O.i=1.2 •... ,n (5.2.1)

11-
n
where {(x .• y')}l is a set of n pairs of values relating the ith value of
1 1

the input x to the ith value of the output y. and p is an n-dimensional

-*See Section 3.6

**Method of Denavit and Hartenberg
 221

vector containing the parameters of the linkage under consideration.

Notice that (5.2.1) represents in fact a system of n synthesis equations

in the n unknowns that constitute vector r. Hence, the synthesis problem

can be solved through eq. (5.2.1). However, the system (5.2.1) is, in

general, nonlinear, and no unique solution is guaranteed to exist; even

more, the system might have no solution at all. If the system has one or

more solutions, these can be obtained via the method of Newton-Raphson, as

shown in Section 1.13. This is the first approach to the solution of the

synthesis equations.

The second approach introduces a nonlinear transformation of the synthesis

parameters which transforms the synthesis equations into a linear system.

Let

q=q(p) (5.2.2)

be this tranformation. When (5.2.2) is introduced into eq. (5.2.1), the

following linear system is obtained

Aq=b (5.2.3)

System (5.2.3) can be solved very efficiently via the LU decomposition

algorithm, as was shown in Section 1.12. Once the unique solution ~ to

(5.2.3) has been obtained, this is introduced into eq. (5.2.2), which is

nonlinear if the original system of synthesis equations was nonlinear as

well, and, if this tranformation -eq. (5.2.2)- is chosen in such a way

that the synthesis parameters appear in it very weakly coupled, then the

linkage parameter vector r can be obtained without the need of a numerical

method. The synthesis procedure is illustrated by means of the following

example.
222

Example 5.2.1 Given the RSSR linkage appearing in Fig 5.2.1, determine

input-output relationship

X.
l

Sl
0
/
/
I
/
/
a4
/ a4
/
/

0
Xo
B s4

Fig 5.2.1 RSSR Function generating linkage

Using the method of Section 4.3, define sets of axes Xi Yi Zi and Xo Yo Zo

whose X-axes coincide with the axes of R12 and R41 respectively, its Z-axes

being parallel to the common normal 01, and define their positive directions

from 0 to I. Finally, the Y-axes form with the previous ones right-hand

rectangular sets of coordinate axes, as shown in Fig 5.2.2.

 223

X.
l.

B o

rig 5.2,2 Coordinate axes fixed at input and output axes

Define:

~ vector directed from B to A

b vector directed from A to D

~ vector directed from B to C

d vector directed from C to D

From the geometry of the linkage, then

a+b=c+d (5.2.4)

Hence,

- ... - ...
b=c+d-a (5.2.5)

and

(5.2.6)

Let ~j'~j and ~j(j=O,1,2, ..• ,n) be the values attained by vectors ~,~ and

d respectively, at the successive configurations j.

224

substituting the values of a, b and ~ at their current configuration j in

eqs. (5.2.Sa and b) and mUltiplying termwise the resulting equations leads

to

(5.2.7)

where, due to the rigid-body condition,

(5.2.8a)

(5.2.8b)

(5.2.8c)

From fig 5.2.2, vector ~ is given as

-+ -+ -+
c = BO + 01 + Ie (5.2.9)

where, with reference to i-coordinates,

-+
BO (s4ca4' -s4 sa 4' O)T (5.2.10a)
-+
01 (0, 0, a 4) T, (s J' 0, 0) T (S.2.10b)

where the notation cx, sx has been introduced to represent cosx and sinx,

respectively, whenever the variable x has been previously defined as an

angle. Thus, eq. (5.2.9) leads to

(~)i = (s4ca4+s1,-s4sa4,a4)T (5.2.10c)

Furthermore,

(5.2.11a)

(5.2.11b)

Define S as the rotation matrix carrying axes labelled i into those labelled

o. Thus

cosa 4 sina 4 0
•
0
-sin().4 cosa4

0 0
 225

and so f-sina.4simp 1
(~)i = (§)i(~)O = a3 l-Cosa.4Sin~ (5.2.13)
cos~

Other terms appearing in eg. (5.2.7), besides those of egs. (5.2.8), can now

be computed. These are

2 + 2 2
IIgl12 s1 s4 + 2s,s4cosa. 4 + a 4 (5.2.14a)

cTd.
- -]
a1(s4sina.4sin~j+a4cos~j) (5.2.14b)
T
<:: a. a3(a4cos~j-s1sina.4sin~j) (5.2.14c)
-]

d:a. a1a3(cosa.4sin~.sin~.+cos~.cos~.) (5.2.14d)

-]-] J J J J

substituting expressions (5.2.8) and (5.2.14) into eg. (5.2.7) one obtains

+ 2a 1 (a4cos~j + s4sina.4sin~j)

- 2a3(a4cos~j - s1sina.4sin~j)

- 2a1a3(cosa.4sin~.sin~.+cos~.cos~.) (5.2.15)
J J J J

which is the desired input-output relationship. Now, if angle ~ is

measured from certain reference ~O by letting

~j ~O + p.J (5.2.16a)
a 4 + s4sina.4ta~O
kl (5.2.16b)
a3
s4 si na. 4 -a4tan~O
k2 (5.2.16c)
a3
a4
k3 (5.2.16d)
a1cos~O

s1 sina. 4
k4 (5.2.16e)
a1cos~O

k5 tan~ (5.2.16f)
2 0 2 2 2 2 2
a - a +a +a +s +s +2s 1s4cosa.4
123 4 4
k6 (5.2.16g)
2a1a3cos~O
226

eq. (5.2.15) becomes

klCOSPj+k2sinpj+k3cOS~j+k4sinWj+

+k5(cos~jsinpj-cosa4sin~jcosPj)+

+k 6 =coSW.cosp.+cosa 4 sinw.sinp ., jpl,o .. ,6 (5.2.17)

J J J J

Eqs. (5.2.17) constitute then a linear algebraic system of six equations in

six unknowns (k 1 , .•. ,k 6 ). This system can be solved efficiently by applica-

tion of subroutines DECOMP and SOLVE, of Sect. 1.12. In order to compute

the linkage parameters a l , a 2 , a 3 , a 4 , sl' s4' cosa 4 and cos~o, however,

the nonlinear system (5.2.16) has to be solved for the said parameters.

The equations of this system, though nonlinear, are weakly coupled, for which

reason its solution can be performed without having to resort to a numerical

method. The aforementioned nonlinear system, nevertheless, contains a surplus

of two unknowns. One of these unknowns can be eliminated through division

by it, the surplus of unknowns thus reducing to one. In fact, the solution

a 2 = 0 is ruled out, for this would lead to a topologically different layout,

namely a conpling of three, instead of four, links. Scaling the linkage by

a factor 1/a 2 , i.e. setting a 2 = 1 does not alter the input-output relation-

ship, for this does not depend upon the absolute but upon the relative lengths

of the different links. The remaining unknown in excess can be eliminated by

assigning a value to it.

For the linkage appearing in Fig 5.2.1 let

i 1 2 3 4 5 6

~i 0 45° 60° 90° 60° 30°

~ 0 30° 45° 60° 90° 180°

i
 227

The arising linear system of equations was solved using subroutines DECOMP

and SOLVE. The following results were obtained:

k =- 0.840173, k2= 0.303087, k =- 1.3S0247

1 3

k 4 =- 0.036659, k5=- 1.140727, k6= 0.489926

a =- 0.175003, a = 1.000000, a =- 0.724996

1 2 3

a = 0.1S5768, s = 0.007284, s =- 0.684495

4 1 4

¢o=- 0.851042 rad

which is the solution to Example 5..2.1.

Mohan Rao et al. (S.2) have extended Denavit and Hartenberg's idea up to

ten accuracy-point synthesis. For seven-point synthesis, they introduce

the zero location of the input dial, ~o ' as one additional unknown in the

above formulation, ending up with the following synthesis equations:

k1C~.+k2s~.+k3c¢.+k4s¢.-k5(ca4c¢.s~.-c~.s¢.)-k6(s¢.c~.ca4-c¢.s~.)+
J J J J JJ JJ JJ JJ
+k7-k8(ca4c¢.c~.+s¢.s~.)=ca4s¢.s~.+c¢.c~.,j=1,2, ••• ,7 (5.2.20)
JJ JJ JJ JJ

where
s1sa4tan~0-a4
k1 (S.2.21a)
a 1 c¢0

a4tan~0+slsa4
k2 (5.2.21b)
a 1c¢0

a 4 +s 4 sa 4 tan¢0
k3 (S.2.21c)
a3c~0

s4sa4-a4tan¢0
k4 (5.2.21d)
a3c~0

k5 tan¢o (S.2.21e)

k6 tan~o (5.2.21f)
228

2 2 222
al-l+a3+a4+s1ts2+2s1s4ca4
k (5.2.21g)
7 2a 1 a 3 cq, OC1jJ0

(5.2.21h)

Eqs. (5.2.20) constitut8 a linear system of seven equations in eight

unknowns. However, the eight k i are not independent, for they are related

by

(5.2.22)

Thus, the synthesis equations comprise the seven equations (5.2.20) plus

eq. (5.2.22), i.e. a system of eight equations in eight unknowns, out of

which, seven are linear and one is nonlinear.

To solve this system, the aforementioned authors proposed a method based

on the principle of superposition of linear systems*, i.e. the principle

under which if ~1 and ~2 are solutions to ~=9 and ~~=~, respectively,

then B~1+Y~2 is the solution to ~=B~+Y~. The method is next outlined:

i) Write eqs. (5.2.20) in the form

k 1 c1jJ.+ k2S1jJ.+k3cq,.+k4sq,.-k5(ca4cq,.s1jJ.-c1jJ.sq,.)-k6(sq,.c1jJ.ca4-cq,.s1jJ.)+
J J J J JJ JJ JJ JJ

+k 7 =(ca 4 sq,.s1jJ.+cq,.c1jJ.)+k 8 (ca 4 cq,.c1jJ.+sq,.s1jJ.) ,j=1,2, ... ,7 (5.2.20a)

J J J J J J J J

ii) Define the following vectors

~=(kl,k2,···,k7)T
~=(bl,b2,···,b7)T
~=(cl,c2,···,c7)T
where

b.=ca 4 sq,.s1jJ.+cq,.c1jJ.,j=1,2, .•. ,7

J J J J J
c.=ca 4 cq,.c1jJ.+sq,.s1jJ.,j=1,2, ... ,7
J J J J J

* See Section 1.11

 229

iii) Rewrite system (S.2.20a) in the form

Ax=b+k c (S.2.20b)
-- ~ ~S-
iv) Solve for ~1 and ~2 from

~1=!:>~2=~

vl Write the solution to system (S.2.20b) as

(5.2.23)

where kS is not known as yet

vi) Letting A1 and V1 be the 5th and 6th components of ~1' respectively,

and defining A2 and V2 analogously, one obtains from (5.2.23),

(5.2.24)

(5.2.25)

vii) Substitute (5.2.24) and (5.2.25) into (5.2.22), thus obtaining

2
A2V2ks+(A1V2+A2~1-1)ks+A1V1=O (5.2.26)

from which two values for ks can be obtained

viii) With one real value of k s ' obtain the values of k 1 ,k 2 , ..• ,k 7 from

eq. (5.2.23)

ix) The linkage parameters can now be obtained from eqs. (5.2.21) thus

completing the proposed synthesis.

By leaving a 4 unspecified in the above formulation, the same authors (5.2)

state the S-point synthesis problem as

klc~.+k s~.+k3c~.+k4s~.-k5c~.s~.-k6c~.s~.-k7s~.s~.+kS=C~'C~"
J2J J J JJ JJ JJ JJ
j=1,2, •.. ,S (5.2.27)

thus obtaining a linear system of eight equations in eight unknowns,

which can readily be solved via the LV algorithm. In the above system

(5.2.2Sa)
230

a4tan1jJO+s1aa4
k
2
= a,c~0(j+tan~otan1jJOca4
(S.2.28b)

a4+s4tan~Osa4
k
3
= a3c1jJ0(1+tan~otan1jJOca4)
(S.2.28c)

s4sa.4-a4tan~0
k
4
= a3c1jJo(1+tan~otan1jJOca4)
(S.2.28d)

tan~Oca4-tan1jJO
k
S
= (S.2.28e)
1+tan~otan1jJOca4

tan1jJOca4-tan~0
k
6
= 1+tan~otan1jJOca4
(S.2.28f)

ca4+tan~otan1jJo
k
7
= 1+tan~otan1jJOca4
(S.2.28g)

2 2 2 2 2 2
a,+a2+a3+a4+s,+s42s,s4c<X4
k8= (S.2.28h)
2a,a3c~Oc1jJo(1+tan~otan1jJOc<X4)

The obtention of the linkage parameters from eqs. (S.2.28) is not a simple

matter, for these appear strongly coupled in those equations. A method to

solve for the said parameters is also presented in (S.2). In the same paper,

the authors propose that the RSSR linkage synthesis can be extended up to

'0 points if scale parameters for the function intended to be generated

are introduced.

Since the RSSR linkage lends itself very suitably to be used as a function

generator, it has received much attention. Luck presents in (S.3) a method

of synthesis of this linkage that allows for optimization by the introduction

of a free parameter. Referring to Fig S.2.3, this author writes the input-

output function of the RSSR linkage in the form

(S.2.29)
 231

,
B

"
D \

/"....
/'-1-/.
r~~
~N
1)J,
/ I "/7 C
/ CX4 ~a4 R I
0E 41 I
~I I
/ '
/ ~s :
/ J 1 --------...1
~>(
;,;r s
/'" ---\

R
12V o / 4

Fig. 5.2.3. RSSR function generating linkage

where

(5.2.30a)

(5.2.30b)

(5.2.30c)

Normalizing the linkage lengths with respect to s4' the following variables

are defined
a3 a2 a1 s1 a4
x 1= - x = - , A= - , e= - , s4=1
S' x 2=s (5.2.31)
' 3 s4 s4 s4
4 4

The input-output function is then transformed into

2 2 2 2
f (~'W)=x1-x2+X3+1+A -2Aca 4 +e -2K 1 (Asa4c~+es~)+2x3(esw+sa4cwl

-2x1x3(sws~+ca4cwc~)=O (5.2.32)

Moreover, define

~.=a+n~.,w.=6+nw., j=1,2, •.• ,n (5.2.33)

J J J J
232

with

Subtracting f(~o'~o)=O from f(~j'~j)=O (j=1,2, ... ,n) leads to the following

linear homogenous system

f(~~,,~~,)=f(~,,~,)-f(~ ,~ )=A,u1+B,u2+C,u3+D,u4+E,u5+F,u6=0 (5.2.34)

J J JJ 00 J J J J J J

where

(5.2.35a)

(5.2.35b)

A ,=s (S+~~,) -sS (5.2.36a)

J J

B ,=c (S+~~,) -cS (5.2.36b)

J J

c ,=s (aM, ) - so. (5.2.36c)

J J

D ,=C (a+M,) - co. (S.2.36d)

J J

E,=c(a+~~,)c(S+~~,)- cacB (5.2.36e)

J J J

F,=-s(a+~~,)s(S+~~,)+sasS (5.2.36f)
J J J

System (5.2.34) has non-trivial solutions if and only if its determinant

vanishes. In the problem of synthesis for function generation, the values

of ~~, and ~~, (j=1,2, ... ,n) are given. Hence, the determinant 8 is a
J J
function of a and S only. This determinant has, in fact, the following

form

8 (a.,B) (5.2.37)
 233

The function o(a,S) vanishes along the curve S=S(a) defined over the plane

a-S, as shown in Fig 5.2.4

Luck proposes in (5.3) a numerical method to find pairs of values (a"S,)

1 1

along which 0 vanishes, this method being based on the "regula-falsi"

algorithm. A different method is proposed here.

For a given value of S, say Si' 0 can be regarded as a function of one

real variable, namely, a, i.e.

To find the roots of 0i' the method of Newton-Raphson is applied, as

follows

a
a,
1

Fig 5.2.4 Set of values of a and e along which 0 vanishes.

234

1.i) Estimate (or guess) a starting value of a, say aO, to begin the

iterative procedure
k
1.ii) From the current value a of the sought root, ai' of 0i' compute an
k+1
improved value of ai' say a as

k+1 k
a =a- (5.2.38)

1.iii) If the correction value O. (ak)/o~ (a k ) is greater than a given

~ ~

tolerence £, return to Step 1.ii. Otherwise, verity if

If so, stop the procedure and accept the current value a k as the

value of the sough root, a i . If not, repeat the procedure starting

at Step 1.i, with a different value of aO.

Expression (5.2.38) greaty simplifies when the formula for the derivative

of a determinant is introduced, namely

~
~
o (a)=o. (a)Tr fM- 1 (a)M' (a)
~ t~ ~
1) (5.2.39)

Where M is the matrix whose determinant is 0 and M' (a) is the matrix whose

entries are the derivatives, with respect to a, of the corresponding entries

of M. Since formula (5.2.39) is not very popular, its derivation is presented

in Appendix 2. Substitution of eq. (5.2.39) into eq. (5.2.38) leads to

k+1 k 1
(5.2.40)
a =a -Tr(~-1 (ak)M' (ak0"

to compute ~-l (ak)~, (a k ), let

-1 k k
M (a )M' (a )=N
~ ~ ~

i.e., after dropping the argument for shortness,

MN=M' (5.2.41)

In eq. (5.2.41), let nand m' denote vectors identical to the pth
-p -p
columns of matrices ~ and ~', respectively. Hence, matrix N can be

computed bv solving the 6 linear systems

Mn =ro' , p=1 2, .•• ,6 (5.2.42)

--p -p

which can be done via the LU decomposition algorithm. At this stage there

are two simplifications, namely,

2.i) Subroutine DECaMP need only once be applied at the kth iteration for,

once the LU decomposition of ~ is obtained, this can be used to solve

the 6 systems appearing in (5.2.42)

2.ii) Since A. and B. do not contain a explicitly, the first two columns
J J
of M' vanish. Therefore, ~1=~2=Q and subroutine SOLVE need be applied

only four times. Funthermore,

2.iii) If at any of the iterations DECaMP detects matrix ~ to be singular,

the system of (5.2.42) cannot be solved, but this is not necessary

any more, for precisely what one is seeking is that value of a, for a

given value of 8i , that renders matrix M singular, i.e. that makes 0

zero.

Once the value a i that, for a given 8i makes the determinant vanish, has been

found, a new value of 8i , say 8 i + 1 , is introduced and the process starting in

1.i. is repeated, except that a new starting value a O need not be guessed,

for a good estimate for a i + 1 is, of course, ai' provided 8 i and 8i + 1 are

sufficiently close to each other. This way, a set of discrete values {ai ,8 i },

that zero 0, can be given in tabular form; however, if a continuous function

S=S(a) is necessary, this can be approximated by interpolation. The most

efficient way of interpolating such a function is by means of spline func-

tions (5.4).
236

SUBROUTINE ZERDET, appearing in Fig 5.2.5 implements the algorithm outlined

in 1.i-1.iii. This subroutine was used to find the graph a vs. a arising from

the following problem for seven-point accuracy synthesis (Example 1 of (5.3).

t.<P 2=30 0 , t.l/i2=-16.1°

t.<P3=75°, t.l/i3=-11.5°

t.<P 4=135°, t.l/i4= 22.5 0

t.<P5=195°, t.l/i 5 = 53.5 0

t.<P6= 24O °, t.l/i 6 = 57.9 0

t.<P 7=300°, t.l/i7= 41.3 0

This graph appears in Fig 5.2.6

Given one pair of values of the aforementioned set {a.,a.} and recalling that
~ ~

u 6 =1, the following linear inhomogeneous system is obtained

Gu=-f (5.2.43)

where G is the submatrix of ~ containing the first five rows and columns of

it, ~=(~1'~2' .•. '~5)T and ~=(~2/~3' ••• '~6)T. Vector ~ can be obtained
 237

SUBROUTINE ZERDET(N,MAX,P,X,A,DERA,EPSIL)
DIMENSION P(1),A(N,N),DERA(N,N),IP(100),C(100)
C
C
C THIS SUBROUTINE FINDS THE VALUE OF X THAT ZEROES THE DETERMINANT
C OF MATRIX A(X), A BEING OF NXN AND X, A SCALAR.
C X = THE UNKNOWN.
C P ::: AN ARRAY WHOSE COMPONENTS ARE PARAMETERS APPEARING IN THE
C DETERMINANT. THE USER DEFIN.ES IT ACCORDINGLY.
C IP= A VECTOR DEFINED IN SUBROUTINE "DECOMP".
C C ::: AUXILIARY VECTOR USED TO COMPUTE THE TRACE.
C THE FOLLOWING SUBROUTINES ARE USED WiTHIN THIS SUBROTINE
C DECOMP AND SOLVE __ FIND THE SOLUTION OF A NXN NONSINGULAR LINEAR
C ALGEBRAIC SYSTEM. (MOLER C.B.,ALGORITHM 423
C LINEAR EQUATION SOLVER(F4), COMMUNICATIONS OF THE
C ACM, VOL. 15, NO.4, P. 2"74) +
C MATRIX ____________ COMPUTES THE ENTRIES OF MATRIX A. THE USER
C PROVIDES IT.
C DERMAT ____________ COMPUTES THE ENTRIES OF THE DERIVATIVE OF A
C WHIT RESPECT TO X. THE USER PROVIDES IT.
C IMPRIM ____________ PRINTS RESULTS.
C IMPRIM PRINTS THE MESSAGE "NO CONVERGENCE----------ERROR GROWS"
C AND RETURNS TO MAIN PROGRAM, WHEN THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF THE
C CORRECTION TO THE UNKNOWN GROWS FROM ONE ITERATION TO THE NEXT ONE,
C THUS INDICATING THE POSSIBILITY OF DIVERGENCE. IN THIS CASE, THE
C FIRST PARAMETER OF IMPRIM IS SET EQUAL TO 1. IT PRINTS THE MESSAGE
C "NO CONVERGENCE" ALONE WHEN, EVEN IF THE VALUE OF THE DETERMINANT
C DECREASES, THIS VALUE DOES NOT MEET THE PRESCRIBED TOLERANCE, FOR
C THE ALLOWED NUMBER OF ITERATIONS. IN THE LATTER CASE THAT PARAMETER
C OF IMPRIM IS SET EQUAL TO 2 AND ZERDET RETURNS TO MAIN PROGRAM. IF
C CONVERGENCE IS REACHED, THE AFOREMENTIONED PARAMETER IS SET EQUAL
C TO 3.
C
C
C NEWTON-RAPHSON METHOD STARTS
C
ITER=O
C
C THE ENTRIES OF THE MATRIX ARE COMPUTED
1 CALL MATRIX(N,X,P,A)
CALL DECOMP(N,N,A,IP)
DET=1.0
DO 2 LM=l,N
2 DET=DET*A(LM,LM)
DET=DET*IP(N)
IF(IP(N).EQ.O) GO TO 8
C COMPUTING THE TRACE OF (A**(-i) )*DERA, WHERE DERA IS THE DERIVATIVE
C OF A WITH RESPECT TO X
:t

Fig 5.2.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE ZERDET

238

CALL DERMAT(N,X,P,DERA)
DO -4 I:::::I.,N
DO :-5 ....1:::::1. ,N
:-5 C(J)=D~RA(J.I)
CALL SOL'}ECN.N.A.r.IP)
-4 TRACE=TRACEtC(I)
("'
("' DETERMINES THE EVOLUTION OF TH[S ·fRACE
TRAINV=1.0/TRACE
IFCITER.ED.O) GO TO 5
IFCABS(XV-X).LT.EPSIL) GO TO 8
IFCABS(TRAINV).Gl.TRAVI) GO TO 6
~"j XV::::X
X::::X-TRAINV
I TEF~::'· I TEr.;:+ t
IFCITER.GE.MAX) GO TO 7
TRAVI=ABS(TR~INV)
GD TO :I.
6 CALL IMPRIM(l.ITER.X.DET,P)
1'~:ETUI'i:N
7 CALL IMPRIM(2.ITER,X.DET.P)
RETLmN
8 CALL IMPRIM(3.ITER,X.DEr,p)
F:ETUI'i:N
END

Fig. 5.2.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE ZERDET (Continued)

1T

o IT/2 IT 21T/2 2IT B

Fig 5.2.6 Free-parameter relationship for the synthesis of a function
generator linkage with seven specified points.
 239

from eq. (5.2.43) via the LU decomposition algotithm. With ~ known, the

normalized lengths x 1 ,x 3 ,A,e and the angle u 4 can be obtained by substitu-

tion into eqs. (5.2.35). The remaining length, x 2 , is readily obtained from

eq. (5.2.32) when, for convenience, the values of ~1 and ~1 are introduced

in that equation. Thus, the synthesis problem is totally solved.

