The Non-Smooth Problem of Wheel Motion

Abstract

Planar motion of a non-deformable wheel under the action of non-ideal unilateral constraints is considered. The mathematical description of this phenomenon has a form of a non-smooth initial value problem. The non-smoothness of this problem means that its solution is determined by an absolutely continuous function having a discontinuous first derivative. For this reason, a collision problem describing abrupt changes of velocity has been formulated next to the equations of motion specifying the acceleration. The non-idealness of constraints means that the constraint reaction force includes also a component resulting from the friction between the wheel and the constraints. Differential equations specifying acceleration of the wheel making contact with the constraints and algebraic equations for determining the changes in the wheel’s velocity at the moment of collision have been formulated in the paper. The principal task in these formulations is to determine the reaction forces of the considered constraints. This task is specified by the relationships between acceleration and the constraint reaction force components. In the description of the collision, these relations refer to the post-collision velocities and reaction force impulses. For determining an approximate solution of the formulated wheel motion problem, an original numerical method and a computer program for wheel motion simulation have been developed. Selected results illustrating the changes in displacements and velocity have been presented.