Differential equation: spring-mass system

jonnburton

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Dec 16, 2012
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I have been following the explanation of this topic in my book and there are a couple of things that I don't understand. I wondered if anyone could help me clear these things up.

The solution to the differential equation governing the spring-mass system is:

\(\displaystyle u =e^{-\frac{t}{16}} \left(2cos\frac{\sqrt{255}}{16}t + \frac{2}{\sqrt{255}}sin\frac{\sqrt255}{16}t\right)\)

The book says this is equal to \(\displaystyle \frac{32}{\sqrt{255}}e^{-\frac{t}{16}}cos\left(\frac{\sqrt{255}}{16}t - \delta\right)\)

Where \(\displaystyle \delta = 0.625\)

I don't really see how this can be, because the above equation appears to be of the form \(\displaystyle cos\beta cos\alpha + sin\beta sin\alpha\), as opposed to \(\displaystyle cos\beta cos\alpha - sin\beta sin\alpha\). So I would have said the solution reduces to:\(\displaystyle \frac{32}{\sqrt{255}}e^{-\frac{t}{16}}cos\left(\frac{\sqrt{255}}{16}t + \delta\right)\)



One other problem that I'm not sure how to approach is
is to find \(\displaystyle \tau\) such that \(\displaystyle |u(t)|<0.1\) for all \(\displaystyle \tau>t\)

The only way I can see how to do this calculation is to say (using the book's equation from above):

\(\displaystyle 0.1=\frac{32}{\sqrt255}e^{-\frac{t}{16}} cos\left(\frac {\sqrt255}{16}t -0.0625\right)\)

\(\displaystyle \frac{0.1\sqrt{255}}{32}=e^{-\frac{t}{16}}cos\left(\frac{\sqrt255}{16}-0.0625\right)\)


However, from this I can see no way to isolate t.
 
I have just realised the answer to the first part of my post: I had copied down the identities for \(\displaystyle cos(A \pm B)\) wrong... So I can see how the solution reduces to what the book says.

I still can't see how to solve for t ​though.
 
I have been following the explanation of this topic in my book and there are a couple of things that I don't understand. I wondered if anyone could help me clear these things up.



One other problem that I'm not sure how to approach is
is to find \(\displaystyle \tau\) such that \(\displaystyle |u(t)|<0.1\) for all \(\displaystyle \tau>t\)

The only way I can see how to do this calculation is to say (using the book's equation from above):

\(\displaystyle 0.1=\frac{32}{\sqrt255}e^{-\frac{t}{16}} cos\left(\frac {\sqrt255}{16}t -0.0625\right)\)

\(\displaystyle \frac{0.1\sqrt{255}}{32}=e^{-\frac{t}{16}}cos\left(\frac{\sqrt255}{16}-0.0625\right)\)


However, from this I can see no way to isolate t.

The best way to solve these problems is to approximate the answer using a graphical method then improve the accuracy of the answer by using a numerical method such as Newton's method (or use MS-Excel and use solver utility).
 
The best way to solve these problems is to approximate the answer using a graphical method then improve the accuracy of the answer by using a numerical method such as Newton's method (or use MS-Excel and use solver utility).

Thanks Subhotosh. So I was barking up the wrong tree trying to isolate the variable t. I'll have to look into the other methods.
 
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