Two observations are in order: i) This method allows to synthesize a function

generator for up to seven precision points and ii) since infinitely many

combinations of u and S (that turn the determinant 8 zero) exist, that

combination rendering the best transmission angle can be used, thus allowing

for optimization.

So far no velocity nor acceleration nor higher-derivative conditions have

been considered. The introduction of such conditions, rendering a synthesis

problem for infinitesimally-separated positions is, however, straightforward.

In fact, all that need be done is to differentiate the input-output function

with respect to time as many times as necessary, substitute in the resulting

equations the prescribed values of the input, the output and their derivatives

and form a system of synthesis equations similar to that appearing in eqs.

(5.2.17). This is next illustrated with an example.

Example 5.2.2 Synthesis of the RSSR linkage for function generation with

prescribed dead-points.

It is required to determine the dimensions of the linkage shown in Fig 5.2.1,

for a given value of angle u 4 , to produce an oscillation of link Be of 90°

in such a way that the return motion (under no load) be performed twice as

faster as the first half (under full load). The input link should be a crank,

i.e. it should rotate through 360~

Solution:

In the synthesis equation 5.2.17, let

240

(5.2.44a)

k
5
=- (5.2.44b)

thus obtaining the suitable synthesis equation in the form

(5.2.45)

To meet the problem conditions, assume that the no-load motion is performed

during a 120° rotation of the input crank, the load motion being executed

during the remaining 240 0 rotation of the said crank. Thus, the following

conditions can be imposed

(5.2.46a)

~ =]20° ,I. =90° ~. =0 (5.2.46b)

"'2 ''1'2 ''1'2

These conditions do not suffice for the present problem for, even if they

are met, the output linkage could rotate through an angle of 270° and not

one of 90°, as required. To ensure the proper motion to be performed by the

linkage, the additional following condition is imposed

(5.2.46c)

which arises from the assumption that, when the input link has rotated

through an angle of 60° (= </>3 - </>2 ) of the load motion (1/4 of this motion),

the output link has rotated through an angle of 22.5° (= lj!2 - 1/1 3 ) of the

same motion (1/4 of this motion, also).

To specify the velocity conditions, the synthesis equation (5.2.45)is

differentiated with respect to time, thus obtaining

. ... ..
k1</>sa4c</>+k2</>s</>-k31/1sljl+k4lj1sa4c1/l-(-</>s</>clj!-ljIc</>slj!
. .
+</>ca 4 c</>sljl+ljIca 4 s</>cljl)=0 (5.2.47)
 241

It is then noticed that five synthesis equations can be obtained to produce

five unknowns, therehy justifying the use of a synthesis equation of the form

of eq. (5.2.45). The said five synthesis equations are:

For ~1=O and W1=O, eq. (5.2.45) leads to

-k 2+k 3+k 5 -1=O (5.2.48a)

For ~1=O, W1=O and ~1=O, with ¢1~O, which can then be dropped, eq. (5.2.47)

leads to

k 1 sCl. 4 =O (5.2.48b)

For ¢2=1200 and W2=900, eq. (5.2.45) leads to

(5.2.48c)

For ~2~O eq. (5.2.47) leads to

Finally, from condition (5.2.46c), eq. (5.2.45) leads to

(5.2.48d)

Solving for the five unknowns in the foregoing system (5.2.48), one obtains

/
1 213
1-c (1 + c + ---3 CCl. 4 (s-1)
)

--r
213
0tCl. 4

where c=cos 67.5°, s=sin 67.5°

242

Putting the above expressions into a computer and computing them for

different values of a 4 yields numerous linkages, out of which the best

(in a given sense, e.g., the one with the best transmission angle) can be

selected.

The transmission angle,)J, defined as angle BAD of the linkage appearing

in Fig 5.2.1, is a measure of the force transmission of the linkage. From

Fig 5.2.1, the definition of vectors e,p,g and 9 following it, and eqs.

(5.2.5), (5.2.11), (5.2.14) and (5.2.16c), it follows that

T
bTa (~+9-~) ~
cos)J=- - - =-
a 2a 3 a 2a 3
from which

a4c~-s1sa4s~+a1ca4s~s¢+a1c~c¢-a3
cos)J=- (5.2.49)
a2

The reason why the transmission angle is a measure of the force transmission

of the linkage is the following: disregarding the inLrtia forces of the

links, the input torque, M¢, is transmitted from link CD to link AB

(Fig 5.2.1) through the coupler link AD by means of a force collinear with

line AD. If this force, F, is resolved into two components, one parallel

to line AB and the other perpendicular to it, the working component is that

perpendicular to AB and its value is Fsinll, whereas the nonworking compo-

nent is that parallel to AB and its value is FCOSll. Thus, for a "good"

force transmission, the parallel component of F should be as small as

possible, which is attained if cOSll lies close to zero, i.e. if II lies

close to either 90 0 or 270 0

The mechanical advantage of a linkage is another feature used to evaluate

its operation. It is defined as the ratio of output torque, M~, to the

input torque, M¢. An expression for the mechanical advantage is next obtained.
 243

Disregarding the effect of friction forces for simplicity, the output power

is equated to the input power, i.e.

(5.2.50)

from which, the mechanical advantage, m, is obtained as

m= (5.2.51)

From eq. (5.4.47),

k3sw-k4sa4cw-swc$+ca4c$sw
m= (5.2.52)
k1sa4c$+k2s$+cws$-ca4c$sw

An analogous procedure can be followed to determine the mechanical advantage

of other types linkages.

EXerCise 5.2.1 Determine the mechanical advantage of the following linkages:

[
Spherical RRRR, RSR]?, RSRC

Exercise 5.2.2. Using the results of Example 5.2.2, find the dimensions of

the linkage whose transmission angle lies between 40° and 140° (or between

220 0 and 1320°) throughout the performance of the linkage.

Mobility analysis

In synthesising function- generating linkag~one is interested in producing

a link with certain mobility conditions. These conditions refer to the range

of motion of either the input- or the output link or of both. In this

respect, one of these links is to be either a crank (possibility of rotation

through 360°) or a rocker (possibility of rotation through a fraction of a

complete turn). The conditions under which these mobility specifications

are met are next discussed.

Referring to Fig 5.2.1 the following analysis is performed to establish

244

the conditions under which the input link, CD, is a crank.

For a ~iven position of the input link, i.e. for a given value of ~, the

relative position of the pairs D and ~ is depicted in Fig 5.2.7. In that

Figure, the locus of A is the circle centered at B with a radius a 3 , ~

being the unit normal to the plane of the circle, i.e. the vector paralel

to the axis of the the revolute pair R41 .

-------__.
--
--
D

-
A
-~
...-
--..-"- ,;"""
/"
...- / "
"
/"
/"/
~...-
I'tt'

Fig 5.2.7 Relative position of pairs A and D of Fig 5.2.1

In what follows the following Theorem will be resorted to

THEOREM 5.2. 1 G~ven a ~ete and a po~nt no~ iy~ng on ~ ~eum6~enee

and no~ neeel>f.,aJ!.ily ~n :the plane 06 :the ~ete, :the pobLt6 on :the ~eum-

6eJtenee iy~ng :the etOf., el>~ and :the 6aJl.:thel>~ 6fLOm ~he po~nt, Q and P, /tel> pe~
Uveiy, have:the pfLOP~!f :thM linel> QV and PO afte peJtpendi-eui.aft ~o :the

~ngent ~o :the ~ete paJ.,f.,~g ~ough Q and ~ough P.

Exercise 5.2.3 Using the method of the Lagrange multipliers, prove

ITheorem 5.2.1
From Theorem 5.2.1 it follows that P and Q are determined as the intersec-

tions of the circle with line lB. Line IB is in turn determined by the

center of the circle, B, and the intersection of the plane of the circle
 245

with its perpendicular from D. Let l(~) and L(~) be the lenght of segments

DQ and DP, respectively. Hence, the condition fOr the input l~nk to be a

crank is that a 2 , the lenght of the coupler link, lie within the maximum

value ~f l and the minimum value L, i.e.

l <a <L .
max 2 m~n

Exercise 5.2.4 Derive the following expressions.

246

5.3 MECHANIS~ SYNTHESIS rOR RIGID-BODY GUIDANCE.

A complete account of the theory and applications of this subject appears

in (S.S-S.12). Different approaches to this problem are presented, all of

them regarding the calculation of geometric parameters of one dyad* at a

time, but the most unified treatment is that of Tsai and Roth (5.11). The

method introduced by these authors is based on formulae relating the

different screw angles and displacements of composed motions (carrying the

rigid body intended to be guided from its reference configuration to its n

specified successive configurations)to the directions and positions of the

screw axes involved, as is shown next.

Let a rigid body B occupy configuration BO initially (henceforth called

"the reference configuration") and assume it is intended to conduct this

rigid body through n successive configurations B. (j=1,2, ... ,n), all of them
J
being finitely separated, i.e. the screw motions relating one of these

configurations to each other and to the reference one contain parameters

(angle and displacement) with only finite values (Fig 5.3.1)

The motion carrying B from BO to Bj can be regarded as the composition of

two motions: one, given by a screw M.** carrying B from BO to B~, followed
-J J
by a second one, given bv a screw F., carriying B from B~ to B .. The axes
-J J J
of both screws M. and F. are lines M. and F., shown in Fig 5.3.1, where F.
-J -J J J J
is fixed in space, i.e. its position relative to BO does not change after

the motion is completed, whereas line M. is a moving one. Let u. and w. be

J J J
the scalar displacements of M. and F respectively, and a. and y. their
-J -j' J J

*See Section 3.2.

**M. denotes a screw, whereas MJ., its axis.
-J
 247

respective angles. The screw §J' resulting from the composition of M. and F.
-J -J

F.
J

Fig 5.3.1 Successive configurations of a rigid body

has an axis S. passing through point A., its displacement being denoted by
J J
t. and its angle by 9 .• All three screws form what Roth calls a "screw
J J
triangle", Next, relationships among the screw displacements, angle and

axes are obtained.

In what follows, let m., f. and s. be unit vectors parallel to the axes
-J -J -J
of M., F. and S.. Moreover, let q., g ., and a. be the position vectors of
-J -J -J -J -J -J
points Qj , Gj and Aj , located on Mj , F j and Sj' respectively. For short,

the indices are dropped from the screw parameters in the following

derivations.
248

Starting with Rodrigues' formula (2.5.3) the following relation is readily

obtained (5.13,5.14)

e tan~+tanif+tan%ta~f~
ta~ (5.3.1)
a y
1-tan~an~.~

MUltiplying both sides of the above equations times xf yields

a a y
tan~f+tan2tan2(f~)xf
(5.3.2)
a y
1-tan~a~·f

Multiplying both sides of the above equation times.~, the left hand side

clearly vanishes thus leading to

(5.3.3)

which, for non-zero values of a, vanishes only if the term in brackets

does, i.e. if

y
(5.3.4)
ta~ (mxf). (fxs)

which is one of the relations sought.

To stablish a second relation, multiply both sides of eq. (5.3.1) times ~,

thus obtaining

e tan~~+tan%tant(~~)x~
tan~x~= (5.3.5)
1-tan%tan~. f

Multiplying both sides of the latter equation times .2 renders its left

hand side zero, thus leading to

(5.3.6)

which, for non-zero values of y, vanishes only if the term in brackets

does, i. e. if
 249

a
ta~ = (~XID). (~f) (5.3.7)

thereby obtaining one second relationship

To obtain a third relationship, one connecting 6 to ~,! and ~, proceed as

follows:

Eq. (5.3.1) was obtained by first rotating B through an angle a about an

axis parallel to ~, and then through an angle y about an axis parallel to

~. The resulting rotation is equivalent to a single one through an angle

6 about an axis parallel to ~. If now configuration Bj is regarded as the

reference one, BO can be reached from B~ through B .. B. can be reached from

J J J
B~ in exactly the same way as described previously, i.e. by means of a
J
rotation through an angle y about an axis parallel to ~; but now BO can be

reached from Bj by means of the inverse of the rotation carrying BO to Bj ,

i.e., via a rotation through an angle -6 abount an axis parallel to ~.

Writing the equation equivalent to (5.3.1) for this composition of rotations

(5.3.8)

Proceeding in a fashion analogous to the one used to obtain (5.3.4) and

(5.3.7), i.e. mUltiplying both sides of eq. (5.3.8) times x~.~, one finally

obtains

(5.3.9)

as the third relationship sought.

In the following, expressions for u, wand t are obtained. The composition

of screws M and F is shown in Fig. 5.3.2. In This figure, ! is the original

position vector of a point P of a rigid body undergoing first a screw motion

of scalar displacement u, parallel to vector ~, and rotation a about

an axis passing through Q and parallel to m. After this screw motion the
250

position vecto~ of P is : ' . Next/ the rigid body undergoes one second screw

motion of scalar displacement w parallel to ~, and rotation y about an axis

passing through G and parallel to !, The final position vecto~ of point P

The composition of both screws is equivalent to one single screw of scalar

displacement t parallel to ~, and rotation e about an axis passing through

A and parallel to s. This screw is shown in Fig 5.3.3.

Let ~1 and ~2 be the rotations of screws ~ and F, respectively, g3 being

that of the equivalent screw S. Thus, applying eqs. (2.6.18) and (2.6.19),

where, applying the same result again,

(5.3.11)

Substitution of (5.3.11) into (5.3.10) yields, after cancellations and

rearrangement of terms,

(5.3.12)

in which ~3=~2~1' has been substituted.

On the other hand, using the equivalent screw to compute ~",

Equating the right hand sides of (5.3.12) and (5.3.13), one obtains

wf+u92!!l-t~+ (9 3 -;0 (e-~)+ (9 2 -!) (~-2)=Q (5.3.14)

from (5.13,p.5),

Q m=m+(1-cy)fx(fxm)+syfxm (5.3.15)*
_2- - - - - --

*cy=cosy, sy=siny
 251

____ }.f / _
//'
", r' I
/'
/"

r"
252

(Q -I)
~2 - (q-g)=(1-cy)fx(~x(q-g»)+syfx(q-g)
~ _ _ _ _ _ __ (5.3.16)

(5.3.17)

Substitution of (5.3.15)-(5.3.17) into (5.3.14) yields

... - ... ---

wf-ts+urn+U(1-cy)fx(fxm)+usyfxm+(1-c8)sx(sx(a-ql}+s8sx(a-q)
-- - - _ .... ---
(5.3.18)

Multiplying both sides of eq. (5.3.18) times x~.~ yields

~f·~+u(1-cy) (fX(fx~»)xf.~+uSY(f~)xf.~+

+(1-C9){~x(~x(e-g»)}xf·~+S9[~X(~-~»)Xf.~+

+(1-cY){fx(fx(q-g»)}xf·~+sy[!x(q-g»)x!.~=0 (5.3.19)

Define

(5.3.20)

From eq. (5.3.4), the corresponding trigonometric identities and definitions

(5.3.20), one obtains

2P1P2
sY~ (5.3.21)
P 1+P 2

(5.3.22)

Substituting eqs. (5.3.20)-(5.3.22) into eq. (5.3.19),

(5.3.23)
 253

where

(fx (fXJ!l) ) xf . so=-mxf • s=-p (5.3.24)

- - - - - - - 1
and

(E~)xE·~=(E~)· (Ex~)=-P2 (5.3.25)

Let A be the coefficient of u. Then,

(5.3.26)

Let B be the sum of the next two terms in (5.3.23). Then

(5.3.27)

Let C be sum of the last two terms in (5.3.23),

(5.3.28)

substituting (5.3.26)-(5.3.28) into eq. (5.3.23), dropping the common factor

P1 in it and solving for u/2, one obtains

(5.3.29)

where

:1~ (P1~XE+P2(EX~)X~)':2~(P1~x~+P3(~X~)X~) (5.3.30)

P1+P 2 P1+P 3

To simplify expression (5.3.29), expand the terms in the denominators and

those in the brackets of expressions (5.3.30).

254

But
2
2 2 II (IEX!)x(~~) II
cos (mxf,fxs)=1-sin (mxf,fxs)=l- 2 2 (5.3.32)
---- ---- II~~ II II ~x~ II

substituting expression (5.3.32) into (5.3.31), one obtains

(5.3.33)

where

(5.3.34)

and, similarly,

(5.3.35)

Furthermore,

II (l.!)Xf) - - 112= II (mxf)

- x (fxs) - - .sf- (mxf)
- - .fs
-~ --
112

= I I (r:uc~. ~ )~ II
= (r:uc~ . ~) 211 ~ 112 = (r:uc~ •~) 2 (5.3.36)

Substitution of eqs. (5.3.34)-(5.3.36) into eq. (5.3.33) leads to

2 2 2 2
P +p =(1- (m. f) ) (1- (s.f) ) (5.3.37)
1 2 - - - -

and, similarly

2 2 2 2
p +p =(1- (s.f) ) (1- (s.m) ) (5.3.38)
1 3 - - - -
 255

Moreover,

(5.3.39)*

Each of the two terms in the brackets of expression (5.3.39) are next

expanded

Let

...fxs=a,sxf=b
.... .... .... .... ....
(5.3.40)

Thus, the dyadic ~xeex~ can be written as**

fxssxf=ab

* 1 is the identity dyadic, i.e. a dyadic that is isomorphic to the 3x3

identity matrix. Thus, in matrix notation, if the components of ~ are

f1f2 and f 3 , then

1_f 2 -f 1 f 2
1 -f1 f 3

(2-g)= -f 1 f 2 1_f 2
2 -f1 f 3

_f2 f 1_f 2
1 3 -f2 f 3 3

** For a short account on the algebra of dyadics see Appendix 1.

256

Introducing the usual index notation (5.15),

(fxssxfl .. =a.b. (5.3.4:1)

- -- - l.) l.)

where, from definitions (5.3.40),

(5.3.42)

Hence

(fxssxf) .. =E.,.oE. fksoS f (5.3.43)

- -- - l.) l.~)mm ~ m n

where, as is shown in Appendix 3,

E·koE. =o .. (0km0o -ok oL)+o·k(o_oo. -0. 0o)

l. ~ )mn l.) ~n n un ) ll~ l.n l.m ~n

(5.3.44)

substituting (5.3.44) into (5.3.43), one obtains finally

(5.3.45)

Substitution of the latter expression into (5.3.39) and simplifying the

resulting expression leads to

(5.3.46)

Similarly,

(5.3.47)

Substituting (5.3.37), (5.3.38), (5.3.46) and (5.3.47) into (5.3.30) and the

corresponding expressions for :1 and S2 into (5.3.29), one obtains.

u I!,I. (~-~~)
"2;: 2 (g-q)+
2
(a-q) (5.3.48)
1- (Ill.!) 1- (!'i • Ill)

which is identical to the corresponding expression obtained by Roth and

Tsai (5.11)
T
Multiplying eq. (5.3.14) times g2 one obtains
 257

T T T
wf+~-tQ _1 -Q
_2 ~+(Q _2 ) (~-q)-(Q
_ _2 -I)
_ (q-g)=Q
__ (5.3.49)

Multiplying the latter equation times x~.~ and proceedin9 in a manner similar

to that leading to eq. (5.3.48) starting from eq. (5.3.15), one obtains

t- - --;. s-(s.m)m

1-(~.~)
(q-a)+
- -
~-(~.f}f

j-(s.f)
2' (q-a) (5.3.50)

Now mUltiplying eq. (5.3.14) times QT

_3
leads to

T T T T
wQ_3-f+um-ts-(Q
- - _3 -I) _1 -Q_3 ) (q-g)=0
- (a-q)+(Q
- _ _ ~ - (5.3.51)

Finally, mUltiplying eq. (5.3.51) times xm.S and proceeding as before, one

obtains

w ~-(~.~)~ f-(f.m)m
"2 2 • (a-g)- 2 • (q-g) (5.3.52)
1-(!.~) 1-(!.~)

Equations (5.3.4), (5.3.7), (5.3.9), (5.3.48), (5.3.50) and (5.3.52) are the

synthesis equations which were meant to be obtained.

Remarks about the synthesis equations:

i) They are useful to synthesise spatial linkages, but not plane ones,

because in the latter case, ~, ~ and ~ are parallel. Hence angles a, y

and e are undetermined in eqs. (5.3.4), (5.3.7) and (5.3.9) and

displacements u, t and ware undertermined in eqs. (5.3.48), (5.3.50)

and (5.3.52). Thus, to synthesise plane linkages, other equations should

be used, like those developed by Suh (5.16) or by Angeles (5.17).

Equations appearing in (5.17) are derived in the Appendix.

ii) They enable the designer to synthesise dyads of any combination of the

six kinematic lower pairs introduced in Ch. 3, except for the planar

one. Notice, however, that since the axis of one of the two pairs of
258

the dyad is fixed and the other one is moving, the dyad is not symmetric,

for which reason the R-S dyad, for instance, is different from the S-R

dyad. Hence, the total number of dyads that can be designed with the

foregoing equations is 5 2 =25. The syntheses of all these dyads, except

for the P-P one, are discussed in (5.11). As Roth and Tsai point out

in (S.ll) , unless the guided rigid body undergoes pure translation,

in general a P-P dyad does not exist for an arbitrary rigid body

motion.

iii) If the different configurations of a rigid body meant to be guided are

specified, not via their screws (referred to a common original config-

uration), but via the successive positions of a set of three non-col-

linear points of the rigid body, then the corresponding screws must

first be computed. This can be done with the computer subroutine SCREW,

whose listing appears in Fig 2.6.5.

iv) The path-generation problem of synthesis, discussed in Section 5.5,

can also be treated using the equations under consideration.

The outlined synthesis procedure is illustrated by means of an example

regarding the design of an R-R dyad for rigid-body guidance. The synthesis

of this dyad has been studied extensively. It was first shown that the

maximum number of specified configurations of the rigid body is three (See

Section 5.4), if exact solutions are to be obtained, these solutions being

exact up to round-off and/or measuring errors. This statement can be readily

proved by the reader: besides, it is reported in several papers, e.g. in

(S.11,p.94). Roth (5.18) showed that the aforementioned exact synthesis

problem has no more than 24 real solutions, whereas Suh (5.19) showed that

these solutions always come in pairs, each pair forming a

Bennett mechanism (5.20), i.e. an RRRR spatial linkage with degree of

 259

freedom 1*. Finally, Roth and Tsai (5.12) showed that this problem has only

one pair of real solutions, which constitute a Bennett mechanism.

Example 5.3.1 Synthesise an RRRR spatial linkage to guide a rigid body

whose points A,B and C attain the following successive positions:

AO (O,O,l) A1 (0,1,n

BO(O,l,O) B 1 (-1,1,0) B2 (-1,2,0)

Co (1 ,0,0) C 1 (0,0,0) C2 (-2,1,0)

The two involved screws, §1 and §2' transporting the rigid body from

configuration 0 to configurations 1 and 2, respectively were obtained with

the aid of SUBROUTINE SCREW, the resulting parameters being those obtained

from the computer printout of the program that was written for this purpose.

These are the following:

0.707 0.250

s-1 = -0.707 , el= 0.250 ,t 1=-0.707,6 1=-70.529°

0.000 0.500

0.000 -0.250

§2= -0.707 a = 1.000 ,t 2 =-0.707,6 2 =-109.471°

-2
0.707 1.000

In this problem, 6 j , ej' ej' u j and wj (j=1,2) are known. In fact,

u.=w.=0(j=1,2), for the corresponding motions are produced by revolute

) )
pairs, thereby not allowing for any sliding; the remaining aforementioned

parameters are those obtained via SUBROUTINE SCREW. The synthesis equations

that are applied are eqs. (5.3.9), (5.3.48), (5.3.50) and (5.3.52), all of

* If the GrUbler-Kutzbach (3.5) formula is applied to this linkage, it is

found that its degree of freedom is -2.
260

them taken twice, once for each value of j.

Additionally, the unity-magnitude (i.e. normality) condition on vectors f

and m yields two more equations, Finally, specifying the location of points

G and Q, on the axes of the ~ and ~ screws, respectively, in such a way as

to render GQ perpendicular to both axes, one obtains two additional equations.

Summarizing, the problem leads to a system-of 12 nonlinear algebraic equations

in 12 unknowns. Roth and Tsai (5.12) introduced an algorithm that reduces

the problem to finding the unique positive real root of a cubic equation.

In the course of the description of their algorithm, they show that the

system admits exactly two real different solutions which, as Suh (5.19)
proved before, are bound to constitute a Bennett mechanism. Roth and Tsai

also show that spurious solutions to the said system also appear, which

contain, as solutions to ~ or ~, either ~l or ~2' The author has found,

following a different approach, that other spurious solutions can also appear,

these solutions being inadmissible in the sense of yielding, for instance,

point Q of the second solution identical to point G of the first one, thus

making impossible the construction of the linkage.

The solution to the present problem is now obtained following a different

procedure as that proposed by Roth and Tsai. In fact, although the algorithm

proposed by these authors can be implemented even with a desk calculator

(not necessarily a programmable one), the author could not see how to extend

it to o"'erdetermined problems, Le. problems that involve the guidance of a

rigid body through more than three different configurations, thus not allowing

for an exact solution, in which case the best approximation (See Section 6.3)

should be sought. The procedure followed here is based on the use of

SUBROUTINE NRDAMP. First the synthesis equations are simplified considering

that vector g-q is perpendicular to both ! and ~. Thus, the synthesis equa-

tions reduce to
 261

For i=1,2:
6i T T
F.=tan~2
1 _ (1-s.s.)m+det(f,m,s.)=O
_ _1_1 _ _ __ 1 (S.3.S3a)

(S.3.S3b)

IS.3.S3c)

T t.
F.1+6 =s.
_1 (g-q)-
_ _ ~O
2 (S.3.S3d)

T
F 9 =f_ -f-1=0 (S.3.S3e)

F =mTm-1=O (S.3.S3f)
10 - -

T
F =f (g-q)=O (S.3.S3g)
11 - - -

T
F 12=m
- (g-q)=O
__ (S.3.S3h)

The Jacobian matrix of the system, which is needed by NRDAMP, is now formed

by computing the partial derivatives of the above functions with respect to

the unknowns f,m,g and q. Thus,

For i=1,2:

ClF.
1
(S.3.S4a)
Clf

ClF.
1
(S.3.S4b)
Clm

ClF. ClF.
Clg
1 1
o (S.3.S4c)
Clq

ClF i + 2 T ClF i+2

~= - -1-1 -1 _ a.
(1-s. s. ) (a. -g), - - = 0 (S.3.S4d)
262

C5.3.54e)

(5.3.54f)

dF i +4 dF i +4 T
-;;--g = 0, - , , - - =-(I-s,s,)m (5.3.54g)
" aq - -1_1 _

dF i +6 dFi+6 dF i +6 dF i +6
~= !?, a;;-- s, ,
= ~, a g - = -1 ""Tcl = -S,
-1
(5.3.54h)

dF9 dF9 dF9 dF9

a t = 2f, dm = 0, ~= 2, 1lq = 0 (5.3.54i)

(5.3.54j)

(5.3.54k)

(5.3.541)

Subroutines FUN and DFDX, required by NRDAMP, compute functions Fi (i=1, ••• 12)

and the Jacobian matrix. For this purpose, a vector x of twelve components

is defined in the following manner:

x i +6=gi,i=1,2,3

x i + 9=q1,i=1,2,3

Analogously, a vector p of given parameters is defined as

 263

For i=1,2,3,

for i=1,2,

In order to automate the calculations, the following arrays are defined:

VE(I,J), for I=1,2, ••. ,7 and J=1,2,3, is the Jth component of the Ith vector

of the array, where

f= 1st vector of the array

~= 2nd vector of the array

a -g= 3rd vector of the array

-1 -
a -g= 4th vector of the array
-2 -
a -q= 5th vector of the array
-1 -
a -q= 5th vector of the array
-2 -
g-~ = 7th vector of the array

MA(I,J ,K) , for I= i ,2, and J,K=1,2,3, is the (J,K)~ entry of the Ith matrix

of the array, where

-
I-S,S:= the ith matrix of the array.
-~-~

Other subsidiary subroutines are the following:

SUBROUTINE MAVE (I,MA,J,VE,PROV) computes the product of matrix I of MA

times vector J of VE and stores this product in array PROVo

SUBROUTINE VEVE(I,VE,V,PROS) computes the inner product of vector I of VE

times V and stores this product in PROS.

264

SUBROUTINE FUN(X.F,P,N)
REAL PROS,X(13),P(16),F(12),PROV(3),CROS(3,.V(3)
REAL MA(2,3.3,.VE(7.3)
COMMON/ONE/MA
COMMON IT WOlVE
CALL VECTORCP.X.VE)
DO 1 I:::: 1 .2
CALL MAVE(I.MA.2.VE,PROV)
CALL VEVE(l.VE.PROV.PROS)
FCI)=TAN(P(12tl)/2.'*PROS
CALL CROSSC2.X.I.P.CROS)
CALL VEVE(l.VE.CROS.PROSl
:I. F(I'=F(lltPROS
L'<!.
DO 2 ]><1. ,,2
DO 2 .J:::::I." ;;!.
L :::: L+:I.
CALL MAVEC.J.MA.L.VE,PROV)
CALL VEVECI,VE.PROV.PROSl
. .; F (I... ):: PI';~OS
DO 4 1:::::1..2
DO ::~ ....1 ,., 1 • :5
:5 V(.J'=P(3*(I-:l.'t.J)
CALL VEVE(7yVE,V.PROS)
4 F (1+6) '::PI:;:O~l···P (14+1) /2.

DO ~'j ...)::::1.3
r:: .
...J l,) (J) ::.,I)E ( 1yJ )

6 F(8+1)=PROS-l.
DO B 1::::1.::.
DO 7 J::::1. ::)
7 V(J)~VE(lyJ)
CALL VEVE(7yVEyVyPROS)
8 FC10+I)=PROS
HETUF;:N
END

Fig. 5.3.4 Listing of SUBROUTINE FUN

 265

SUBROUTINE DFDXeX,DF,p,N)
REAL X(13),p(16),PROVe3),V(3),CROSe3),
& DFC12,12),MA(2,3,3),VE(7,3)
COMMON/ONE/MA
COMMONITW()/VE
DO 1 I :"1,2
8G::::'-1 +
DO 1. ,./::::1,2
SG::,'--SG
,J.J::::3-~J
CALL MAVECI,MA,.JJ,VE,PROV)
CALL CROSSeJ.J,X,I,P,CR()S)
DO 1. K::::j.,3
1 DF(I,3*(J-1)tK)=TANCPCIt1.2)/2o'*PROV(K)tSG*CROS(K)
DO 2 I"": 1. , 2
DO 2 J::::7, 1.2
2 DFC I ,.J)::::O.
DO :3 1::::1,2
DO 3 ..1::::1,2
.1.1·:<3* e2-'~J)
DO 3 1-(:::: 1. ,3
DF(ItJtJ,JJtK)~O.
3 DFCItJt.J.JJtKt6)=O.
1...::::2
DO 6 1:::1,2
DO 6 J::::1.2
L:::l...t1
CALL MAVEeJ,MA.L.VE,PROV)
DO -1 K·:::1, 3
4 DF(L.Kt3*(I-1»=PROV(K)
CALL MAVEe.J.MA.I,VE,PROV)
DO ~:j K:::: 1.::5
5 DF(L,Kt3*CIt1»~-PROV(K)
6 CONTINUE
DO "7 1::::"7,8
DO "7 J::::1,6
7 DF(I • .J)~O.
!3G::::-'1o
!.lO B 1::::1,2
DO 8 .1::::1,2
SG::::-SG
DO 8 K::::1,3
8 DF(It6,6tKt3*(J-1»=SG*P(3*(I-1)tK)
DO 9 1:""9,12
DO 9 J:o:1,12
9 DF(l,J)::::O.
DO l.() I:::: 1 , 2
1.10 10 ..1::::1.3
10 DFCIt8,3*(I-1)tJ)=VE(I.J)tVE(I,J)
DO 11 1::::1,2
DO :t.1 J=1,::5
11 DF(1t10,Jt3*(I-l»=VE(7.J)

Fig. 5.3.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE DFDX

266

Sf:):":····l,
DO :1.2 ]>1.2
DO 12 J":l,2
SG::::--Sf:)
DO 12 1\::::1,3
12 DF(Itl0,3*CJt1)tK)=VE(I,K)*Sf:)
HETUH~~
END

Fig. 5.3.5 Listing of SUBROUTINE DFDX (Continued)

SUBHOUTINE MAVE(I,MA,J,VE,PROV)
REAL MA(2,3,3),VE(7.3),PROV(3)
DO :I. K:::::I., 3
PI:;:OV (1\) ::::() v
DO :I. l..:::::1.,:3
<
.L PROV(K)=PROVCK)tMA(I.K,L)*VE(J,L)
f;:ETUI:~N
END

Fig. 5.3.6 Listing of SUBROUTINE MAVE

SUBROUTINE VEVECI,VE.V,PROS)
REAL PROS,VE(7,3),V(3)
PI:::O:::···:::() v
DC :I. J::·::\.,3
:I. PROS=PROStVE(I,J)*V(J)
RETLmN
END

Fig. 5.3.7 Listing of SUBROUTINE VEVE

SUBROUTINE CROSS(I.X,J,P,CROS)
REAL X(13),P(:l.6),CROS(3)
DO :I. 1-(:::::1.,:3
0-::0 ~:; ( 1\ )::. () •
DO :I. 1...::" 1 ,3
DO :I. M::::1, 3
N=(I...-K)*(M-I...)*(K-M)
:I. CHOS(K'=CROS(K)-N*X(3*(I-l'tl...l*P(3*(J-:l.)tMl/2.
RETUf~N
END

Fig. 5.3.8 Listing of SUBROUTINE CROSS

 267

SUBROUTINE CROSS (I,X,J,P,CROS) computes the cross product of either ~(I=1)

or ~(I=2), stored in X, times either ~1(J=1) or ~2(J=2), both stored in P.

It stores the product in array CROS. The listings of the aforementioned

subroutines appear in Figs 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6, 5.3.7 and 5.3.8.

The two meaningful solutions that were obtained, using the Newton-Raphson

method, are

o +0.707 -0.5 -0.5

o ~1
0.0 9: 1 1.5 1.0

-1 -0.707 0.5 0.5

-0.7071 -0.666 -0.5 -0.1666

o -0.666 1.0 0.8333

0.7071 0.333 0.5 0.8333

The conditions for the above linkage to constitute a Bennett mechanism (5.20)

are, according to Fig 5.3.9,

, '"

Fig 5.3.9 A Bennett Mechanism

268

sina
a

It can be readily proved that the linkage just designed satisfies the above

conditions and thus constitutes a Bennett mechanism.

The algorithm of Roth and Tsai requires referring the problem to a particular

set of coordinate axes, in such a way that, letting ~,~,~ denote unit vectors

along new X,Y and Z axes, respectively, these vectors are defined as

k=s
- -1

Furthermore, the origin of coordinates is to be placed at the intersection

of the common perpendicular to the axes of screws ~1 and ~2 with the axis

of ~1' This way, in the new coordinates,

o o u o

o v o

where h is the distance between the axes of ~1 and ~2 times the sign of

s xs • (a2-a1l. The solution obtained using the data in the new coordinate
-1 -2 - -

axes must be then transformed into the original coordinates. This is done

via the following affine transformation:

 269

(IE) 0= (!3) 0 (IE) n

(~)o=(~1)o+(~)o(2)n

(g) 0 = (~1) 0 + (~) 0 (g) n

where subscripts 0 and n refer to original and new coordinates, respectively.

Matrix (R) can be obtained via Definition 1.2.1, as

~ 0

where the transpose of the given matrix should be taken because the matrix

taken as such (without transposing) represents the rotation of the original

axes the new ones.

I Tsai
=E=x~e~r~c~i~s~e~=5~.=3~.~1 Check the solution given above to Example 5.3.1, applying

and Roth's algorithm (5.12).

270

5.4 A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE SYNTHESIS PROBLEM FOR RIGID-BODY GUIDANCE.

For dyads containing any combination of revolute and spherical pairs, this

problem can be formulated in an alternative way, which formally resembles

the plane linkage synthesis problem (5.17) discussed in Appendix 4. Let

XoYOZo be coordinate axes attached to the rigid body intended to guide, in

its reference configuration, and X.Y.Z. those attached to it in its jth

J J J -
configuration. Furthermore, let S12 and S23 be spherical pairs connecting the

dyad to synthesize to the frame of the mechanism (linkage 1) and to the

rigid body (linkage 3). Then, from Fig 5.4.1, the next relationship

follows

r.+a.+b.=a
~J ~J ~J
+b
~o ~o
(5.4.1)

a.=Q.ao (5.4.2)
~J ~J ~

Q. being the rotation matrix of the screw carrying the rigid body from its
~J

.
re f erence to ~ts .th
J - con f·~gurat~on.
.

Y.
J

Fig 5.4.1 S-S dyad conducting a rigid body

 271

Introducing eq. (5.4.2) into eq. (5.4.1) and solving for Qj one obtains
b.=(I-Q.)ao+bO-r. (5.4.3)
~J ~ ~J ~ ~ ~J

Since the dyad is rigid,

(5.4.4)

Substituting eq. (5.4.3) into eq. (5.4.4) and squaring both sides of the

resulting equation yields

(5.4.5)

which constitute, in general, a nonlinear system of n synthesis equations

to solve for the unknowns eO and ~O. Since these unknowns contain 6 scalar

components, for exact synthesis the largest value that n can attain is 6,

and hence, with an S-S dyad, a rigid body can be conducted through 7 config-

urations, counting the reference configuration as the seventh one.

Exercise 5.4.1 If it is intended to conduct the rigid body through 4 config-

urations only, then 3 unknowns must be specified to render the problem

determined. These specified unknowns can be any combination of the six

involved coordinates. Show that, if the three components of ~O are specified,

the system of equations becomes linear.

Regarding the four-configuration synthesis problem discussed in Exercise

5.4.1, if ~O happens to be specified in such a way that for the kth config-

urations the next holds.

(5.4.6)

then the kth synthesis equation becomes an identity, thus leading to an

underdetermined system of equations, which can be rendered determined by

either specifying one fifth configuration or by specifying one of the

components of ~o. An alternative way of handling this situation, amply

discussed in Ch. 6, is to leave the system of equations undertermined but

imposing some optimality condition like, for instance, to minimize I I~ol I,

272

thus enabling the designer to obtain the minimum-length dyad.

From the above discussion it is apparent that it is highly desirable to be

able to specify ~O so as to satisfy eq. (5.4.6). However, it is not possible

to solve for ~O from this equation, for the matrix involved is singular, as

discussed in Section 2.6. In that section it was also mentioned that in a

system of equations like the one "defining" ~O in eq. (5.4.6), two of the

three equations are linearly dependent. Hence, this system is underdetermined

and, properly speaking, does not actually define ~O. This vector can, however,

be defined by imposing the condition that its magnitude be a minimum, which

can be done via the pseudoinverse matrix of the system of 2 (linearly

independent) equations in three unknowns obtained from eq. (5.4.6).

Exercise 5.4.2 Show that if r k is parallel to the axis of the screw carrying

the rigid body from its reference configuration to its kth configuration, then

it is not possible to find a vector a o satisfying eq. (5.4.6).

If vector ~k is not on the null space of !-9k (Sect. 1.3), i.e., if it is not

parallel to the axis of rotation of ~k' then a minimum-norm vector ~o can be

obtained from the underdetermined system of the two linearly independent

equations contained in eq. (5.4.6). This is a very useful result, because,

as the length of vector ~o is made the shortest possible, the weight and

the dimensions of the linkage are minimized, thus allowing to construct a

linkage with the smallest amount of material, driving it with the least

possible amount of power and placing it in the narrowest space. More on

linkage optimization will be discussed in Ch. 6

Synthesis of R-S dyads. In this case a configuration analogous to the one

shown in Fig 5.4.1 is obtained, except that pair S12 is replaced by pair

R12 • Similarly, for n+1 rigid-body configurations, the same synthesis

equations (5.4.5) follow. Since this dyad can only rotate abount the axis
 273

of R12 , suitable constraints must be introduced in order to insure the

normality between vectors -

b. U=O, 1, ••. ,n)
] -
and the unit vector c:' directed

along the axis of R 12 • This normality condition is equivalent to the coplanarity

condition among all vectors Qj . Algebraically, the latter condition can be

stated as

(5.4.7)

thus obtaining n-1 additional synthesis equations. The number of synthesis

parameters (unknowns) in this case is again six, i.e. the three scalar

components of vectors ~O and ~O' Hence, in order to match the number of

equations to that of unknowns, one must have

2n-1=6

Le.
7
n~
2

which, unfortunately is not an integer.

From the foregoing discussion it follows that some parameters should be

specified beforehand. If m parameters are specified, then n must have the

value

n----
7-m
2

Thus, letting N=n+1 be the number of prescribed rigid body configurations,

the following table is obtained

III N

3 3

5 2

It is pointed out, again, that if three parameters are specified, these

can be chosen to be the three components of ~O satisfying the two linearly

independent equations of (5.4.6), for one k, such that the magnitude of

274

~o is a minimum. If no constraint equations (5.4.7) were to be present in

this case, this would allow one to prescribe one fourth configuration of the

rigid body under guidance. The presence of the said equations, however, does

not prevent the introduction of such an extra configuration, for, from

equations (5.4.3) and (5.4.6), ~k=~O' for that k for which (5.4.6) holds,

the kth equation of (5.4.7) thereby being identically satisfied. In conclusion,

the R-S dyad can be synthesised for a maximum of 4 prescribed configurations

of a rigid body in such a way that I I~ol I is minimised, therefore allowing

for a minimum-weight synthesis. The latter result could also be concluded

from the discussions of the same problem appearing in (5.11) and (5.21),

where the authors show that the said rigid-body guidance problem leads to an

underdetermined system of equations. The synthesis of S-R dyads is essentially

the same as that of R-S dyads

Synthesis of R-R dyads. Again the picture shown in Fig 5.4.1 relating the

reference-and the jth configurations for an S-S dyad, still holds for R-R

dyads, except that pairs S12 and S23 are replaced by R12 and R23 , respectively,

as shown in Fig 5.4.2. In addition to the synthesis equations (5.4.5),

constraint equations for these pairs should be introduced. In fact, if both

revolute pairs are connected by means of a link of axis parallel to the common

perpendicular to the axis of both revolute pairs, this perpendicularity should

be observed throughout the different specified configurations.

The perpendicularity of the axis of the link with the axis of R12 can be stated

as

U Tb .=0, J=
. 0 , 1 , ••• ,n (5.4.8)
- -J
 275

Fig 5.4.2 Rigid-body guidance by means of an R-R dyad

Additionally, the perpendicularity of the said link axis with the axis of

R23 can be stated as

vTb.=O,j=O", ..• ,n
- -J
or, introducing eg. (5.4.3), and the fact that

y.=Q.vo,j=O", ... ,n
J -J-
the latter perpendicularity condition appears as

~~gT((!_g )~O+~O-~j)=O,j=o", ... tn (5.4.9)

where

From Fig 5.4.2, it is clear that vectors ~ and v belong to the same rigid
276

body, namely the R-R link to be synthesised.

Equations (5.4.8) and (5.4.9), however, do not guarantee that these vectors

undergo a rigid body motion from the reference to the jth configuration, In

fact, a 180-degree rotation of vector v, about the link axis (vector b,)
-] -]

-thus producing a reflexion of the link- could not be detected from eq.

(5.4.9), for this would still hold after such a reflection. Hence, an a~di-

tional constraint should be imposed, namely the constancy of the angle

between vectors ~ and y, i.e.

(5.4.10)

Finally, the normality of vectors ~ and YO leads to

11~11=1,1 h~oll=1 (5.4.11)

Summarizing, eqs. (5.4.5), (5.4.8-11) constitute a system of 4n+4 equations

to compute the 12 unknown components of vectors ~O'~O'~ and YO. To match the

number of equations to that of unknowns, one must have

4n+4=12,i.e. n=2

Hence, by means of an R-R dyad, a rigid body can be guided throuqh 3 confi-

gurations (counting the reference as the third configuration), a result which

was mentioned in Section 5.3. As in the two foregoing cases, it is possible

to realize an optimal synthesis of this linkage. In fact, instead of ob-

taining the unknown vectors from the 12 derived equations, find ~O from eq.

(5.4.6) such that its magnitude be a minimum. Hence, the number of unknowns

reduces to nine, but the number of equations to satisfy is nine, too, thus

making it possible to obtain one or several exact solutions to the problem.

In fact, find ~O from eq. (5.4.6) for ~j=~2; then the system of equations

is: eq. (5.4.5) for j=1; additional equations are eq. (5.4.9a)- next derived-
 277

for j=0,1, eq. (5.4.10) for j=1,2 and the two eqs. (5.4.11). Eqs. (5.4.5)

(5.4.8) and (5.4.9a) are identically satisfied for j=2 if ~O is obtained

from eq. (5.4.6). Eq. (5.4.9a) is an alternate form of the perpendicularity

condition between b. and v. -eq. (5.4.9)-, which can be stated as the per-
-J -J
pendicularity between ~j and YO' Le.

V:(I-Q.)ao+bO-r.)=O,j=O,1, ••• ,n (5.4.9a)

-J - -J - - -J
Exercise 5.4.3 Show that, if ~O is chosen so as to satisfy eq. (5.4.6),

with r.=r 2 , then eqs. (5.4.5), (5.4.8) and (5.4.9a) are identically
-J -
satisfied for j=2.

Using the latter approach to the synthesis problem under study would yield

two of the specified configurations of the body corresponding to two

conjugate configurations of the linkage, as can be readily proved. Regarding

this approach, a word of caution is in order, however: As is proposed to

show in Exercise 5.4.2, it is possible that situations arise where it is

not possible to find ~O from eq. (5.4.6)

Example 5.4.1 Synthesis an R-R dyad to conduct a rigid body -to which axes

X.Y.Z. (i=0,1,2) are attached- tbrought the three positions shown in Fig
~ ~ ~

5.4.3

I
I
X1

,
I
Z1 I

~X2
Fig 5.4.3 Rigid-body guidance throught three configurations.
278

Solution:

In what follows all vectors and matrices are referred to X.Y.Z. axes.
~ ~ ~

Matrices g1 and g2 rotating axes from the reference configuration 0 to

configurations 1 and 2 are obtained using Definition 1.2.1, as is shown in

Section 2.3. Hence,

o o o o
-1 o o (5.4.12)

o o o

Then ~O is determined from the following equation, so that its lenght is a

minimum

As shown in Section 2.6, ~-92 is singular of rank 2; hence eq. (5.4.13)

contains exactly 2 linearly independent equations, these being

whose minimum norm solution is readily obtained via the Moore-Penrose

pseudo-inverse (See Section 1.12). The computed solution is

Let the unknown vectors ~O'~ and ~O have the following components:

b 01 u1 vOl

b = b 02 , u= u 2 , v = v 02 (5.4.16)
-0 -0

b 03 u3 v03
 279

Eq. (5.4.5) for j=1 takes on the form

5
9 (5.4.17a)

Vectors ~1 and ~2 are computed from eq. (5.4.3), from which it can readily

be checked that ~2=~O' thereby satisfying eq. (5.4.5) for j=2 identically.

Eq. (5.4.8) for j=O,1 then, takes on the forms

(5.4.17b)

(5.4.17c)

Eq. (5.4.9a), for j=O,1 leads to

(5.4.17d)

(5.4.17e)

Eq. (5.4.10), for j=1,2 yields

(5.4.17f)

(5.4.17g)

where v. was computed performing the product Q.v O • Finally, eqs. (5.4.11)
-J -J-
take on the form

(5.4.17h)

(5.4.17i)

The solutions to eqs. (5.4.17) provide the different possible dyads that guide

the rigid body through the different configurations shown in Fig 5.4.2. This

system of nine equations in nine unknowns, though nonlinear,

can be solved without the aid of a digital computer, as is shown next. To

280

refer to the foregoing equations, only the letter attached to each is mentioned,

for shortness.

Subtracting (b) from (c),

(a' )

Subtracting (f) from (g),

(b' )

Substituting (a') into (b'),

(c' )

First solution:

To satisfy eq. (c') there are two possibilities. One is

(d' )

(d') in (a') leads to

u 2 =O (e' )

(d') and (c') in h yields

U =+ 1
1 -
(f' )

In what follows, this solution is developed taking only the plus sign of eq.

(f'). Substitution of (f') into (f) yields

(g' )

Subtracting (d) from (e),

(h' )

Solving for v 01 and v 02 in (g') and (h'), in terms of v03 and substituting

the resulting expressions into (i), one obtains

2
6v 03 =1
 281

from which

(i' )

and

(j' )

(k' )

Substituting (d'), (e') and (f') into eq. (b) leads to

(1' )

Substituting (i'), (j') and (k') into eq. (d) leads to

(m' )

Solving for b 02 and b 03 from eqs. (a) and (m'),

(n')

(p' )

Hence, the first solution to this problem is

16/6

b = -:/6 ]. u= 0 '':.0= 16"/3 (5.4.18)

-0 -
1/3 0 16/6

Second solution:

If now u 3 is assumed to have a nonzero value, it is possible to divide eq.

(e') by it and obtain

(a")
282

From (h') and (a") it is possible to solve for VOl and v03 in terms of v 02 '

v 01 =-3v 02 (b")

1 (c")
Vo 32"'0 2
Substitution of (b") and (c") into (i) yields

(d")

Hence
6141
v 01 =--"4T (e" )

141
v03= -:IT (f")

Substituting (d"), (e") and (f") into eqs. (f) and (g) leads to

(g")

(h")

from which one can solve for u 1 and u 2 in terms of u 3 ' thus obtaining

(i")

(j" )

Substitution of (i") and (j"l into eq. (h) leads to

(k" )

Hence,

151470
(1" )
u1 470

141470
u2 = 470 (m")

Substituting (k"), (1") and (m") into eq. (b) one obtains

(n")
 283

Performing a similar substitution into eq. (d), one obtains

(p" )

Solving eqs. (n") and (p") for b Ol and b 02 in terms of b 03 '

b 01 =0 (q" )

1
b 02 - 2 b 03 (r")

Substitution of (r") into eq. (a) leads finally to

(s")

(t")

Thus, the second solution is

b =
-0
:/18], U= 15 a,yO= (5.4.19)

5/9 J 14

where

Both dyads defined by ~O as given by (5.4.13) and both expressions for PO'

(5.4.16) and (5.4.17),are optimal in the sense that ~O is of minimum length.

However, with respect to ~o' the first solution is the best.

In conclusion, regarding R-R dyad synthesis, it has been shown how to obtain

an optimal dyad for a problem usually known to have only two real solutions,

thus not allowing for any optimisation.

284

5.5 LINKAGE SYNTHESIS FOR PATH GENE~TION. This ~roblem can be stated as:

"Synthesise a linkage of a given topology such that a point ~ of one of its

links attains successively the specified positions RO' R 1 .•• ,Rn ". This

problem can be regarded as one of rigid-body guidance with incompletely

specified displacements (5.22), for the motion of one single point of a

rigid body does not define the body motion (its orientation thus remains

undefined). To formulate the synthesis equations, use is made of eq. (5.3.12),

written in the form

r .=rO+w. f+u .Q2 .m+ (Q3' -I) (r o- q ) + (Q2 . -I) (q-g) ,j=1 ,2, ... ,n (5.5.1)
-J - J- J- J- - J - - - - J - --

where rO,r. (j=1, ... ,n) are the position vectors of points RO,R.(j=1, ... ,n),
- -J J
respectively. Other variables indexed with j are parameters of the involved

screws -defined in Section 5.3- relating the jth configuration of the rigid

body under study to its reference configuration, indexed with O. Notice

that vectors ~,~,~ and g are not indexed, this being due to the fact that

they remain the same throughout the rigid-body motion, except when dealing

with spherical pairs, as is shown later.

Differently from what occurs with the rigid-body guidance problem, in this

case the dyads, constituting the linkage intended to design, are not

synthesised separately; the linkage is synthesised as a whele, instead. In

fact, since in this case the rigid-body rotations involved are not specified,

the composed-screw-axis directions, S., as well as the corresponding rota-

-J
tions, e., are unknown. These are not independent, once the directions of
J
the screw-axes f and ~ are specified, for then e. can be obtained from eq.
J
(5.3.9), in terms of s., f and ~. Hence, only the n s. vectors remain as
-J - - -J
independent unknowns. These vectors, however, remain the same, no matter

what dyad is being synthesised, i.e. although in general the variables

 285

w"f,u"m,q, and g change from one dyad to the other, the s, vectors are
J - J - - -J
common. The synthesis procedure is illustr~ted with one example.

~xample 5.5.1 Synthesis of an RRSS path generator linkage.

With no loss of generality, it can be assumed that ~O=Q in eqs. (5.5.1).

Then, the R-R dyad synthesis is first formulated, although, as mentioned

previously, this synthesis cannot be performed independently from the one

of the S-S dyad. This is due to the fact that the synthesis equations for

both dyads are coupled via the s, vectors. In performing the R-R dyad
-J
synthesis, the different variables have the following meanings (See Fig

5.3.1 and its description): u, and w, are the displacements associated with
J J
the fixed and the moving R pairs of the dyad, respectively. Hence, they

vanish.

f and m are unit vectors pointing in the direction of the axes of the fixed

and the moving R pairs of the dyad. s, is the unit vector pointing in the
-J
direction of the axis of the screw carrying the body from its reference- to
,
ltS ,th f' ,
J-- con 19uratlon.

g and q are position vectors of points located along the axes of the screws

F, and M" respectively. As in Section 5.3, those points will be located at

-J -J
the intersections of the said axes with their common normal.

Under these cirucumstances, eqs. (5.5.1) take on the form

r ,=- (Q3 ,-1)q+ (Q2 ,-I) (q-g)=r, (f,m,s, ,q,g) (5.5.2)

-J - J - - - J - - - -J - - -J - -

where, clearly

()2'=()2' (f,y,),y,=y, (f,m,s,)

~ J ~ J - J J J - - -J

Q3 ,=Q3 ' (s , , 8 ,) ,8 ,=8 , (f ,m, s ,)

- J - J -J J J J - - -J

The normality of vectors ~, ~ and ~j(j=1,2, .•. ,n) is expressed as

Ilfll=l, 11~11=1, II~jll=l, j=l, ••• ,n (5.5.3)

286

whereas the specific locations of points G and Q along the screw axes are

expressed as
T T
(q-g) f=O, (q-g) m=O (5.5.4)

Thus, the synthesis of this dyad leads to a system of 3n+12 unknowns:

%, ~, ~j (3n unknown scalars), q and g, in the 4n+4 equations: 3n equations

(5.5.2) (one for each direction of the physical space)+ n+2 equations

(5.5.3) + 2 equations (5.5.4).

The synthesis of the S-S dyad is formulated in the following way: Referring

to Fig 5.5.1, let S12 and S23 be the spherical pairs of the dyad under

cons~' d '
erat~on. Let BO an d B j b e t h e re f erence- an d t h e J--
.th con f'~gurat~ons
.

of body B, and B' an intermediate configuration. Now, the guidance of B from

j
BO through B j is performed in two stages: first, BO is rotated about point

Q through a rotation of axis m. and angle a. (it will be seen next that
- J J
neither m. nor a. appear explicitly in the resulting synthesis equations for
- J J
this dyad). Let B~ be the configuration of B after this rotation. Next,
J
fixing B. to the dyad, rotate the whole assembly as one single rigid body
J
about point G through an axis f. and an angle Y., B. being the final
-J J J
configuration of the rigid body.

Since in this case also u.=w.=O, and ~O can be equated to 0, eq. (5.5.1)
-J J
takes on the form

r.=- (Q3.-I)q+(Q2.-I) (q-g)=r. (f.,m.,s.,q,g) (5.5.5)

-J - J - - - J - - - -J -J -J -) - -
where

Q2 . =Q 2 . (f . , Y . ) , y . =y . (f . , m. , s . )
- J - J -J J J J -J -J -J
Q3 . =Q 3 . (s . ,8 . ) , e .=8 . (f . , m . , s . )
- J - ) -J J J J -J -J -J
 287

y.
J

Fig 5.5.1 Displacement of a rigid by means of an S-S dyad

Clearly, vectors f. and m. are different from f and m appearing in eqs.

-] -]

(5.5.2)-(5.5.4), which is made clear because the latter vectors are not

indexed. Vectors s., appearing in eqs. (5.5.2)-(5.5.3), however, are ident~

-]

cal to those appearing in eqs. (5.5.5); hence they do not add extra unknowns

to the synthesis problem of the overall linkage.

Other synthesis equations are the following:

The normality of vectors f. and m. is expressed as

-] -]

11£.11=1,
-]
Ilm.II=1,
-]
j=1,2, ... ,n (5.5.6)

Since the S-S dyad can rotate about axis GQ without changing either

configuration B' or B., i t can be assumed that the axes of rotation, given by
j ]
unit vectors fj and ~j' are both perpendicular to axis GQ, i.e.
288

T
(q-g) f.=O, j=1,2, .•. ,n (5.5.7)
- - -J
T
(q-g) m.=O, j=1,2, •.• ,n (5.5.8)
- - -J
Thus, the synthesis of the S-S dyad adds the following unknowns to the

overall linkage synthesis problem: f., m. (j=l, .•• ,n), q and g, i.e. 6n+6
-J -J --
additional unknowns (Vectors s. are not counted as new unknowns, since these
-J
were already taken into account when discussing the synthesis of the R-R

dyad). The additional equations are: 3n equations (5.5.5) + 2n equations

(5.5.6) +n equations (5.5.7)+n equations (5.5.8). Summarizing, then, the

RRSS-linkage-synthesis problem for path generation gives rise to system of

11n+4 equations in 9n+18 unknowns. Matching the number of equations to that

of unknowns, it is soon realized that n should have the value 7, i.e. it

is possible to generate a path passing through 8 specified points (counting

the reference- as the ~ position), which coincides with the result

obtained by Suh (5.23).

Remarks on the formulation of the RRSS linkage synthesis problem for path

generation.

i) In the previous linkage-synthesis problem angles y and e appear in eq.

(5.5.1) and angles y. and e. do in eq. (5.5.2). These angles, however,

J J
are not counted as additional unknowns, since they can be computed,

via eqs. (5.5.4) and (5.5.9), with the values of !, ~ (or !j and ~j)

and s .•
-J

ii) The problem, as just stated for 8-point synthesis, leads to a system

of 81 equations in 81 unknowns which, because of being nonlinear, is

diffecult to handle numerically. Suh's formulation (5.23) leads to a

system of 39 equations in 39 unknowns, in this instance. Roth and Tsai

 289

(5.11) recommend that, for dyads containing revolute, prismatic,

helical or cylindrical pairs, one point on the pair axis (G or Q of the

previous formulation) be taken as the intersection of the axis with,

say, the X-Y plane, thus diminishing the number of unknowns (one

component of the ~ and of the ~ vectors is thus zero). This way, the

number of equations and of unknowns is reduced to 65 which, anyway, is

about twice that of Suh's. Thus, it might seem more advantageous to use

the latter approach.

Since Suh's formulation is amply discused in (5.23), it is not presented

here. An alternative approach, based on Section 5.4, is presented instead.

An alternative approach to the problem formulation for the RRSS linkage

synthesis problem.-

Referring to Figs 5.4.1 and 5.4.2, the synthesis equations are next written.

To distinguish the position vectors of points A and B, in their reference

configurations, belonging to the R-R dyad, from those belonging to the S-S

dyad, the latter are starred. The synthesis equations for the R-R dyad are

those derived in Section (5.4), i.e.

(5.5.9)

where it is convenient to express Q. as appearing in eq. (2.5.4), i.e.

-J
Q.=-P~COSej+p.sine.+R. (5.5.10)
-J -J -J J-J

T
Calling !j the unit vector parallel to the axis of ~j and (aj,Sj'Y j ) its

components (in the XoYozoaxes), the matrices appearing at the right-hand

290

side of eq. (S.S.10) are, from eq. (2.S.4a),

2
0 -Y j Sj a. 0..13. a j Yj
] ] ]

P.=
-] Yj 0 -a.
]
, R.=
-]
0..13.
] ]
S~] SjY j (S. S. 11)

-13.
]
a.
]
0 a j Yj SjY j Y~ I

Additional equations for the R-R dyad are:

-
U Tb
-]
.=0, ]=
. 1, ••• ,n (S.S.12)

T
-
vob.=O, j=l, ... ,n
-]
(S.S.13)

T T . 1 2 (S. S. 14)
~ !j=~ !O' ]= , , ••• ,n

11~11=1, 11:::0 11 =1 (S. S.1S)

1 Ie. 11=1, j=1,2, ... ,n (S. S.16)

-]

The synthesis equations for the S-S dyad are

(S. S.17)

Summarizing, the problem of an RRSS linkage synthesis for path generation

leads to a system of 6n + 4 equations in 4n + 18 unknowns. The equations

are: n equations (S.S.9)+(n+1) equations (S.S.12)+(n+1) equations (S.S.13)+n

equations (S.S.14)+2 equations (S.S.lS)+n equations (S.S.S16)+n equations

(S.S.17). The unknowns are:

ao,bO,e. (j=1, ••. ,n),8. ,u,vO,a O

* and ~o*.
- - -] J - - -

If the number of equations is to be matched with that of unknowns, it is

readily concluded that the linkage thus synthesised can trace a spatial

path passing through 8 prescribed points, which result coincides with that

of Suh's Via the latter approach, however, the number of equations and
 291

unknowns (for 8-point synthesis) is 46, a number still greater than that

of Suh's, yet smaller than that obtained using Roth and Tsai's equations.

5.6. EPILOGUE. The subject of linkage synthesis is far more extense than

has been presented here. Topics that were not covered are, amongst others,

linkage synthesis for rigid-body guidance and for path generation with

infinitesimally-separated positions, i.e. to meet prescribed conditions

on velocities and higher derivatives. The subject is treated in (5.9),

(5.10) and (5.11) , but was not included here due to space limitations.
292

REFERENCES

5.1 Denavit J. and R.S. Hartenberg, Kinematic Synthesis of Linkages,

McGraw-Hill Book Co., N. York, 1964. p. 346

5.2 Mohan Rao A.V., G.N. Sandor, D. Kohli and A.H. Soni, "Closed form
synthesis of spatial function generating mechanisms for the maximum
number of precision points", Journal of Engineering for Industry,
Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 95, Aug. 1973, pp. 725-736.
5.3 Luck K., "Computersynthese des viergliedrigen raumlichen
Koppelgetriebes vom Typ RSSR", Mechanism and Machine Theory, vol. 11,
1976, pp. 213-225
.. 0
5.4 Bjorck A. and G. Dahlquist, Numerical Methods, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, 1974, pp. 131-136.

5.5 Suh C.H. and C.W. Radcliffe, "Synthesis of spherical linkages with
use of the displacement matrix", Journal of Engineering for Industry,
Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 89, 1967, pp. 215-222

5.6 Suh C.H., "Design of space mechanisms for function generation",

Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 90,
1968, pp. 507-512

5.7 Roth B., "The kinematics of motion through finitely separated

positions", Journal of Applied Mechanics, Trans, ASME, Series E, vol.
89, 1967, pp. 591-598

5.8 Roth B., "Finite position theory applied to mechanism synthesis",

Journal of Applied Mechanics, Trans. ASME, Series E, vol. 89, 1967,
pp. 599-605

5.9 Chen P. and B. Roth, "A unified theory for the finitely and
infinitesimally separated position problems of kinematic synthesis",
Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 91,
1969, pp. 203-208

5.10 Chen P. and B. Roth, "Design equations for the finitely and
infinitesimally separated position synthesis of binary links and
combined chains", Journal of Enginnering for Industry, Trans. ASME,
Series B, vol. 91, 1969, pp. 209-219

5.11 Tsai L.W. and B. Roth, "Design of dyads with helical, cylindrical,
spherical and prismatic joints", Mechanism and Machine Theory,
vol. 7, 1972, pp. 85-102

5.12 Tsai L.W. and B. Roth, "A note on the design of revolute-revolute
cranks", Mechanism and Machine Theory, vol. 8, 1973, pp. 23-31

5.13 Fox E.A., Mechanics, Harper & Row, N. York, 1967, p. 8

 293

5.14 Bisshopp K.E., "Rodrigues' Formula and the screw matrix", Journal
of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B., vol. 91, 1969,
pp. 179-185.

5.15 Ericksen J.L."Tensor Fields ': in F1ugge S., ed. Handbuch der Physik,
vol. 111/1, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1960, pp. 794-796.

5.16 Suh C.H. and C.W. Radcliffe "Synthesis of plane linkages with use of
the displacement matrix", Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans.
ASME, Series B, vol. 89, 1967, pp. 206-214

5.17 Angeles J., Ana1isis y S1ntesis Cinematicos de Sistemas Mecanicos,

(in Spanish) Editorial Limusa, Mexico City, 1978.

5.19 Roth B., "Finite position theory applied to mechanism synthesis",

Journal of Applied Mechanics, Trans. ASME, Series E, vol. 34, 1967,
pp. 599-605

5.19 Suh C.H., "On the duality in the existence of R-R links for three
positions", Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME,
Series B, vol. 91, 1969, 129-134.

5.20 Bennett G.T., "A new mechanism", Engineering, vol. 76, 1903, pp.
777-778

5.21 Suh C.H., "Design of space mechanisms for rigid-body guidance",

Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME, Series B, vol. 90,
No.3, 1968, pp. 499-506.

5.22 Tsai L.W. and B. Roth, "Incompletely specified displacements:

Geometry and spatial linkage synthesis", ASME paper No. 72-Mech-13.

5.23 Suh C.H. and C.W. Radcliffe, Kinematics and Mechanisms Design,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., N. York, 1978, pp. 201-202.
6. An Introduction to the Optimal Synthesis of Linkages
6.1 INTRODUCTION. The problems of linkage synthesis outlined in Ch. 5 lead

in general to nonlinear systems of algebraic equations. As discussed in

Section 1.13, these systems can admit multiple solutions or none. The said

solutions satisfy all the equations exactly, if roundoff errors are disregarded,

which is done in this case for the numerical accuracy of the solution will be

taken for granted in the current discussion. The resulting solutions, however,

were not evaluated as to the "quality" of the linkage they produced, once

this quality is defined. The quality under consideration could be the overall

size of the linkage Cthis size could be in turn defined as the sum of the

lengths of all the links, for example), its minimum mechanical advantage or

the maximum angular acceleration attained by one of its links.

The several possibilities that could arise, different to those studied in

Ch. 5 are:

i) the number of prescribed conditions exceeds the number of parameters

available, thus producing an overdetermined system of equations which

in general cannot be solved exactly.

ii) the number of prescribed conditions is smaller than that of parameters

available, thus making it possible for the designer to select the best

linkage (in some sense) from a variety of alternatives. In this case,

two possibilities can arise, namely, either the designer has absolute

freedom (unconstrained problem) to choose the best alternative, or else

his alternatives are to lie within a certain allowable set (constrained

problems). Such restrictions arise whenever questions of cost, availability

of space, weight, etc. are considered.

In what follows, more attention will be paid to the question of evaluating

the quality of a linkage by properly defining an objective function to be

optimised. The foregoing problems will be dealt with in this chapter.

 295

6.2 THE OPT~MISAT~ON PROBLEM. The most general optimisation problem can be
stated as {ollows:

"Given a vector space V and a subset n of it, find the vector ~.e:n such that

a (also given) {unctional f defined over V, attains its optimal value at x*"

In the above statement, a funtional is nothing but a mapping of V into the

field over which it is defined, i.e. a scalar.

The problem thus defined has not yet been solved in all its generality, but

solutions have been found to some special cases of it, many of which are

applicable to linkage synthesis problems.

To begin with, the kind of problems that usually arise in the realm of

linkage optimisation are defined over a vector space V of finite dimension,

i.e. the problems that will be handled in this context contain a finite

number of independent variables. Problems containing an infinite (even more,

a non-denumerable) set of unknowns arise in areas such as optimal control

systems ( 6. 1 ) where the vector space V is a Banach space ( 6.2.) I i . e. a

vector space whose elements are continuous functions of one real variable

(time) with some special properties that will not be listed here, for they

will not be needed.

Furthermore, the subset n of the finite-dimensional vector spaces V that

will be dealt with in this chapter, is defined by a set of either equality

or inequality algebraic relations (in the case of Banach spaces, the said

subset is de{ined by differential equations). In addition, the objective

function to optimise is a functional over V, i.e. a scalar algebraic function

(as opposed to integral functional in the case of Banach spaces) of the n

independent variables corresponding to the dimension of V. Hence, the opti-

misation problem arising in linkage synthesis can be stated in the general

form: .
296

ol?timise f=f(!9

(6,2,1)
subject to
--
g()C)=O

and

where x is an n-dimensional vector of space V, f is a vector-valued scalar

function, g is an m-dimensional (m<n) vector-valued vector function and ~,

a p-dimensional vector-valued vector function.

Remark: Vector spaces are non-ordered sets (6,3) , hence no inequality

relation can be associated to them. Therefore, the inequality appearing in

(6.2.1) should be understood as a compact symbol to mean

--
h. (x) >0
~
i=1, ••. ,p (6.2.2)
h i b· h .th
e~ng t e : j . - component of vector h. A similar symbology is used to

express positive definite and positive semidefinite square matrices. Thus,

~ > Q and ~ ~Q designate positive definite and positive semidefinite matrices,

respectively.

The modern approach to the linkage optimisation problem places it within the

frame of mathematical programming, as discussed in (6.4) . In the abstract

of this paper the author states: " ••• the synthesis of mechanisms thus ceases

to be a narrow and isolated field but becomes part of a broad sphere of

science encompassing areas obviously very distant such as economy, military

science, automation, cybernetics and others".

The foregoing approach will be followed in this chapter. In the first place

the overdetermined linkage synthesis problems will be presented and solved.

6.3 OVERDETERMINED PROBLEMS OF LINKAGE SYNTHESIS. It was shown in Section

5.2 that the synthesis of the RSSR linkage for function generation leads to

a system of up to eight linear equations in eight unknowns, thus making it

 297

possible to satisfy up to eight conditions of the type ¢i~ ~i) between

the input and the output angles, W.

~
and¢., respectively*. In Section 5.3
~

it was shown that a rigid body can be guided through up to three successive

configurations by means of an R-R dyad and reference was made to results

appearing in the literature (5.11,12,17-19) showing that the said three-

position-rigid-body guidance problem, when solvable, has two real solutions,

which constitute a Bennett (RRRR-single-degree-of-freedom-spatial) linkage.

The resulting synthesis equations were shown to be twelve nonlinear equations

in twelve unknowns. Further on, in Section 5.5 it was shown that, by means of

an RRSS linkage, a spatial path can be traced that passes through up to eight

points in space, the resulting equations being 39 (according to Suh (5.22) )

nonlinear equations in 39 unknowns.

There can arise technical problems, however, that require to synthesise

either; i) an RSSR linkage that satisfies a discrete input-output function

over more than eight points, or ii) an RR dyad that carries a rigid body

through more than three configurations, or iii) an RRSS linkage that traces

a spatial path passing through more than eight points. In all these cases

the number of resulting synthesis equations will exceed that of available

linkage parameters (unknowns), thus leading to an overdetermined problem.

This problem could involve a system of linear equations, as in case i) above,

or a system of nonlinear ones, as in the remaining two previously discussed

cases.

* It was also mentioned in that Section that, as Mohan Rao et al.

(5. 4) claim, it is possible to extend this synthesis problem to
10 precision points if scale factors between the synthesised function
and input and output angles are not specified; but this possibility will
not be discussed here because the synthesised function is assumed to be
defined only at a discrete set of points.
298

The overdetermined arising problem does not have a solution in the "usual"

sense, i.e. in the sense of satisfying the equations exactly. ~s was dis-

cussed in Section 1.11 for linear systems and in Section 1.13 for nonlinear

ones, a solution vector ~O is sought that yields the minimum error (in the

approximation to the said equations), in this instance. The most common way

of measuring such error is through the Euclidean norm of the vector whose

components are the involved equations, i.e. if this error is denoted by e

and the System of equations is ~(~)=O (~-~=Q in the linear case), then

(6.3.la)

or

(6.3.1b)

depending upon whether the system of equations is nonlinear or linear. The

arising optimisation problem can be stated as

T
"Minimize ~ ~ over ~" (6.3.2)

If the system of equations is linear, f should be replaced by Ax-b in

(6.3.2), of course.

Notice that problem (6.3.2) is a particular case of problem (6.2.1), in

which no constraints are present, i.e. this is a so-called "unconstrained

optimisation problem"; furthermore, due to its particular quadratic nature,

it is referred to specifically as a least-square problem. The optimum ~O is

found, as outlined in section 1.12 for the linear case, by triangularisation

of matrix A via Householder reflections and "back substitution", both of

which are implemented in subroutines HECOMP and HOLVE appearing in Figs.

1.12.4 and 1.12.5. The nonlinear case, as discussed in Section 1.13, is

solved iteratively by the Newton-Raphson method, which requires the computa-

tion of the optimal correction at each stage, via the solution of a linear

least-square problem, which is done, as already mentioned, by means of

 299

subroutines HECOMr and HOLVE. SUBROUTINE NRDAMC, whose listing appears in

Fig. 1.13.2, combipes HECOMP and HOLVE to solye the nonlinear least-square

problem {6.3.21.

The least-square problem arising in linkage syntheses has been already dealt

with in the litterature. Suh and Mecklenburg (6.S} solved such problem by

application of Powell's method. The said method is one of the so-called

"direct search methods" and specifically it performs uni-directional searches,

i.e. it optimises the objective function once at each iteration, keeping

fixed all the variables but one, at each time. More on direct search methods

will be discussed in Section 6.5.

The linear least-square solution via Hous.eholder reflections is next illus-

trated with an example taken from (6.5) for comparisson purposes.

Example 6.3.1. Synthesise an RSSR linkage so that its input ~ and its output

~ be related according to Table 6.3.1. Referring to the nomenclature of

Fig 5.2.1, assume

Solution:

Use is made of eq. (5.2.18) and definitions (5.2.19), thus obtaining a system

of 19 linear equations in the six unknowns k 1 ,k 2 , ••• ,k 6 , of the form

~=b (6.3.3)

where A is a 19x6 matrix, x is a 6-dimensional vector whose i th component is

k. and b is a 19-dimensional vector whose i th component is

~
c~.c~.+ca4s~.s~ .•
~ ~ ~ ~

Both matrix A and vector ~ appear in Table 6.3.2.

Subroutines HECOMP and HOLVE were used to obtain the least-square solution

~O' i.e. the six values k 1 , ••• ,k6 that approximate the 19 equations (6.3.3)

with the minimum error, in the sense of the Euclidean norm. The optimal

resulting values and the corresponding linkage parameters appear in Table

6.3.3
300

The error obtained with Powell's method, reported in (6.5) , as well as that

obtained with Householder reflections, are shown in Table 6.3.4. The overall

error, for comparisson purposes, is taken as

1 2
e = / -E ((p'~-<p~*)
n 1. 1.

where <Pi and <Pi* are the generated and the specified values of the output

variable, respectively, corresponding to the value Wi of the input variable.

The nonlinear case solution is illustrated with the following example.

Example 6.3.2 Synthesis of a plane RRRR linkage for rigid-body guidance

through 17 specified configurations.

The specified configurations are shown in Table 6.3.5. The synthesis equations

are those derived in Appendix 4, namely, eqs. (A.4.6) which are next rewritten

as

fj=11 U-ei6j)ao+bo-rjI12-llboI12=o,j=1, •.• ,16 (6.3.4)

with i:::f.:"1

The objetive function is, then

T 16 2
<p{ao,bo)=f f=E f
1 j

Minimizing <p, as given by eq. (6.3.S) is, then, a nonlinear least-square

problem, already discussed in case ii) of section 1.13. Thus, it can be

solved using SUBROUTINE NRDAMC. The 17 specified configurations are shown

in Table 6.3.5.

A program was written to obtain the least-square solution to the problem,

which turned out to have two different solutions, one for each side of the

linkage, thus enabling the designer to construct the whole linkage. The two

solutions are shown in Table 6.3.6

 TABLE 6.3.1

THESE ARE THE SPECIFIED POINTS

PSI (DEGREES) PHI (DEGREES) PSI (DEGREES) PHI (DEGREES)

1 O. O. 11 -. ~50000000E t02 • ~r7200000Et02

2 -.50000000Et01 .24000000Et01 1.2 -.55000000Et02 .42:500000Et02
3 -.10000000Et02 .51. OOOOOOE to:L 13 -.60000000Et02 .47500000Et02
4 -.15000000Et02 .82000000EtOl. 1.4 -.65000000Et02 .53000000Et02
5 -.20000000Et02 .l.1500000Et02 15 -.70000000Et02 .58700000Et02
6 -.25000000Et02 • 15200000Et02 16 -."75000000Et02 .64600000Et02
7 -.30000000Et02 • 19100000E+02 17 -.80000000Et02 .70900000Et02
8 -.35000000Et02 • 23300000Et02 18 -.85000000Et02 .78000000Et02
9 -.40000000Et02 .27700000Et02 19 -.90000000Et02 .90000000Et02
10 -.45000000Et02 .32300000Et02

"fABLE 6.:3.2

MATRIX A VECTOR II

1.000000 0.000000 -1.000000 0.000000 O.O()OO()O 1.000000 1.000000

0.999123 0.041876 -0.996195 -0.08"7156 0.041."716 1.000000 0.995321
0.996041 0.088894 -0.984808 -0.173648 0.087~544 1.000000 0.980909
0.989776 0.142629 -0.9659~~6 -0.258819 0.1:3T769 1.000000 0.956050
0.979925 0.199368 -0.939693 -0.342020 0.187345 1.000000 0.920828
0.965016 0.262189 -0.906308 -0.422618 0.2:57624 1.000000 0.874602
0.944949 0.327218 -0.866025 -0.500000 0.283379 1.• 000000 0.8l.8350
0.918446 0.395546 -0.819152 -0.573576 0.324012 1.000000 0."752347
0.885394 0.464842 -0.766044 -0.642788 0.356090 1.000000 0.678251
0.845262 0.534352 -0.70"7107 -0.7071.07 0.3"7"7844 1.000000 0.597690
0.796530 0.604599 -0.64~~788 -0.766044 0.388629 l..OOOOOO 0.512000
0.739631 0.673013 -0.573576 -0.819152 0.386024 1.000000 0.424235
0.675590 0.737277 -0.500000 -0.866025 0.3686:i9 l..OOOOOO 0.337795
0.601815 0.798636 -0.422618 -0.906~i08 O.33na8 1.000000 0.254338
0.519519 0.854459 -0.342020 -0.939693 0.292242 1.000000 0.1"77686
0.428935 0.903335 -0.258819 -0.965926 0.233800 1.000000 0.111017
0.327218 0.944949 -0.173648 -0.984808 0.164089 1.000000 0.056821
0.207912 0.978148 -0.0871~)6 -0. 996l. 9~j 0.085251 l..OOOOOO 0.Ol.8121
-0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 -1.• 000000 -0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
~
302

TAB.LE 6.3.3.

LINKAGE PARAMETERS TEHESE ARE PARAMETERS K

a1 ;: 0.91126871 k1 0.081873
a2 2.62059792 k2 -3.489375
a3 0.80357731 k3 1.176454
a4 1.00000000 k4 -1.395556
51 -1.18624029 k5 0.386427
54 -2.41755601 k6 2.093812
~O 21.12786811°

TABLE 6.3.4.

POINT NO. APPROXIMATION ERROR APPROXIMATION ERROR

USING POWELL'S METHOD USING HOUSEHOLDER'S
(DEGREES) METHOD (DEGREES)

0.0000 0.0142
2 -0.0012 0.0010
3 -0.0306 -0.0351
4 0.0233 0.0159
5 -0.0268 -0.0345
6 0.0326 0.0260
7 0.0160 0.0108
8 0.0383 0.0344
9 0.0152 0.0120
10 -0.0379 -0.0411
11 -0.0064 -0.0096
12 0.0227 0.0193
13 -0.0422 -0.0450
14 -0.0002 -0.0015
15 0.0355 0.0343
16 0.0106 0.0132
17 -0.0002 0.0014
18 -0.0125 -0.0197
19 0.0298 0.0041

ROOT MEAN SQUARE ERROR

USING POWELL'S METHOD USING HOUSEHOLDER'S METHOD

(DEGREESI (DEGREES)
0.0018 0.0018
 303

TABLE 6.3.5 Specified configu~ations for rigid-body guidance

THESE ARE THE SPECIFIED CONFIGURATIONS

X(CM) Y(CM) THETA

(DEGREES)

0 7.880 -0.260 313.720

1 8.490 -7.290 332.330
2 7.680 2.820 349.930
3 6.300 4.210 353.180
4 4.580 4.950 359.870
5 2.740 5.010 355.840
6 1.010 4.410 356.300
7 0.259 3.880 3.900
8 -0.400 -3.090 3.670
9 0.250 -3.760 3.690
10 1.000 -4.290 4.150
11 2.730 -4.890 5.120
12 4.560 -4.830 6.810
13 6.280 -4.090 10.000
14 7.660 -2.700 13.000
15 8.440 -0.610 18.000
16 7.790 -2.690 46.270

TABLE 6.3.6 Solutions to overdetermined rigid-body guidance problem of

linkage synthesis

First solution Second solution

AO (5.124,2.255) ~0(1.444,~6.705)

BO (0.549,-0.703) BO (6.371,-9.315)

Thus, the linkage is composed of one fixed link with input and output links

hinged to it at each of both points B shown in Table 6.3.6. The coupler link

is hinged to the input and output links at each of both points AO also shown

in that table.
304

Since the problem is overdetermined, the solutions obtained do not zero each

of the 16 functions f. shown in (6.3.4). They minimize the quadratic norm

)

(6.3.S), instead. Since each fj is in turn quadratic in a O and b O' ~ is

quartic in these complex numbers. Thus, ~ has units of lenght raised to the

fourth power. In order to obtain a dimensionless measure of the error in the

approximation, this is computed as

16
e ---E (6.3.6)

This way, the error of the first solution resulted to be 38.74%, whereas

that of the second one, 60.77%. More examples considering different numbers

of specified configurations appear in (6.6).

An overdetermined problem of the RR spatial dyad for rigid-body guidance

is presented in the next example.

Example 6.3.3. Synthesis of the RR spatial dyad for rigid-body guidance.

In this case, one fourth position of points A, Band C is added to those

three already specified in Example S.3.1. All four positions are the

following:

AO(O, 0, 1) BO(O. 1 , 0) CO (l, 0, 0)

A1 (0, 1 , 1 ) B1 (-1, 1 , 0) C1 (0, 0, 0)

A2 (-1, 1 , 1 ) B2 (-1, 2, 0) C2 (-2, 1 , 0)

A3 (0, 1 , 0) B3 (1, 0, 0) C3 (0, 9, 1 )

The synthesis equations are those of Example S.3.1, eqs. (S.3.S3a) to (S.3.S3h),

except that eqs. (S.3.S3a) to (S.3.S3d) are now written for i=1,2,3, thus
 305

obtaining a system of 16 equations in 12 unknowns. The first two screws were

already obtained in that example. The third one, corresponding to the fourth

configuration, was also obtained via SUBROUTINE SCREW. All three screws are

then

[ 0.707]
= -0.707 , e1 = 0.250
[".250] , t1 - 0.707, 8 1 - 70.529°
~1
0.000 0.500

[ 0.000] [_0,250]
~2 = -0.707 , e2= 1.000 , t2 - 0.707, 8 2 - 109.471°
0.707 1.000

0.577] [ 0.000]
§3 = [ 0.577, ~3= 0.000 , t3 = 0.000, 8 3 - 120.000°
0.577 0.000

The nonlinear least-square problem arising from this dyad-synthesis problem

was solved using the method of Newton-Raphson, as outlined in Section 1.13.

Damping, however, proved to lead to divergence in this case, for which reason

an undamped version of SUBROUTINE NRDAMC was used. This is SUBROUTINE NLLS

(~on!inear ~east-~quares), whose listing appears in Fig. 6.3.1. The dimen-

sionless error of the approximation was computed as

e =
with hi defined as a normalised Fi ' which is in turn defined in eqs. (5.3.53),

i.e.

For i=1,2,3,
306

SUBROUTINE NLLseX,FUN,DFDX,P,TOL,N,M,ITER,MAX)
REAL XeN),FeM),DFeM,N),pel).ueM),DELTACM)
C
C THIS PROGRAM OBTAINS THE LEAST SQUARE SOLUTION TO THE NONLINEAR
C SYSTEM FeX)- o. WHERE F AND X ARE M-AND N-DIMENSIONAL VECTORS. M
C BEING GREATER THAN N. THE PROCEDURE IS ITERATIVE. AND AT EACH
C ITERATION FINDS THE LEAST SQUARE SOLUTION TO THE LINEAR SYSTEM
C DF*DELTA= -F. WHERE DF IS THE JACOBIAN M X N MATRIX OF THE ORIGINAL
C SYSTEM, COMPUTED AT THE CURRENT VALUE OF X. THE LINEAR LEAST SQUARE
C SOLUTION AT EACH ITERATION IS FOUND VIA HOUSEHOLDER REFLECTIONS C
(" BJOERCK A. AND G. DAHLQUIST. NUMERICAL METHODS, PRENTICE HALL.
C ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS. N.J •• 1974. PP. ~Oj-206, 443-444).
C PAI~AMETEI:;:S :
C X •• '" N--IHMENSIONAL VECTOF< OF UNI<':NmJNS.
C F •• - M-DIMENSIONAL VECTOR OF FUNCTIONS WHOSE EUCLIDEAN NORM
C IS TO BE MINIMIZED.
C DF •• = M X N JACOBIAN MATRIX OF F WITH RESPECT TO X.
C P .,= VECTOR OF PARAMETERS APPEARING IN FUN AND/OR DFDX. ITS
C DIMENSION VARIES FROM PROBLEM TO PROBLEM.
C TOL •• = A REAL POSITIVE ·SMALL' VARIABLE DENOTING THE IMPOSED
C TOLERANCE. 11 IS SUPPLIED BY THE USER.
C ITER •• = AN INTEGER VARIABLE DENOTING THE NUMBER OF THE CURRENT
C ITERATION.
f' MAX •• = AN INTEGER VARIABLE DENOTING THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF
C ALLOWED ITERATIONS.
C SUBSIDIARY SUBROUTINES :
C
r HECOMP "" TRIANGULARIZES A RECTANGULAR MATRIX BY HOUSEHOLDER
C REFLECTIONS CMOLER C. B•• MATRIX EIGENVALUE AND LEAST-
C SQUARE COMPUTATIONS. COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTAMENT,
C STANFORD UNIVERSITY. MARCH. 1973.)
C HOLVE SOLVES TRIANGULARIZED SYSTEM BY BACK-SUBSTITUTION CMOLER
C C. B •• (!P. CIT.)
C FUN COMPUTES F.
C DFDX COMPUTES DF.
C FNORM COMPUTES THE MAXIMUM NORM OF A VEcrOR.
C
C
I TEF<'''O
1 I TEF:'" I TER+:l
CALL FUNex.F.p,M.N)
FNOF("FNClRM CF • M)
IFCITER.GT.MAX) GO TO 5
c:
c FORMS LINEAR LEAST SQUARE PROBLEM
CALL DFDxeX,DF,p,M,N)
CALL HECOMPeM,M.N.DF,U)
CALL HOLVECM,M,N.DF.U.F)
C
t

Fig 6.3.1 Listing of SUBROUTINE NLLS

 307

C COMPUTES CORRECTION BETWEEN TWO SUCCESSIVE ITERATIONS

DO 2 I=I.M
DELTA(I)=F(I)
2 CONTINlJE
DELNOR=FNORMCDELTA.N)
IFCDELNOR.LT.TOL) GO TO 6
C
C IF DELNOR IS STILL LARGE, PERFORMS CORRECTION TO VECTOR X
3 DO 4 I=l.N
XCI)=X(I)-DELTACI)
4 CONTINUE
GO TO 1
5 WRITE(6,101) ITER,FNOR
GO TO 7
6 WRITEC6,102) ITER,FNOR
7 DO 8 I=l.N
8 WRITE(6,103) I,XCI)
RETURN
101 FORMAT(5X,"PROCEDURE DIVERGES AT ITERATION NUMBER",I3/5X,
'THE NORM OF THE FUNCTION IS : ",E20.7/5X.
'THE CURRENT VALUE OF X IS :"')
102 FORMAT(5X,"AT ITERATION NUMBER ',I3/5X,"THE NORM OF THE"
"FUNCTION IS ',E20.7/5X,·PROCEDURE CONVERGED, THE "
·SOL . UTION BEING :a/)
103 FORMAT(5X,2HXCI2,3H)= F15.5)
END

Fig 6.3.1 Listing of SUBROUTINE NLLS (continued)

308

6' T T (6.3.7a)
h. tan~ f (I-s.s.)m+det(f,m s.)
1 2 - - -1-1 - - - -1
T T
~ (~-~i~i) (~i-2) (6.3.7b)

(6.3.7c)
Ila.-qll
-1 _

T
2s. (g.-q.)-t.
-1 _1 _:). 1 , i f t.i 0
1
t.
1
h. = (6.3.7d)
1+q
2~i(g·-q·)
_1 _1
, i f t. 0
1
Ilgi-qi II

fT f _ (6.3.7e)
h13
T
IE IE (6.3.7f)
h14
T
~ (g-q)
(6.3.7g)
h'5
Ilg-qll

T
IE (g-~)
(6.3.7h)
h'6
Ilg-qll

The computer program written to solve the foregoing problem led to three

different solutions, which appear in Table 6.3.7. It is pointed out that,

since the given equations are not zeroed, ! and ~ fail to be unit vectors,

which is at any rate irrelevant, because they are meant to indicate only

the directions of the axes of the involved revolute pairs. Moreover, the

three different RRRR spatial mechanisms arising from the three different

combinations that can be formed out of the three different solutions

obtained, do not result to be Bennett mechanisms, as m the case in dealing

with exact synthesis, already discussed in Section 5.3. Thus, to complete

 309

a single-Ioop-single-degree-of-fredom linkage to guide a rigid body for over

3 configurations, a second dyad of a different type (&~, SR, CC, for instance)

should be resorted to.

Table 6.3.7 Least-square solutions to the overdetermined problem of the
synthesis of an R-R dyad for rigid-body guidance through 4
specified configuration.

First solution Second solution Third solution

0.565 -0.497 -0.902

f 0.474 -0.690 0.341
0.599 -0.457 -0.149

-0.158 -0.382 -0.649

-
m 0.310
0.898
0.858
0.229
-0.520
-0.503

-0.367 -0.425 -0.225

g 1.829 -0.027 -0.620
- 0.106 1.936 2.446

-0.155 -0.355 -0.200

q 1.534 -0.273 -0.929
- 0.282 2.189 2.651

e 0.483 0.235 0.208

6.4 UNDERDETERMINED PROBLEMS OF LINKAGE SYNTHESIS SUBJECT TO NO INEQUALITY

CONSTRAINTS. The problems that will be discussed in the present Section

are the opposite of those presented in Section 6.3, i.e. problems that will

be treated here contain an excess of the number of unknowns over that of

equations; hence, they admit infinitely many solutions. If the system is

linear, then a unique solution exists whose norm is a global minimum and

can be found via the Moore-Penrose (See section 1.11) pseudo-inverse matrix

of the system. If the said system is nonlinear, then all local minima can be

found, as discussed in Section 1.13 via the introduction of Lagrange

multipliers. As Fox and Gupta (6.7)point out, linear optimisation problems

310

arise rarely in mechanism synthesis, that is to say, although (as was shown

in Section 5,2) linkage synthesis problems for function generation can be

formulated as linear problems, in this case the linkage parameters do not

appear directly in the synthesis equations linearly. Hence, only the non-

linear case will be discussed in this Section and the solution procedure

will be illustrated with two examples.

Example 6.4.1. Synthesise an R-R dyad that guides a rigid body through the

first two configurations shown in Fig 5.4.3. Since the general number of

equations for this problem is 4n+4 (See Section 5.4), and for two configur~

tions n=l, the resulting number of equations is 8, but the number of unknowns

is 12, thus obtaining an underdetermined system of equations.

Solution:

The data are

o 0
o -1 (6.4.1)
o
where components are referred to the XOYOZO coordinate frame.

The unknowns are:

u= (6.4.2)
~O

Equation (5.4.5), written for j=l, is

222
(a 01 -a 03 ) +4a02+(-a02+a03) +2b 01 (a 01 -a 03 )+

(6.4.3a)

Equation (5.4.8), written for j=0,1 leads to

(6.4.3b)
 311

(6.4.3c)

Equation (5.4.9), written for j=O, 1 leads to

(6.4.3d)

(6.4.3e)

Equation (5.4.10), written for j=l is

U1v03-u2v02+u3v01=U1v01+u2v02+u3v03 (6.4.3f)

Finally, eqs. (5.4.11) lead to

222
u 1+u 2 +u 3 =1 (6.4.3g)

Equations (6.4.3a-h) constitute a system of 8 equations in the 12 unknowns:

a Oi ' b Oi ' u i ' v Oi (i=l, 2, 3). The objective function that is now introduced,

meant to be minimized, is a "length" of the dyad defined by the sum of the

magnitudes of vectors ~O and ~O. The objetive function is, then

2 2 2 2 + b2 2
~(aO' bo) = a 01 + a 02 + a 03 + b 01 02 + b 03 (6.4.4)

Thus, the optimisation problem can be stated as:

"Minimize ~(~O'~O) as given by eq. (6.4.4), subject to eqs. (6.4.3a-h)"

The solution to the foregoing problem proceeds as follows: Let f be an

8-dimensional vector whose components are the left-hand sides of eqs. (6.4.3)

when all the right-hand sides are set equal to zero, the non-zero terms

having been transfered to the left hand side, of course. Let ~ be a 12-dimen

sional vector whose components are (aOl,a02,a03,bOl,b02,b03,ul,u2,u3'

vOl,v02,v03)T. Define a new objetive function ~ as

T
~=~+~ f (6.4.5)

where ~=(Al'A2'A3'A4'A5'A6'A7'A8)T is a vector containing the Lagrange

multipliers of the system. The condition for function ~ to have a stationary

value (See Section 1.10) is

312

It=2.1
dX - dX
(6.4.6)

which yields a system of 12 additional equations. SYstem (6.4.6), together

with systeJll (6.4.3), constitutes a system of 20 equations in 20 unknowns,

which are the 12 components of vector ~ + the 8 components of vector A. This

is u detennined system whose roots can be found via the method of Newton-

Raphson.

IExercise 6.4.1 Solve system (6.4.3a-h), (6.4.6)

Another example, of a slightly different nature, is next presented

Example 6.4.2 Synthesise a plane RRRR linkage that generates the input-output

values appearing in Table 6.4.1 and possessing the best transmision over the

Table 6.4.1 Prescribed input-output pairs

input output

i 1jJi (degrees) rpi (degrees)

30 45

2 150 60

3 270 90

Solution:

The first step towards the solution is to define an objetive function whose

optimisation yields the desired operation. In this case this operation is

specified as two conditions. These are; i) a very precisely defined one

specifying that the linkage generate the three pairs of values appearing in

Table 6.4.1, and ii) a less precisely defined condition stating only that

the linkage have the best possible transmission throughout the interval

1jJl~1jJ~1jJ3. The first condition can be given a mathematical representation

very easily, namely, introducing Freudenstein's equation (6.8), with refer-

ence to Fig 6.4.1. This equation is:

 313

k,-k2coS~+k3cOSW+cos{~-W)=O (6.4.7)

where 2 2 2
a 3 - a 2 - a4
k, = , k2 (6.4.8)
2a 2a 4

Fig 6 . 4.1 Plane RRRR function-generating linkage

Freudenstein's equation states the relationship that the linkage dimensions

should observe in order to meet a set of input-output prescribed pairs, as

given in Table 6.4.'. Notice, however, that Freudenstein's equation, as given

in eqs. (6.4.7) and (6.4.8), contains only three undetermined parameters.

Hence, in order to determine them, three input-output relationships should

be prescribed, thus obtaining a system of three linear equations in the three

unkowns k" k2 and k 3 • The problem at hand, this way, will have exactly one

solution, if the involved system of equations is not singular. Thus, whether

its transmission is good or bad, nothing else can be done about it. Nevertheless,

in no part of the problem has it been required that the input and the output

angles be measured from the line defined by the axes of the pairs R'2 and

R4 ,. One can, therefore, measure those angles from lines R'2L and R4 ,M,

respectively, making angles of a and S with line R'2R4'. This way, two

additional undetermined parameters have been introduced, which allow, by a

314

proper selection, to obtain the linkage that not only generates the pairs of

values of Table 6.4.1, but also does it with the best transmission. What is

still left to be defined is how to measure this transmission and so decide

whether a given mechanism has a "good" or a "bad" one. It is widely known

that the transmission of a linkage, i.e. its ratio of output torque to input

torque, is measured by its transmission angle ~. The said transmission attains

its best value for ~ ~ 90° or 270°, whereas its worst, for ~ = 0° or 180°.

Hence a proper way to measure the "goodness" of the transmission of a linkage

is measuring how much ~ deviates either from 90° or from 270°. Of course,

the smaller this deviation is, the better the transmission of the linkage will be.

Hence, a reasonable way to measure this deviation, z, is through the root-

mean square (r.m.s.) value of cos~, over the interval of interest, i.e.
l/J 3

z ~l/J fl/J
1
cos2~dl/J (6.4.9)

where

(6.4.10)

and
2 2 2 2
2a1a2cos(l/J+a)-a1-a2+a3+a4
cos~= (6.4.11)
2a 3a 4

Inverting eqs. (6.4.8), with a 1=1,

rr (6.4.12a)
k2k 3 ' a 4

where

(6.4.12b)

Substituting eqs. (6.4.12) into eq. (6.4.11),

cos~= A cos(l/J+a)-B (6.4.13)

 315

k 2_ 2_k 2+k 2k 2
3;r: 2 2 3
B ;=; <-6.4.14)
2klr

(6.4.15)

Substituting eq. (6.4.15) into (6.4.9),

2k3 (k 2+k 1k 3 )
N
(6.4.16)
+ rll1jJ r

where

(6.4.17)

To determine minima of z its stationary values should first be found. These

are found by computing the zeros of its gradient

az
_ ax
go=- (6.4.18)

where ~ =(a,e}T is the decision vector. Now, since z does not depend directly

upon a and B , but through vector ~(k1,k2,k3)T, ~ is computed applying the

"chain rule",

(6.4.19)

Clearly,

~~ = ~ n; -~~ z} (6.4.20)

and*

* c =cos , s - sin
316

2k 3
6~ (s(1/I3+o.)- s(1/I1+o.»)+ 2(k2+ k 1k 3)k3
aN (6.4.21a)
ak = 2
2k3
61/1 (s (1/13+0.) - s (1/I1+o.))+ 2 (k2+k1 k 3)

a - 4k 33 {21 + 1
461/1 (
sin2C1/I3+o.)-sin2(1/I1+o.) ) }+

+ 6~ (4k2k3+6klk~) (sin (1/13+0.) -sin (1/1:]+0.») +

(6.4.21b)

2k2 k 3
or
ak 2k1k3+2k2+2k2k~ (6.4.22)
2
2k1k2+2k3+2k2k3

Vector k is computed by solving Freudenstein's equation (6.4.7) written

3 times, once for each pair of input-output values. This leads to the linear

system of equations

A k b (6.4.23)

where

-c (cj>1+S) c(1/I1+0.) -c 1 C1

~ "" -c (cj>2+ S) c(1/I2+0.) - "c 2 C2 (6.4.24a)

-c(cj>3+S) c (1/13 +0.) -c 3 c3

and

-c (cj> 1-1/11-0.+13) -c'1

b .. c (cj>2 -1/12-0.+8) - -c:2 (6.4.24b)

-c 4 3 -1/13-0:+8) -c;

Solving eq. (6.4.23) explicitly by application of Gauss's elimination scheme

or, equivalently, of the LU de composition (See Section 1.12), one obtains

k .. = m .• b or k "" Mb (6.4.25)
~ ~J j
 317

where the usual index convention holds, i.e. a sum over repeated indices

follows, with

(6.4.26a)

c.~- 1 C.~+ l- c ~+
. 1C~~1
.
{6.4.26b)
q

Thus, froJll eq. (6.4.25), one obtains

aJs. = M ~ + l!i b (6.4.27)

ax ~ ax ax
where, froJll eq. (6.4.24b),

-S{<P 1-1/il- fl +B) s{<P 1-1/Il-a + B) -s; s*

1
-s{<P 2 -1/I2-a + B) s {<P2-1/I2-a+B) -s2 s*
2
{6.4.28)

-s(<P 3-1/I3-a + B) s{<P 3-1/I3-a +B) -s3 s*

3
and

(tm 1i 1 a m1 · a
-~- = - - - (c. c. -c. c. )- --~ ~ {6.4.29a)
ox. q ax. ~-1 ~+1 ~+1 ~ .. 1 q ax.
J J, J

am2i 1 a (0 -c ) _ m2i ...l9.

ax:-=qa.x. i+l i-1 q ax. {6.4.29b)
J J J

{6.4.29c)

a c . 1- c J,+
-,,-(c.
oX 1 ~- l ~+ . l e ~-
. 1)"'- c.~- 1 5 ~+
. l+ c ~+1
. S.J,-1 {6. 4. 29d)

~X2 (ci_lci+l-ci+lci_1)=- si_l oi+l+ s i+l ci_l {6.4.2ge)

~
Xl
=- 5 {c -c )-5 (c -c )-5 {c -c )
1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2
{6.4.2~f)

~ =- c {s -s l-c {s -s )-c {s -s ) (6.4.29g)

ClX 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 3· 1 2

..L..{c·+
a X 1-c. 1)=-(5·+ 1 -$'· 1)
;l
{6.4.29h)
1 ~- ~ ~-
318

(6,4,29;i.)

(6.4.29j)

a
a;-(c i +1-c i _ 1 ) =- (si+1- 8 i_1) (6.4.29k)
2
Substituting expressions (~.4.29d-k) into (6.4.29a-c), one obtains

a m1i , m'i
~= q (-ci_'~i+j+ci+'~i_l)+ -q- (s,(c2-C3)+s2(c3-c,)+s3(c1-c2}) (6.4.30a)

am'i 1 m,"
aX
2
=q (-si_'Ci+l+si+1Ci_11+ q~ (C 1 (S2-S3)+C2(S3-S,)+C3(S1-S2)} (6.4.30b)

(6.4.30c)

(6.4.30d)

(6.4.30e)

(6.4.30f)

The Ci, j) element of matrix ~

oX
b is computed as
-

aM am
it
(a; ~) ij= --ax.- bl (6.4.3')
- J
In order to compute the zeros of g, the Newton-Raphson method is applied.

This requires the computation of the Hessian matrix, J, of z, i.e.

(6.4.32)

Again, J is computed applying the "chain" rule, as

ag og ak
(6.4.33)
a~ = als. a~
 3'9

where

(6,4,34)

But

(6,4.35)

I being the 3x3 identity matrix. Thus,

(6.4.36)

and J is finally obtained as

J = a2' = [a~J'I' a 2 z a~ (6.4.37)
- ax ax k2 ax
- - a -
where

ar( dz)TJ}
ak ak
(6.4.38)

From eqs. (6.4.21) and (6.4.22> I

r 2k 2 6k 2
( S(W 3+a >-S(w +a
3 2k3 3
1 » + b
M
a2N
( s(W 3+a )-s(w,+a) )
4k3
2k3 2 + 2k, (6.4.39)
ak 2 = tow
c d e

b :: 2k2+4klk3

6k 2
c:: to~ (sin(w3+a )-sin(w,+a»)+2k 2+4k,k 3

4k3
d :: tow (sinlw3+a)-sin(w,+a»)+2k,

e _
320

0 2k3 2k2

a2 r 2k3 2(1+k~ 2k1+4k2 k 3 (6,4.40)

ak 2
2k2 2k1+4k2 k 3 2+2k~

with expressions (6.4.18)-(6.4.22) to compute the gradient g of the objective

function and (6.4.32)-(6.4.40) to compute its Hessian J, the Newton Raphson

algorithm, discussed in Section 1.13, can now be applied, as:

Given a random starting value ~O = (ao'So)T , generate the sequence ~1'~2"'"

~k'~k+1"'" that, if convergence is reached, will approach the solution ~*

that cancels 2' The said sequence is generated as:

-1
~k+l = ~k - ~ (~k)~(~k)

The computer subprogram NRDAMP, introduced in section 1.13, implements the

foregoing iterative procedure with damping, as discussed in that Section.

This subprogram was applied to solve the problem at hand, the results obtain-

ed being:

x*

which was reached after 19 iterations and 31 evaluations of the gradient g.

The resulting value of g was

2(X*)=(0.000004, 0.000001)T (dimensionless)

which corresponds to a value of z equal to 0.1082 (dimensionless). Thus the

r.m.s. value of cos~ is 0.3289. The linkage thus obtained was analysed with

the aid of a program written ad hoc and the mean value of ~ was obtained,

within the interval ~1~~~~3' as 89.25° ,very close to 90°, as expected.

 321

6.5 LINKAGE OPTIMISATION SUBJECT TO INEQU~LITY CONST~INTS. PENALTY

FUNCTION METHQDS.

The class of optimisation problems discussed in Section 6.3 does not include

any const~aints defined by inequality relations, thus lending themselves to

relatively easy handling. One problem involving equality constraints was

introduced in Section 6,4. This problem was formulated by application of

Langrange multipliers, which led to the solution of a nonlinear system of

algebraic equations containing more uknowns than decision variables. The

number of unknownsinc~eases because of the introduction of the unknown

Langrage multipliers. If the arising nonlinear system of equations can be

easily differentiated, then its solution can be attempted by the method of

Newton~Raphson, as was already discussed. If, however, that system either

cannot be differentiated, or the computation of its derivatives requires

prohibitively large execution times, then other techniques should be resorted

to. The penalty function methods introduced herewith will be discussed only

in connection with inequality constraints. Should the problem at hand contain

also equality constraints, these can be easily handled, as shown in (6.9).

Optimisation problems subject to inequality constr~ints arise very often in

linkage synthesis. For example, if the RRRR plane linkage shown in Fig 6.4.1

is to be driven by a unifor~m -velocity electrical motor whose torque is

applied at link 2, then this link should be ~ crank, i.e. it should be able

to rotate through a 360 0 angle. The conditions under which link 2 is a crank

can be readily written from Grashoff's conditions. These conditions are

derived by writting the conditions of existence of the triangle arising for

the positions corresponding to ~ 0, n of the linkage shown in Fig 6.4.1.

These are

{6.S.1al
322

ia ,-a 2 i >i a 4 - a 3 i (p,5.lb)

a,+a 2 < a 3 +a4 (6.5.'c)

a,+a 2 >i a 4 - a 3 i (6.5.'d)

As another example, assume the transmision angle of the same linkage, ~,

defined in Section 6.4, is constrained to lie between ~a and ~b' then

~ <~<~ (6.5.2)
a-- b

would be the said inequality constraint.

As a "rule of thumb", the transmission angle is usually constrained to lie

between 40° and 140°, in order to ensure a "good" force transmission. This

class of problems then, is of the general form (6.2.1), where the inequalities

define a region of the decision-variable space, n , called "the allowable

region" or, equivalently, "the feasible region".

An extensive account of different methods to solve this problem appears in

(6.7). Fox and Gupta in this paper classify the different methods of solution

to this problem as; i) penaly function methods and ii) ~ methods. Penalty

function methods are dealt with in this section, whereas direct methods are

discussed in section 6.6.

The idea behind penalty function methods is to approach the optimal solution

asymptotically by extrapolation of a sequence of optimal solutions to

unconstrained problems. In this respect there are two possibilities: either

the optimum is approached within the feasible region or from outside of it.

The penalty function is accordingly referred to as either interior or exterior.

Given an objective function ~(~) subject to equality constraints that will

not be taken into account here (These can be thought of as having already

been used to solve for the corresponding set of variables, thus dealing only

with independent decision variables), and to inequality constraints ~(~)~O,

 323

a sequence { Wk } of interior penp,l tx functions i,s next constructed. Let

Wk(~;rk) ~(.x) + ;!:"k

p
r ].
]
h, (xl' k;=1,2,...
-
(6,5.3)

where all rk's are positive and observe a decreasing order, i.e.

and

hi (~) ~ 0, i ;= 1, ••• , P (6.5.5)

This way, when trying to minimize ¢(~), the penalty term in Wk is positive

and increases repidly as vector x approaches one of the constraints. The

solution to each unconstrained problem, ~*(rk)' is forced then to lie within

the feasible region if hi (~) is redefined as zero when the given constraints

(6.5.5) are violated. The solution to the original constrained problem, ~*,

is thus found as

x* lim ~(rk)

r k -+ 0

By allowing

(6.5.6)

a good extrapolation value x* can be computed by fitting the xj(r k ) values

for each component of the vector ~ to a continuous function of r, as suggested

by Fiacco and McCormick (6.10). If i values Xj (rk ), j ;= 1, ••• ,n; k;=1, ••. , i

are available, the suggested function takes on the form

i-1 k/2
x,(r) ;= A, + 1: B'kr , j=l, ••• , n (6.5.7)
J J k;=1 J

This way, then

x* A" j ;=.1, •• " n (6.5.8)

j J

The question of how to assign r 1 is dealt with by specifying that the penalty

term be a given fraction, f, of the objetiye function when initialising the

iteration process, i.e. r 1 is solved fo;!:" from the following equation

324

(6,5.9)

x being the initial guess, lying of course within the feasible region. The
~O

value of f is recommended to be taken between 0.01 and 0.5

Exterior penalty functions have the form

1/i(x;rk ) = Hxl + rk~(min{0,hi(X)})2, k=1,2, •.• (6.5.10)

where all rk's are again positive and observe now an increasing order, i.e.

r 1 < r 2 < r3 < •••

This way, whenever vector ~ leaves the feasible region, the penalty function

increases, thus forcing the solution to apProach this region. Notice that,

within the feasible region, the penalty term vanishes.

Both interior and exterior penalty functions are shown in Fig 6.5.1, for

one-dimensional problems, with a feasible region defined by a < x < b.

The question that arises naturally is how to solve the corresponding

unconstr~ined problem, fOr each value of r. In this respect, there are three

possibilities;

i) The objetive function and the penalty term have first and second

derivatives readily available.

ii) Only first derivatives are available.

iii) No derivatives are available

The solution to each of these problems is next outlined.

Case i) An obvious way to proceed is to compute the roots of the gradient

of the penalty function via the Newton-~phson method.

These roots are found from the system

which is nonlinear. In section 1.13 the numerical solution to this problem

was extensively discussed. ~ccording to that section, the Newton-~phson

 B IA

a x
b
a b x

A: Constrained minimum
a) Interior penalty function B: Uhconstrained minimum b) Exterior penalty function
C.: Successive minima of
~ unconstrained problems

Fig 6.5.1. Penalty functions

~
326

method requires the computation of the Jacobian matrix of the system, i.e.

the Hessian matrix $"(~) which, as assumed, is readily available. This

procedure can then be carried out with the aid of subroutines NRDAMr, DECaMP

and SOLVE, whose listings appear in Section 1.

Case ii) Since no second derivatives, or at least not all of them, are

available, the Newton-Raphson method cannot be applied in this instance.

One can resort, however, to gradient methods, i.e. methods that require only

first derivatives, like the one of Fletcher and Reeves(6.11). This procedure

is next outlined: Let f(~) be a scalar function which is intended to minimize,

and g(~) be its gradient. Then

a) Assign a starting value ~O arbitrarily.

b) Define: ~o(~) = ~(~O), ~O = -~O

c) Compute the minimum ~i+1 of f(~) on the line through ~i in the direction

of p .• Notice that this minimization need only be performed in one dimension,

-~

which anyway could be an extremely time-consuming task in itself, if not

impossible to execute. In order to make their method efficient, the

authors estimate this minimum by interpolating the function through three

points,

d)

e)

g) After every n+1 iterations, verify if IfC~k+n+1) - f(~) I~ E, E being

a small prescribed quantity. If the inequality holds, then one minimum

has been found; if it does not, then repeat the procedure starting at

step c.
 327

This procedure guarantees the computation of the minimum of a quadratic

function in at most n iterations. For non-quadratic functions the process

should be stopped whenever the prescribed convergence criterion has been

met. Step c, which is crucial in the foregoing algorithm, is performed in

three stages: first, the order of magnitude of the distance between the

maximum x i + 1 and the previous one, ~i' is estimated; next, bounds for this

distance are established and, finally, the location of ~i+1 is estimated

through interpolation. Reference (6.11) includes an ALGOL procedure

implementing the foregoing algorithm.

Case iii) In this case the most suitable method to solve the problem is

that of Powell (6.12) • The procedure is based upon searches along a set

of linearly independent directions ~1' ~2' ••• , ~n' as outlined in the

procedure appearing in the cited reference, which is next reproduced:

a) For r = 1, 2, .. -, n, calculate A so that f(p

r _r-1
+ Ar_r
~ ) is a minimum,

where f(x) is the objetive function. Moreover, define

b) Find the integer m, 1< m< n, so that {f(p

_m-1 ) - f(p
_ m)} is a maximum and
define ~ = f(p_m- 1) - f(p_m )

c) Calculate f 3 = f(2p_n-p_0 ) and define f1 = f(pO)

_ and f2 = f(p_n )

d) If either f3 ~ f1 and or (f 1-2f 2 + f3) (f 1-f 2 )2 ~ ~ ~(f1-f3)2, use the

old directions ~1' ~2' ••• , ~n for the next iteration and use p_n for

the next ~O; otherwise,

e) Defining ~ = ~n-~O' calculate A so that f(p_n+A~)

_ is a minimum, use

~1' ···~m-1' ~m+1' ···'~n' ~ as the directions and ~n +A~ as the

starting point for the next iteration.

328

For quadratic functions

T T
f(~) = ~ ~ + ~ ~ + c

the search directions are conjugate, i.e., for i ~ j,

T
F;. At;,. = 0
_1 -J
Theoretically Powell's algorithm finds the minimum of such a quadratic

function in n iterations. In practice, however, two conjugate directions

may be quasi-dependent, the procedure thus failing to converge. This

situation is taken into account in the foregoing algorithm at step d. The

said algorithm, then, may require more than n iterations to find the minimum

of a quadratic function.

The method used to minimize a function of one variable without calculating

derivatives is based upon an interpolation formula to fit three points on

a quadratic function.

The application of the penalty function method is next illustrated with two

simple examples.

Example 6.5.1. One-dimensional optimisation subject to inequality constraints.

Let ~ + x 2 be the function to be minimized subject to the constraints

1 < x < 2

Solution: The minimum of the function in the absence of constraints is 1,

which is attained at x = O. Due to the constraints, the function attains its

minimum at x = 1, the corresponding minimum being equal to 2. Although this

problem thus can be solved by inspection, it is presented here to illustrate

the method of the penalty function.

An interior penalty function is constructed as

1jJ(x; r k ) = 1 +x2 + rk(X~1 - X~2)' k= 1,2, •.•

which is then minimized for

0.1, r3 = 0.01
 329

00

0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0

X- AXIS

Fig 6.5.2 One -dimensional minimization using an interior

penalty function.
330

This is done by computing the roots of the derivative of Wwith respect to

X , which leads to the solution of the following nonlinear equation

wI (x) = 2x - r k (_ _1 -2 - 1 2) = 0
(x-1) (x-2)
Proceeding to solve the foregoing equation via the method of Newton-Raphson,

the following minimizing values were found:

x*(r 1 ) = 1.416, x*(r 2 ) 1.198, x*(r 3 ) = 1.068

which clearly show the trend towards the minimizing value x* = 1.0 of the

original constrained problem. The above values are next fit to a

parabola as

thus obtaining

A = 0.998, B1 0.733, B2 - 0.315

i.e.

x* lim x* (r) A 0.998

r-+{)

The objetive function, as well as the corresponding penalty functions are

shown in Fig 6.5.2.

Example 6.5,2. Two-dimensional minimization subject to inequality constraints.

Let

be the function to be minimized, subject to the following constraints:

The following penalty function is then constructed:

2 2 1 1
W(x; r k ) = x 1 + 2x 2 + r k ( - + - + ), k 1 ,2, ..•
x1 x2 x 1 +x 2 -1
for

r1 = 0.1, r 2 = 0.01 and r3 = 0.001

The gradient of Whas the components

 331

which vanishes at an extremum. The roots of the fo~egoing nonlinear system

of algebraic equations were then computed using cub~outines NRDAMP, DECOMP

and SOLVE, which yielded the following values:

Xl (r 11 0.7941, x 2 (r 1 ) 0.4704

Xl (r 2 ) 0.7140, x 2 (r 2 ) 0.3703

Xl (r 3 ) 0.6836, x 2 (r 3 ) ~ 0.3434

which were reached in at most 6 iterations of the Newton-Raphson algorithm,

thus showing very quick convergence.

The obtained optimising values were then fit to a parabola for each component,

as follows

After performing the corresponding substitutions in the given representation

of
-
X*
'
a linear system of equations was obtained, whose roots were found

to be

A1 0.6687, Bl 0.4790, C1 0.2605

A2 0.3317, B2 0.3612, C2 0.2443

Thus,

Xl Al 0.6687

x2 A2 0.3317

the corresponding exact optimising values being

332

as can be verified from the condition that, at the minimum, the gradient of
2 2
the ellipses x 1 + 2x 2 = constan~must be normal to the line x 1 + x 2 = 1,

defining the third inequality constraint. An algorithm called "Sequential

unconstrained Minimization Technique" (SUMT), implementing the interior

penalty function method, due to Fiacco and McCormick, has been published

and extensively tested. The corresponding program appears in (6.13).

Amongst the methods mentioned to solve the unconstrained minimization

problem arising in connection with penalty function methods for constrained

minimization, they only provide local minima. An algorithm called the

"tunneling algorithm", developed by Velasco-Levy and Montalvo at the

University of Mexico (UNAM) (6.14) finds the global minimum of an uncon-

strained minimization problem.

The interested reader can find examples of linkage optimisation problems by

application of penalty functions either in (6.9) or in (6.15).

6.6 LINKAGE OPTIMISATION SUBJECT TO INEQUALITY CONSTRAINTS. DIRECT METHODS.

Direct methods are those that handle inequalities as given, i.e. without

resorting to auxiliary unconstrained problems, as is the case when using

penalty function methods. There are several methods of this kind, but the

ones that will be discussed here are:

i) the method of the feasible directions,

ii) the gradient projection method, and

iii) the complex method

The method of the feasible directions is applicable to linear constraints.

In the presence of nonlinear constraints, a previous linearisation should

be performed. It requires first derivatives of both the objetive function

and of the inequality constraints. The gradient projection method, on the

 333

other hand, considers nonlinear constraints as such, but also requires first

derivatives of the objetive function and of the constraints. The complex

method, however, does not require '-. '1:her linearity nor differentiability

at all and hence, results attractive when dealing with nonlinear problems

whose derivatives are not available.

In what follows, let ~(~) denote the objetive function to be minimized

(for maximizing problems, simply change the sign of the objetive function),

~, the decision vector and h(~)~O, the inequality constraints. Equality

constraints will be disregarded for the same reasons as in section 6.5

Each of the aforementioned methods is next outlined.

The method of the feasible directions, developed by Zoutendijk (6.16) ,

assumes linear inequality constraints. It requires, first, a search

direction ~ and, second, a search distance, s, so that when both are

determined, given a current value ~ of the vector argument, the next

value, ~+1' is given by

(6.6.1)

where

To find the direction ~k' assume that the inequality constraints are linear,

Le. of the form

Ax+b> 0 (6.6.2)

~ being an mxn matrix (m<n). There are two possibilities, namely, either

~ lies within the feasible region or it lies on its boundary. If it lies

within this region, then ~k is just taken as the gradient of the objective

function, Le.

:k =:!:. n*rr (6.6.3)

334

where the + sign is taken if ~ is to be maximized; otherwise, the - sign

should be chosen. If, however, ~k lies on the boundary of the feasible

region, then some, say m' , of the m inequalities (6.6.2) become equations.

If the new value ~+1 is not going to violate the constraints (6.6.1), then

the search direction and distance should satisfy the inequalities

(6.6.4)

which constitute a set of m inequalities. However, m' of the components of

vector ~~k+e vanish, as assumed before. Hence, taking sk positive, if eq.

(6.6.4) is to be satisfied for all its components, then the search direction

~k should satisfy the following inequality

Ae >0 (6.6.5)
--k -

Since vector :k must satisfy a linear inequality, it is most convenient

to use a linear norm for it, instead of the Euclidean one, i.e. let

II ~klll=mrx{( e i 0 }=1 (6.6.6)

where e ik is the ith component of vector ~k. In order to turn the finding

of vector ~k into a standard linear programming problem, which requires

the sought vector to meet a nonnegativity condition, the following change

of variable is introduced

(6.6.7)

where f is an m-dimensional vector whose components are all unity.

Thus, =k is found from the following linear program:

Max (V~k)T(~k-t)
subject to

and
 335

where the 2n involved inequality constraints arise from eq. (6.6.6). The

foregoing procedure to determine ~k is due to Glass and Cooper (6.17).

If the inequality constraints are nonlinear, then a local linearisation

should be performed to find matrix ~ of (6.6.2) as

which yields good results if the feasible region is convex.

Once the search direction is found, the search distance sk is determined

performing a unidirectional optimisation in the direction of ~k. There

can arise two possibilities: the first one is that the optimising sk

carries x into a point within the feasible region, in which case no

difficulty is present; the other possibility appears when ~k+1 happens to fall

outside of the feasible region. In this case, inequality (6.6.4) does

not hold any longer for all its components. Assuming that m' of the m

inequalities (6.6.4) are violated for the previously found optimising sk'

then there exist sik values smaller than sk (i=1, ••• ,m') for which the

corresponding relations (6.6.4) become equations, i.e. for which

a, ,x 'k+s 'ka, ,e 'k+b,=O, i=1, 2, ••• ,m' (6.6.8)

1.J J 1. 1.J J 1.

where a renumbering of the said relations could have been performed.

Solving for sik from (6.6.8),

a, ,x 'k+b,
1.J J 1.
(6.6.9)
aije jk

Hence, the search distance is then taken as

thus completing one iteration of the whole procedure.

336

The gradient projection method, developed by Rosen (6.18, 19), performs the

search (for the optimum) initially along the boundaries of the feasible

region. The procedure is, as outlined by Beveridge and Schechter (6.20),

the following:

1. Given a point x where r of the inequality constraints become equations,

-p

evaluate V~ at x • The said set of equations is then written as

-p
gi = hi{xp ) = 0, i = 1, ••• , r (6.6.10)

2. Calculate the projection of the gradient onto the plane tangent to the

surface (6.6.10). This projection defines a direction ~ in space, lying

in the said tangent plane. Vector ~ is determined as follows:

Let d~
ds
be the directional derivative of ~ along direction ~,
--
thus

(6.6.11)

Since ~ is contained in a plane tangent to (6.6.10),

dg T
--=-
ds
(Vg) e=O
-
(6.6.12)

vector =being defined as of unit magnitude, i.e.

e T e=1 (6.6.13)

Define the objective function

(6.6.14)

which accounts for constzaints{6.6.11) and (6.6.12). Substitution of

(6.6.10) into (6.6.13) together with the condition for ~ to be stationary

yield

~dV~+VgA-2A
d~ _-
e=O
0--
(6.6.15)

from which
V~~+V~
e (6.6.16)
2A
o
 337

which, when substituted into (6.6.11), yields an equation for~, namely

T T
(Vg) VgA=-(Vg) V~ (6.6.17)

AO being computed from

(6.6.18)

which follows from the substitution of eq. (6.6.15) into eq. (6.6.12).

Hence, ~ is given as

e = (6.6.19)

3. At this stage two possibilities can arise: either e vanishes or it does

not. If it does not vanish, initiate a search in this direction until a

constraint boundary is found. Let x' be the intersection of the line going
-p

from x in the direction of ~, with the boundary. Then, if ~(x') is better

-p - -p

than ~(~p)' one iteration is completed and the procedure is restarted. If,

on the contrary, ~(x') is not better than ~(x ), perform a unidirectional

-p -p

search along the line connecting x and x'. Call x 1 the sought optimising
-p -p -p+
value, and return to step 1 with x 1 being set equal to x •
-p+ ~

4. In case ~ vanishes, then it could happen that the cpmponents of ~ have

all the same sign or some are zero, thus complying with the Kuhn-Tucker

conditions (6.20, p. 282) • If this sign is nonnegative, then a minimum

has been reached; if nonpositive, then a maximum.

If not all components of A bear the same sign, then some of these components

are deleted from it, keeping only those Ai (i=1,2, .•• ,q<r) with the same sign.

Next, drop the r-q components of g(~), i.e. those corresponding to the A'S

with a sign different from those of the A'S that have been kept. Then restart

the procedure at step 2. The PROJG program (6.13, pp. 399-411) implements

Rosen's algorithm.
338

The complex method, that is described next ,is due to Box (6.21) . Before

proceeding, however, some definitions are in order:

Given a vector space V of dimension n, the (closed) polyhedron imbedded in

it with the smallest number of vertices (n+1) is called a simplex. A

polyhedron with a larger number of vertices is called a complex. Simplexes

in two and three dimensions are the triangle and the tetrahedron, respec-

tively. Complexes in these spaces could be the quadrilateron and the

hexahedron, respectively. The complex method of Box proceeds as follows:

1. A complex of 2n vertices is defined within the feasible region. There

exist some techniques to define these vertices in such a way that they

quarantee that all of them fall into the said region, but they are

applicable to only a few particular cases. In the absence of a criterion

to choose the said vertices, it is advised that they be assigned randomly,

rejecting those that fall outside of the feasible region until the complex

is completed.

2. Evaluate the objective function at each of the 2n vertices and let ~w

be the vertex where this function attains its worst value.

3. Compute the centroid, ~c' of the remaining vertices, i.e.

x
-c
(6.6.20)

4. Replace the vertex at ~w by a new one, ~~ in the following way

x'=x -Q (x -x ) (6.6.21)
-w -c -w-c
where a is a real positive number whose value is recommended by Box to

be taken as 1.3

5. Two possibilities can arise at this stage: either ~~ lies within the

feasible region or not. If it does, a new iteration can be restarted

at stage 2. If it does not, then a new value, ~~ , is defined as

 339

x" .. .!. (x +x')

_w 2 -C-'Ii!

If x" again happens to lie outli\ide of the feasible region, a new value is
-w
again defined as the middle point between *c and~; , until the said new

value falls within the feasible region. Once the ~ejected vertex has been

regenerated, the procedure is restarted at step 2. It can happen, however,

that the regenerated feasible vertex is again the worst one. This situation

would slow down the convergence of the method. Box's algorithm takes account

of such a case. In fact, if the regenerated feasible vertex ~~ happens to

be again the worst vertex, then it is rejected and a new vertex ~; is

defined by shifting ~w' towards x by a certain amQunt 8, i.e.

-c
x" = x +8(x -x )
-w -c -w-c
where 0 <8< 1.

Box's algorithm has been implemented in some computer programs, for instance the

one appearing in (6.13, pp. 368-385) and the OPTIM package (6.22,23). Two examples

of linkage optimisation subject to inequality constraints are next presented,

both of which were solved using the OPTIM package.

Example 6.6.1 (Synthesis of an RRRR plane linkage for function generation with

optimal transmission angle), The problem of Example 6.4.2 is repeated here,

except that now one constraint is introduced, namely that the input link be a

crank, the output one being left free to be either a crank or a rocker. Moreover,

the transmission angle is required to be the best possible one throughout a

complete revolution of the input crank.

Solution:

The new objetive function is

1 J2TT 2
Z = 2TT 0 cos ~d$ (6.6.22)

where cos~ is given as in (6.4.11). The decision variables are a and 8 (see

Fig 6.4.1), as in Example 6.4.2. The objetive function then becomes

z == N/O (6.6.23)
340

with

N and D (6.6.24)

The constraints guaranteeing that the input link is a crank are now derived.

Throughout, reference will be made to Fig 6.4.1. In that figure angles ¢

and ~ will now be measured from line R12 R41 . In order for the configuration

shown in that figure to be possible, triangle R23 R34 R41 should exist. For

this triangle to exist, the following inequalities should hold

(i)

(ii)

At this stage, a word of caution is in order: In writing relations (i) and

(ii), a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 were assumed to be lengths, i.e. positive definite

variables. If, however, these are computed by inverting relations (6.4.8),

which in turn require k1' k2 and k3 to be computed by solving the linear

system (6.4.23), it could well happen that some k i turned out to be negative,

which, in turn, would yield some a i negative. Now, a 1 can be forced to be

positive, as well as a 3 , for negative values of these variables would be

meaningless. Thus, all lengths can be normalised with respect to a 1 by

defining a 1 =1. Variables a 2 and a 4 , however, can attain negative values,

which means angles ¢ and ~ of Fig 6.4.1 should be measured not referring

to the positions of lines R12 R23 and R41 R34 , respectively, but to lines

R12 R23 and R41 R34 ' where R23 and R34 are the symmetric points with respect

to R12 and R41 , respectively, of points R23 and R34 . Thus, in inverting

relations (6.4.8), care should be taken in order to obtain all ai'S positive.

These relations are then inverted as:

(iii)
 341

Squaring both sides of inequalities (i) and (ii) and rearranging terms lead ,

respectively, to

(iv)

(v)

Now, since

-1 ~ coslj!~ + (vi)

inequality (iv) still holds if coslj! is substituted by +1. Similarly,

inequality (v) still holds if coslj! is substituted by -1, thus obtaining,

after some simplifications,

(vii)

and

(viii)

respectively. Hence, inequalities (vii) and (viii) are the sought constraints.

These are introduced into the OPTIM program, together with the constraints

o~ a ~ 2n, 0 ~ S < 2n (ix)

since OPTIM requires that the decision variables be bounded from above and

from below.

OPTIM also requires that one vertex of the initial (feasible) complex be

supplied.

This vertex was supplied as

which led to the following synthesis: k1 0.8799, k2 2.3796, k3 0.2443,

the corresponding linkage lengths being

(x)
342

the OPTIM package automatically generates the other (three) vertices of

the intial complex. Since it sets the number of such vertices equal to 2n,

n being the number of independent decision variables, in this case the

said complex is a quadrilateron. The linkage described in (x) constitutes

the "first vertex" of the complex, the remaining three appearing in

Table 6.6.1 .

Table 6.6.1 Vertices of the initial complex

Vertex No. 2 3 4

a (rad) 0.4601 1 .4054 1.5161

(3 (rad) 3.0780 1.8170 3.9932

a1 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000

a2 0.3895 0.1714 0.1825

a3 1 .4551 0.4970 1 .4241

a4 1.6143 1.2779 0.7065

The values of the objetive function at each vertex are shown in Table 6.6.2

TABLE 6.6.2 Values of the objective function at each of the vertices of

the initial complex

Vertex No. 1 2 3 4

Objective 0.9306 0.5917 0.4849. 0.5676

function

The procedure converged after 30 iterations, the results being the

following:
 343

Optimising values of the decision variables:

a = 103.30° S= 198.83°

Dimensions of the optimal linkage:

a 1 = 1.0000, a 2 = 0.0515, a 3 = 0.9945, a 4 = 0.1154

The minimum value attained by the objective function was z=0.1008. The

procedure thus reduced z to a 10.83% of its initial value.

The foregoing linkage was analysed for a whole revolution of its input

crank. Its transmission angle attained a mean value of 90°. Its cosine

thus attained an r.m.s. value of 12, i.e. 0.3175.

Example 6.6.2 Synthesise an RSSR spatial linkage of the type of that

appearing in Fig 5.2.1, which is here reproduced in Fig 6.6.1 for quick

reference, to generate a given set {$.,¢.} n1 of input-output values.

1 1

Furthermore, its input link should be a crank, whereas its mechanical

advantage, as large as possible.

Z.
1

X.
1

Fig 6.6.1 RSSR function generating linkage

344

Solution:

The input-output synthesis equation for the given linkage was written down

as eq. (5.2.15). The input is now measured from a given reference line

making an angle ¢o with the Z. (liz )axis, counterclockwise as viewed from

~ 0

axis Xi. The output angle is measured, in turn, from a given reference line

making an angle ~O with the Zi axis, counterclockwise as viewed from axis

Xo. Performing transformation (5.2.21), the input-output equation is

obtained as eq. (5.2.20), which is here reproduced as eq. (6.6.26)

(6.6.26)

The given set of input-output values is that appearing in Table 6.6.2.

TABLE 6.6.2 Input-output prescribed values

¢(degrees) ~(degrees)

30 45
45 60
60 90
90 60
150 30
The objective function defined in (6.4.9), where the integral would range
from 0 to 2n, is not valid here, because a value of 90° (or 270°) of the
transmission angle, does not guarantee a good torque ratio. In fact, due
to the 3-dimensionality of the linkage, it could happen that, even though
the transmission angle attains values close to 90°, the force transmitted
to the output link by the coupler link has a very large component parallel
to the output axis Xo. Hence, a more direct approach to the problem is
proposed, i.e. maximize a measure of the mechanical advantage. Now, this
measure should be positive definite, i.e. a norm of this function. The
maximal norm, max lvi, of the mechanical advantage is ruled out, because
it could happen that no matter how low this value is within the interval
 345

of interest, if the output link happens to be a rocker, v will become

infinity at its deadpoints. Something similar could happen if, say, a

quadratic norm is used. In order to cope with this problem, the integral

of the square of the inverse of the mechanical advantage is minimized.

Thus, the objective function is now

z = _21T
1 J21T 1 2
(-) d1jJ
V
(6.6.27)
o
where the integrand never becomes infinity. In fact, if friction is

neglected, the mechanical advantage turns out to be

v = d1jJ
M -1
- 1jJ (6.6.27a)

Thus, the inverse of the mechanical advantage becomes infinity only for

values of ~ = 0, which happens at the deadpoints of an input link of the

rocker type. Because of the constraints imposed on the problem, this

possibility has been ruled out, however.

Introducing the results of Exercise 5.2.4, the conditions under which the

input link is a crank are

l < a < L . (6.6.28)

max - 2 - m~n

where land L are the smallest and the largest values of the length of

the coupler link, to guarantee mobility of the linkage for a given value of the

input ~. Now, land L can readily be found as (See Exercise 5.2.4):

(r-a 3 )2 + b2 )1/2 (6.6.29a)

L{~) (r+a 3 )2 + b2 )1/2 (6.6.29b)

where

r =
and
346

The maximum of { and the minimum of L can be obtained by zeroing the

derivatives of { and L with respect to ~. This leads to the equations

(U 1/ 2+ -1/2 du 2t dt 0 (6.6.30)
a3)u d~ + d~ =

where

u = (6.6.30a)

and

(6.6.30b)

. 2 2
Squaring both sides of eqs. (6.6.30), substituting Sln ~ by 1-cos ~ and

simplifying the resulting expressions one obtains the single equation

(6.6.31)

with the following definitions:

(6.6.32a)

(6.6.32b)

(6.6.32c)

(6.6.32d)

(6.6.32e)

(6.6.32f)

(6.6.32g)

(6.6.32h)

(6.6.32i)
 347

Squaring both sides of eq. (6.6.31) and simplifying the resulting expression

leads to

8
l: o (6.6.33)
i=O

where

2 2
bO-cO (6.6.34a)

2 (b ob 1-c Oc 1 ) (6.6" 34b)

(6.6.34c)

(6.6.34d)

(6.6.34e)

(6.6.34f)

(6.6.34g)

(6.6.34h)

(6.6.34i)

The real roots of eq. (6.6.33) provide the global maximum of ! and the
global minimum of L. These values are then substituted into relation {6.6.27}

to prove the feasibility of the linkage, i.e. the full rotatability of its

input link.

The synthesis procedure is next outlined. Since Table 6.6.2 contains five

input-output pairs, n is set equal to 5 in eq. (6.6.26). This equation,

contains 8 unknowns, namely k i (i=1,2, ••. ,8). Hence, the designer can choose

freely three of these unknowns. These are not arbitrarily chosen, however.

Instead, they are chosen so as to render the objective function z, given

in expression (6.6.27), a minimum. By inspection of transformation (5.2.21),

348

one can readily notice that kS' k6 and k7 contain only the angles a 4 , ~o

and W00 Thus, these angles are henceforth chosen as the decision variables.

Once these are defined, kS,k6 and k7 are uniquely determined. The remaining

unknowns, k 1 , k 2 , k 3 , k4 and kS are computed by solving the system of S

linear equations arising by substituting the S input-output pairs of Table

6.6.2 into eq. (6.6.26). Thus, one obtains the linear system

~~ !? (6.6.3S)

where
T
x (k1 ,k2,k3,k4,kS)T, b (b 1 ,b 2 , b 3 , b 4 , b S) (6.6.36a)
-
with

b, c~,cW,+kSc~,sW,+k6s~,cW,+k7s~,sW" j=1,2, ... ,S (6.6.36b)

J JJ JJ JJ JJ
and

cW 1 sW 1 c~l s~l

cW 2 SW 2 c~2 s~2

A cW 3 SW 3 c~3 s~3 (6.6.36c)

cW 4 SW 4 c~4 s~4

cWS sWS c~s s~S

From expression (6.6.27a), the mechanical advantage is obtained as

sW(k1-k6s~-c~)+cW(kSc~+k7s~-k2)
v (6.6.37)
s~(kSsW+cW-k3)+c~(k4-k6cW-k7s~)

where W is computed for a given value of ~ from manipulation of eq. (6.6.26),

as
-1 ~
W = 2tan (-B ~ IB~-AC) (6.6.3S)

In the latter expression, the two arising values of W correspond to the

conjugate configurations of the linkage. In this equation,

(6.6.39a)
 349

B k 2 -k 5 c4>-k 7 s4> (6.6.39b)

c {k3-1)c4>-{k4-k6)s4>+k8+k1 (6.6.39c)

The OPTIM package, refered to in Example 6.6.1, was used also to solve the

present problem. This requires that the decision variables be bounded from

below and from above. In this problem, these variables are then bounded as

(6.6.40)

This way the optimisation problem is now fully stated as a nonlinear

programming problem. This reads: "Minimize z as given by eq. (6.6.27)

subject to the 5 equality constraints (6.6.35) and to the inequality con-

straints (6.6.28) and {6.6.40)."

OPTIM requires that the user provides one vertex of the inicial feasible

complex. This was generated randonly, as

(6.6.41 )

In Table 6.6.4 it appears that the linkage corresponding to the second

vertex is identical to that corresponding to the first one. They are distinct

linkages, however, the differences not showing up on the values of 4>0' Wo

and a 4 because of the few digits that are shown. These differences are more

apparent regarding their dimensions. Moreover, it should also be pointed

out that all dimensions are shown normalised with respect to a 4 , for which

reason this dimension appears as unity.

The values of the objective function at each vertex are shown in Table

6.6.3.

TABLE 6.6.3 Values of the objective function at each of the vertices

of the initial complex

Vertex No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Objective
function z 1.6680 1.6684 0.1261 2.6544 0.5692 0.2962
350

The procedure converged after 29 iterations, the results being as follows:

Optimising values of the decision variables:

~o = 99.25°, ~o = 164.10° , a 4 = 127.65°

Dimensions of the optimal linkage:

0.5421, a2 5.5912, a3 4.1482

1.0000, s1 1.3605, s4 1.0443

which yielded the following synthesis:

k1 0.6308, k2 1.5879, k3 = 1.1225, k4 = 0.2112

(6.6.42)
k5 0.2645, k6 0.2549, k7 1.0000, k8 = 0.1010

These values, in turn, yield the following linkage dimensions (units of

lenghth) :

a 1 = 1.1926, a 2 20.8425, a 3 1.3684, a 4 1.0, s1 12.4786,

s4 =- 8.3149 (6.6.43)

The OPTIM package automatically generates the other vertices of the initial

complex. It sets the number of such vertices equal to 2n which, for this

case, turns to be 6. The linkage described in (6.6.41) constitutes "the

first vertex" of the complex, the remaining ones appearing in Table 6.6.4.

TABLE 6.6. 4 Vertices of the initial complex

Vertex No.: 2 3 4 5 6

~o{:rad) 0.6585 1.0320 1.5161 2.6494 2.4538

1/JO(rad) 5.3706 3.5938 3.9932 0.5924 2.2177

a 4 (rad) 3.2774 1.8604 3.0576 3.4032 2.5130

a1 1.1928 -6.6129 2.7135 0.6063 0.3260
a2 20.8370 19.4400 72.3380 5.3733 11 .5010
a3 1.3683 1.4976 2.8904 0.8742 6.9070
a4 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000

s1 12.4760 18.6670 -40.071 -5.1756 -0.4219

s4 -8.3120 -1.1086 32.102 -0.0098 8.2980

 ~1

The minimum value attained by the objective function was z=O.0587. Hence,

the procedure reduced z to a 3.5% of its initial value.

The complex method has already been successfully applied to the optimal

synthesis of plane linkages in connection with the problem of path

generation (6.25).
352

REFERENCES

6.1 Athans M. and P.L. Falb, Optimal Control, McGraw-Hill Book Co., N.York,
1966.

6.2 Halmos P.R., Introduction to Hilbert Space, Chelsea Publishing Co.,

N. York, 1957, p. 17

6.3 Bowen R. M. and C. Wang, Introduction to Vectors and Tensors, Linear

and Multilinear Algebra, vol. 1, Plenum Press, N. York, 1976.

6.4 Tomas J., "The synthesis of mechanisms as a nonlinear mathematical

programming problem", Journal of Mechanisms, vol. 3, 1968, pp 30,
119-130

6.5 Sub C. H. and A.W. Mecklenburg, "Optimal design of mechanisms with

the use of matrices and least squares", Mechanism and Machine Theory,
vol. 8, 1973, pp 479-495

6.6 Angeles J., "Optimal synthesis of linkages using Househilder reflexions",

Proceedings of the V World Congress of the IFToMM, Montreal, July 8-13,
1979, pp. 111-114

6.7 Fox R.L. and K.C. Gupta, "Optimization technology as applied to

mechanism design", Journal of Engineering for Industry, Trans. ASME,
Series B, vol. 95, May 1973, pp. 657-663

6.8 Hartenberg R.S. and J. Denavit, Kinematic Synthesis of Linkages,

McGraw-Hill Book Co., N. York, 1964, p. 297

6.9 Alizade R.I., I.G. Novruzbekov and G.N. Sandor, "Optimization of

four-bar function generating mechanisms using penalty functions with
inequality and equality constraints", Mechanism and Machine Theory,
vol. 10, 1975, pp. 327-336

6.10 Fiacco A.V. and G.P. McCormick, Nonlinear Programming, Sequential

Unconstrained Minimization Techniques, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
N. York, 1968

6.11 Fletcher R. and C.M. Reeves, "Function minimization by conjugate

gradients", Computer Journal, vol. 7, No.4, 1964, pp. 149-154

6.12 Powell M. J. D., "An efficient method for finding the minimum of a
function of several variables without calculating derivatives",
Computer Journal, vol. 7, No.4, 1964, pp. 155-162

6.13 Kuester J.L. and J.H. Mize, Optimization Techniques with Fortran,
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1973, pp. 412-463

6.14 Velasco-Levy A. and A. Montalvo, Algoritmo de Tunelizacion para la

Optimizacion Global de Funciones, Comunicaciones Tecnicas, IIMAS-UNAM,
vol. 10, No. 204, 1979.
 353.

6.15 Suh C.-H. and C.W. R~dcliffe, K~nematics and Mechanisms Design, John
Wilex and Sons, Inc., N. York, 1978, ~V. 221-235

6.16 Zoutendijk G., Methods of Feasible Directions, Elsevier publishing

Company, Amsterdam, 1960.

6.17 Glass H. and L. Cooper, "Sequential search: A method for solving

constrained optimization problems", Journal of the ACM, vol. 12, No.1,
1965, pp. 94-120

6.18 Rosen J.B., "The gradient projection method for nonlinear programming,
Part I, Linear constraints", Journal of the SIAM, vol. 8, 1960, pp

6.19 Rosen J.B., "The gradient projection method for nonlinear programming,
Part II, Non-Linear constraints", Journal of the SIAM, vol. 9, 1961,
pp. 514-532.

6.20 Beveridge G.S.G. and R.S. Schechter, Optimization: Theory and Practice,
McGraw-Hill Book Co., N. York, 1970, pp. 469-472

6.21 Box M. J., "A new method of constrained optimization and a comparison
with other methods", Computer Journal, vol. 8, 1965, pp. 42-52

6.22 Evans L.B., Optimization Techniques for Use in Analysis of Chemical

Processes, A Set of Notes, Massachussetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge (U.S.A.), 1971.

6.23 Murray M.A., E. Chicurel, L.B., Evans, F. Lara, A. Guarda and J.F.
Albarran, Aplicaciones de Computacion a la Ingenierla, Limusa, Mexico
City, 1975.

6.24 Rojas A., Slntesis de Mecanismos RSSR generadores de funcion con ventaja
mecan~ca optima, Master's project, Division de Estudios de Posgrado,
Facultad de Ingenierla, UNAM, Mexico City, 1981.

6.25 Dukkipati R.V., Sankar S. and Osman M.O.M., "On the use of complex
method of constrained optimization in linkage synthesis", Proceedings
of the V World Congress on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms,
Montreal, July 8-13, 1979, pV' 382-387.
Appendix!
ALGEBRA OF DYADICS

Let U and V be m- and n- dimens~onal vector spaces over the same field F.

Let U={u ,u 2 , ••. ,u } and v={v 1 ,v , ••. ,v } be bases for each of these
-1 - -m - _2 -n
spaces. The tensor product of U and V, in this order, is a space W repre-

sented as UaV, a basis of which is defined as

Each of or, in general, any expression of the form w=aab, where e£U
~.av.
~ -] -- -
and b£V is refered to as a dyadic. From the above definition, then any

dyadic such as w can be expressed as a linear combination of the dyadics

of W, i.e. as

(A1.1)

Just in the same way as vectors can be expressed as one-dimensional arrays

of numbers (of the field over which the corresponding vector space is

defined), these numbers being the vector components referred to a given

basis, dyadics are also expressed as arrays (in this case, two-dimensional)

of their components. Thus, the above dyadic ~ is represented as

w11 w12 •· .w 1n

(A 1.2)

Hence, dyadics or second-rank tensors, as they are also referred to, are

isomorphic to matrices. In particular, dyadics belonging to the space W

as defined above, are isomorphic to mxn matrices, that is to say, those

operations defined for matrices find their counterparts in the case of

 355

dyadics. For instance, given two dyadics, p and q, both of W, they are

equal if, and only if

i=1, ... ,m; j=l, •.. ,n

where subindices i, j refer to the (i,j)th component of the corresponding

dyadic. The operations of addition of dyadics and multiplication by a

scalar are defined in a similar fashion. Sometimes, for short, a dyadic

aab is represented simply as ~e. The latter practice is followed throughout.

The usual multiplication of a matrix ~ by a vector c corresponds to the

dot multiplication of a dyadic ~~ times the same vector c where the components

of ab are identical to the corresponding entries of A. This product is

represented as

~e·~=(e·~)~

i.e. when a dyadic is dot-m~ltiplied from the right by a vector, the

result is a new vector whose value equals that of the left vector of the

dyadic times the dot product of its right vector and the vector mUltiplying

the dyadic. Similarly, the left dot mUltiplication of a dyadic times a vector

is defined as

~.~I:=(c.a)b

Notice, however, that if ~ and I: are vectors of dimensions m and n,

respectively, then c is n-dimensional in the first case, whereas

m-dimensional in the latter.

Exercise Al.1 Letting U and V be equal to the three-dimensional Euclidean

space, in the foregoing discussion, define the right- and the left- cross

product of a dyadic by a vector.

Given two dyadics, ~~ and ~~, both of the same space W, their product is

the dyadic E defined as

356

- --
E=ab.dc=(b.d)ac

Under the above definition, if W is an mxn dimensional space, dyadic E is

in an mxn dimensional space, thereby paralleling the definition of matrix

mUltiplication. Corresponding to the transpose of a matrix, the transpose

or conjugate of a dyadic ~=~~ is defined as ~c=~~. Self-conjugate and

antiself-conjugate dyadics are the counterparts of symmetric and anti symmetric

matrices. Clearly, square matrices correspond to dyadics arising from the

tensor products of one vector space times itself. The trace of such a dyadic

is defined in a similar fashion to that of a square matrix. Letting this

dyadic be eP, its trace is then

Tr(ab)=a.b.=a.b
-- 1 1 - -

Similarly to the way the trace of a dyadic is defined, the vector of a

3x3 dyadic is given as

Exercise A1.2 Show that the vector of a nonzero 3x3 dyadic vanishes if
I
the dyadic is self-conjugate

Exercise A1.3 Define a suitable inner product of dyadic that allows you

to define the angle between two dyadics. Hence show that self-conjugate

and antiself-conjugate dyadics are orthogonal.

IExercise A1.4 How could you define the magnitude of a dyadic?

In just the same way as dyadics were defined, n-adics can be defined as

the tensor product of n vector spaces. The study of such algebraic entities

falls into the realm of multilinear algebra. The topic is widely discussed

in reference A1.1

REFERENCES

A1.1 Bowen R.M. and C.C. Wang, Introduction to Vectors and Tensors, vol. I,

Plenum Press, N. York, 1976.

Appendix 2

DERIVATIVE OF A DETERMINANT WITH RESPECT TO A SCALAR ARGUMENT.

THEOREM AI. 1 La 6=6 (~) be a. ~c.ahvt 6uncti.on 06 an nxn mat;/t,ix aJtgument A.

La ~ .i.n tUlUt be a. ma.tJr..ix 6uncti.on 06 a. ~c.ahvt aJtgument t, L e. l a ~=~ (t) •
•
The tota.£. deMva:ti.ve 06 6 wUh lL~pec;t to t, denoted by 6 (t), -fA g-l.ven by

i (t) =TIL{-~i(A (t)) T}

Proof:

Applying the "chain rule",

at da 1n
f' (t)=df = ~ da H + ~ da 2i + +---- (A2.2)
dt aa 1i dt aa 2i dt aa 1n dt

By means of the index notation then, the right hand side of eq. (A2.1) can

be simplified as

at da"
f' (t)= - - dt F (A2.3)
aa ..
J~

On the other hand, defining the matrices g and Q as

_ ~ _ da ij
C ji - aa" ' d ij - dt (A2.4)
J~

then

c, ,d, ,:Tr(CDT ) (A2.5)

~J J~ --

Substitution of (A2.4) and (A2.5) into eq. (A1.3) leads to

at· T
f' (t)= Tr{(aa.)~ (t) }, q.e.d. (A2.6)

THEOREM AI. 2 La A be an nxn ma.tJr..ix. Iu daeJr.mi.na.n:t -fA a. ~c.ahvt 6uncti.on

06 a. ma;(;.IUx aJtgument whou deMva:ti.ve W-i:th lL~pect to ~ -fA a. ma;(;.IUx who~e

(-l., j) element -fA g-l.ven M

-1
(de..~) (~ ) j-l.
Cla. • '
..tj
358

Proof:

'
Expan d 1ng d th co 1 umn,
et A'1n terms 0 f t h e co f actors 0 f"1ts 1--

(A2.7)

where, according to the procedure to compute a ~eterminant, the repeated index

does not imply sum, as it usually does in the contex of the index notation.

Without having to resort to the index notation, the right hand side of

eq. (A2.7) can be written in the compact form (i refers to any particular row)

detA=I:a, ,c, , (A2.8)

- j 1J 1J

Differentiating the above expression with respect to a ij ,

CldetA
---=
Cla
c
ij ij

Letting ~ be the matrix whose (i,j) entry is c,' eq. (A2.9) can be written
1J
in the form

CldetA
~=c (A2.10)

On the other hand, since the inverse of A is given as

-1
A (A2. 11)
detA
then
-1 T
C= (detA) (A ) (A2.12)

Substituting (A2.12) into eq. (A2.10), yields then

-1 T
~ = (detA) (A ) , q.e.d. (A2.13)

THEOREM A'Z. 3 Let ~ be. an nxn maVU.x 6u.nc;Uon 06 a. .6c.ai.a1t altgume.nt :to
The. deM.va;t,[ve. 06 d~ wilh Jtupe.et :to :t i.A given a..6
 359

the proof of Theorem A2.3 follows directly from Theorems A.2.1. and A.2.2,

and is left as an exercise.

Exercise A2.1 Prove Theorem A2. 3

Appendix 3

COMPUTATION OF EijkEtmn

Let !,~,~ (alternatively ~,~,~) be values attained by an arthogonal basis

E={~1'~2'~3}. Thus,

Eijk=det ~ (A3.1)

where the brackets contain 3x3 matrices whose rows are the components of

each of the corresponding vectors. Hence

'ijk'lmn=det :~::]det[:i::]
Since transposing a matrix does not alter the value of its determinant,

the latter expression can be written as

Now, introducing the fact that the product of the determinants of two

matrices equals the determinant of the product (A3.1),

-d {r.T:
EijkEtmn- et l~ ,J,
.T:kT)[-~:-
_~ __
]}=

iT,t ~T~ kT,t

=det iTm
.T
~ ~
.T .T
~ n J n
 361

Expanding the above determinant with respect to its first row,

which is the sought expression

REFERENCES

A3.1 Halmos P.R., Finite-Dimensional Vector Space, Springer-Verlag,

N.York, 1974, p.99.

Appendix 4

SYNTHESIS OF PLANE LINKAGES FOR RIGID BODY GUIDANCE.

Referring to Fig A4.1, let X,Y be rectangular cartesian coordinate axes

fixed to the rigid body that is intended to be guided through a sequence of

n configurations under plane motion. In that figure, XO'Y o correspond to

the said axes in their reference configuration, whereas X"Y, correspond

J J
'
t o t h e1r ,th con f'19urat10n.
J-- , Ang 1 e e ,measures th "
e or1entat1on 0 f the o
b dy
J
in the jth configuration with respect to the reference one.

Fig A4.1 Rigid-body guidance through n configurations under plane motion

In Fig A4.1 let A and B be the circular and center points of Burmester

theory (A4.1),i.e. all positions AO,A 1 , ... ,An of point A lie on a circle

centered at B. Let r, (j=1, •.• ,n) denote the complex number corresponding
J
to point Rj in the complex plane. Complex numbers aO,bO,aj,b j are defined

corrrespondingly. Clearly, from Fig A4.1,

(M.1 )

Hence

(M.2)
 363

But
. a'
a =e~ J a (A4.3)
j 0

Thus, eq. (A4.2) becomes

. a'
b =(1-e~ J)a +b -r (A4.4)
j 0 0 j

Since all points A. lie on a circle centered at B,

J
Ilb j 112=ll b 0 11 2 (A4.5)

and substituting eq. (A4.4) into eq. (A4.5),

ia j 2 2 .
11(1-e )ao+bo-rjll =llbOII ,J=1, •.. ,n (A4.6)

The corresponding synthesis equations for spatial mechanisms derived in

section 5.4 is next reproduced for quick reference

(A4.7)

utilizing the result of Exercise 2.3.8, Q. can be written as

~J

(A4.8)

Introducing eq. (A4.8) into eq. (A4.7), one finally obtains

A.a. 2 2
II (!_e- J J)aO+bo-r.11 =11!?oll , j=1, ... ,n (A4.9)
- - -J

The striking formal similitude between the plane and the space synthesis

equations for rigid-body guidance is thus made apparent by eqs. (A4.6)

and (A4.9)

REFERENCES

A4.1 Burmester R., Lehrbuch der Kinematik vol. 1, "Die ebene Bewegung",

Verlag von Arthur Felix, Berlin, 1886.

Subject Index

Acceleration Complex 338, 342

angular 158 initial 35,0
Coriolis 163, 164 Constraint 168
distribution 157, 159 inequality 321, 328, 330,
normal 158 332
pole 161 Cooper L. 335
tangential 158
Analog realisation 205, Damping 43, 49
206, 207 Decomposition
Cartesian 16, 80
LU 30
Basis 3 Degree of freedom 168, 173
change of 9 idle 178
orthonormal 60 Denavit and Hartenberg's
BoxM. J. 338 method 189, 214
Determinant
Canonical form 65, 70 derivative of 234, 357
Chain Dimension 3
classification 176 of a kinematic pair 173
closed 167 Displacement 87
exceptional 178 minimum-norm 88, 90
kinematic 167 slide 107
open 167, 215 Diagonalization 12
paradoxical 178, 184 Domain 4
trivial 178 Dyad 169, 246
Chebyshev formula 179 R-R 274, 275, 277, 304,
Characteristic poly- 310
nomial 8 R-S 272
Cofactor 358 s-s 270, 271, 286, 287
 365

Dyadic 354 Group 76, 77

algebra of 354 of rotations 76
antis elf-conjugate 356 of symmetry 75, 77
conjugate 356
identity 255 Hermitian 16
notation 66 matrix 17
rotation 68 skew 16, 17
self-conjugate 356
Identification 187
Eigenvalue 7, 8, 70 Image 4
Eigenvector 7, 8 Index notation 358
Endomorphism 7 Inequality
Euler L. Schwarz's 19
angles of 77, 83 triangle 20
theorem of 61, 64, 67 Instantaneous screw 128
Extremum 23 axis 128, 129
parameters 137
Fiacco A. V. 323 Inverse 5
Field 1 Moore-Penrose generaliz-
Finite-dimensional vector ed 27, 278
space 3 pseudo 27, 29
Fletcher R. 326 Invertible 5
Form Isometry 20
bilinear 14
quadratic 16 Kinematic pair
Freudenstein F. 312, 316 classification 168
Function cylindric 169, 172
generation 187, 219 lower 167, 168, 170
scalar 22 planar 169, 172
prismatic 168, 169
Gauss' algorithm 30 revolute 168
Glass H. 335 screw 168, 172
Gradient 22, 42 spherical 169, 172
Grashoff's conditions 321 upper 167, 168
366

Kinematics 57 single-loop 214

rigid-body 57 synthesis 186, 219
Kuhn-Tucker conditions Loop 167
337 multiple 167
Kutzbach-GrUbler formula single 167
179
Magnitude 20
Lagrange multipliers 28, Manipulator 215
50 Mathematical programming
Least-square 296
non-linear 300, 305 Matrix 12
problem 298, 299 function 358
solution 299, 309 Hessian 23, 24, 318, 326
Liaison 174 idempotent 75
Linear improper orthogonal 61
combination 2 Jacobian 42, 261, 262, 326
dependence 3 lower triangular 14
independence 3 negative definite 16, 24
system, overdetermined nillpotent 14
31, 38 of angular acceleration 158
transformation 3 of angular velocity 120
Link 167 orthogonal 13, 20, 21
Linkage 167 positive definite 16, 24
analysis 186 proper orthogonal 61
multiple-loop 214 representation 3, 6
optimisation 296, 321 revolute 61, 70
RRRR plane 300, 312, 313, rotation 65, 68, 80
321, 339, 362 semidefinite 17, 18, 24
RRRR spatial 258 symmetric 12, 13
RRRR spherical 209, 210 unitary 20, 21
RRSS 285, 288, 289 Maximum 23
RSCR 206 local 22, 23
RSRC 200, 203, 204, 205 McCormick G. P. 323
RSSR 222, 230, 231, 239, Mechanical advantage 243,
299, 343 345
 367

Mechanism 167, 168 Norm 20

Bennett 258, 267, 268 Euclidean 20
Mecklenburg A. W. 299 minimum 50
Methods
analog computer 202 Objective function 294
complex 332, 338, 351 OPTIM package 339, 341, 349,
direct 30, 322, 332 350
exterior penalty function Optimisation problem 295,
322, 324, 325 298
feasible directions 332, unconstrained 298
333
gradient projection 332, Path generation 187, 219,
336 258, 284, 288
interior penalty function Point
322, 323, 325, 329 saddle 22, 23
iterative 30 stationary 22, 23
penalty function 321, 322 Powell M. J. D. 299, 327
Minimum 23 Problem
local 22, 23 quadratic programming 28,
quadrratic error 219 50
Mobility analysis 243 Product
Moving observer 124, 163 inner 2, 16, 19,20
Multiplicity scalar 2, 16, 19, 20
algebraic 8
geometric 9
Range 4, 7
Newton-Raphson method 41, Redundancy 168
43, 202, 298, 318, 320, Reeves C. M. 326
326, 331 Reflection 61
convergence criterion 43 Householder 31, 35, 299
Nonlinear system 39, 45, 46, Region
202 allowable 322
overdetermined 44, 51 feasible 322, 338
underdetermined 50 Regula-falsi algorithm 233
368

Rigid body 57 Solution

general motion 85, 86, 126, least-square 38, 51
159, 174 minimum-norm 89, 278
guidance 187, 219, 246, nonlinear least-square 44
270, 300, 304, 362 numerical 29, 39
Kinematics 57 Space 1
motion 57, 58, 59, 61, 86 linear 1
plane motion 157 null 7
pure rotation 85 spectral 8
pure translation 85 vector 1
rotation 61 Spin 120
Rodrigues' formula 80, 90 Subgroup 169, 175
Rosen J. B. 336 product 176
Rotation Subroutine
about a point 67 CROSS 117, 142, 266, 267
angle of 64, 69, 92 DECOMP 30, 31, 33, 226, 227
axis of 64, 89, 92 DFDX 262, 265, 266
group 76 EXCHGE 116, 142
instantaneous axis of 122, FUN 262, 264
155, 156 HECOMP 36, 37, 298, 299
pure 98, 99 HOLVE 36, 38, 298, 299
Roth B. 258, 260 INSCRU 142-148
NLLS 305-307
Screw 90, 93 NRDAMC 50, 52, 53, 299, 300,
axis 87, 90 305
composition 251 NRDAMP 44, 47, 48, 260, 261,
motion 93 262, 320
parameters 99 SCAL 117,142
Search SCREW 110-116, 259
direction 333 SOLVE 31, 34, 226, 227
distance 333 ZERDET 236-238
Simplex 338 Suh C.-H. 258, 260, 299
Sliding 130 Synthesis equation 257
 369

Synthesis of linkages 187, invertible linear 21

219 linear 3
approximate 187 one-to-one 5
exact 187 onto 4
finitely-separated 187 similarity 11
infinitesimally-separated translating-screw 173
187, 239, 291 Translating
optimal 294 gimbal 174
overdetermined 296 screw 173
underdetermined 309 Translation
System plane 173
linear algebraic 25, 29 spatial 173
overdetermined 25 Transmission angle 242, 314,
322
Taylor series 23, 42 optimal 339
Tensor Tree-diagram 99, 100, 137,
product 354 138
second-rank 354 Tsar L. W. 259, 260
Theorem
Aronhold-Kennedy 150, 153
cayley-Hamilton 13 Universal joint 198
Chasles 85, 87, 91
Coriolis 163, 164 value
projection 29 singular 30
Roberts-Chebyshev 184 vector
three-center 157 space 1, 295
Trace 11 Velocity 120, 121
of the rotation matrix 66 angular 120, 121, 123
Transformation distribution 149
affine 189, 191 relative 126
identity 173 relative angular 126
identity affine 191
inverse affine 191 zoutendijk G. 333