Lecture 15.

Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.

Matthew T. Mason

Mechanics of Manipulation
Spring 2012

Some practical
friction tricks.

Todays outline

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.

Friction angle, friction cone.

Moment labeling of friction cone.
Static equilibrium problems.
Some practical friction tricks.

Some practical
friction tricks.

How do you move things around?

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.

I
I

Kinematics, kinematic constraint.

Force.
I
I
I

Force of constraint;
Gravity;
Friction;

Momentum.

Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

How do you know where things are?

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

You put them somewhere, or

you look at them. And then,

they stay put.

Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.

Theorem (Liouvilles theorem)

In a Hamiltonian system (including an energy-conserving
passive mechanical system) the uncertainty, measured
as a probability distribution in phase space, remains
constant as the system evolves.
Energy loss is essential.
Friction and plastic impact are essential.

Some practical
friction tricks.

An alternative reality

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.

What would it be like to live in a world without friction?

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Grabbing anything would be like grabbing a bar of

soap.

No tables. Bowls? Tables with edges?

Walking wouldnt work. Drill footholds everywhere?

(Youre stranded in the middle of a frozen pond,
perfectly flat and frictionless. Q: How do you get to
shore? A: Throw one of your shoes to the opposite
shore.)

What would feet and hands look like?

With no gravity? Where do you look for lost items?

On the space shuttle, they find lost articles at the AC
intake grille.

Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Overview

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.

Friction is complex and difficult to model.

We will focus on simple approximations: generally,

Coulombs law of sliding friction, with known uniform
coefficient of friction.

Applied with common sense, this model is good

enough to explore problems, and perform useful
manipulation.

But, know the limits.

Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Lecture 15.
Friction

An experiment, in the style of Coulomb

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

Clean surfaces, but not too

cleandry, unlubricated.
Pull on string with force fa ,
ramping up from 0.

Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.

Friction force ff will balance fa , up

to a point.
Max ff when not moving: s mg.

fa

ff

mg

Some practical
friction tricks.

ff

s mg
d mg

Max ff when moving: d mg.

fa

From now on we will assume

s = d = .

Static equilibrium
problems.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Coulombs observations
Coulomb conducted hundreds of experiments, and over a
broad range of conditions he observed:
I

Frictional force is approximately independent of

contact area.

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.

Frictional force is approximately independent of

velocity magnitude.

Static equilibrium
problems.

Coefficient of friction depends on pairs of materials.

Some practical
friction tricks.

Materials
metal on metal
rubber on concrete
plastic wrap on lettuce
Leonardos number

0.150.6
0.60.9? 1.02.0?

0.25

(Do not believe these numbers!)

Apply Coulombs law with care

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.

It holds over a broad range, but not nearly

everywhere.

It is approximate.

Coefficients of friction tables are terrible.

How can you use something so unreliable?

But, how can you not use it?

Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Contact modes

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.

We can write Coulombs law:

x
x
fn
<0
ft = fn
left sliding
>0
ft = fn right sliding
x
= 0 < 0 ft = fn
left sliding
= 0 > 0 ft = fn right sliding
= 0 = 0 |ft | |fn | rest
and define contact mode to be the right columnleft
sliding, etc.

Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

ft

Lecture 15.
Friction

Friction angle
Block at rest on plane with angle
:

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.

fn = mg cos

Moment labeling of
friction cone.

ft = mg sin
fn

Static equilibrium
problems.

At rest |ft | fn . Maximum :

ft

ft = fn
Substituting,
mg sin = mg cos
= tan1
Sometimes called the friction
angle or the angle of repose.

mg

Some practical
friction tricks.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Friction cone

Motivating friction.

Definition

Coulombs Law.

Define the friction cone to be the set of

all wrenches satisfying Coulombs law
for an object at rest, i.e. satisfying

2 tan 1

Friction angle,
friction cone.

fn

|ft | |fn |
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The friction cone is a polyhedral convex cone in

wrench space.

We can restate Coulombs law using contact modes

Left sliding:
fn + ft right edge of friction cone
Right sliding: fn + ft left edge of friction cone
Rest:
fn + ft friction cone

Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.

ft

Some practical
friction tricks.

Moment labeling of friction cone

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Friction cone is positive linear

span of left edge unit vector and
right edge unit vector.

Moment labeling

Static equilibrium problems.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

Given a mobile body, several frictional contacts, and

an applied force, is equilibrium possible?
I

Approach: use moment labelling to identify all

feasible contact wrenches; test whether one of them
balances the applied force.

Caveat A: Presence of balancing wrench in the cone

does not imply nature will select that wrench. See
the wedged plank example (static indeterminacy).

Caveat B: Even if equilibrium is attained, stability

may not be. Stability requires more careful analysis,
depending on hypothesized disturbances.

Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Pipe clamp design problem

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

Why does pipe clamp work?

Let diameter be 2 cm.

Let length be 2 cm.

Moment labeling of
friction cone.

Assume of 0.25.

Static equilibrium
problems.

Find min moment arm.

Some practical
friction tricks.

Extend to woodpecker toy?

Friction angle,
friction cone.

fc1
f1

fa

f2
fc2

Block on table

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Wedged plank and piranha

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Triangle and three fingers.

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.
Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.

Friction tricks

Lecture 15.
Friction

Motivating friction.
Coulombs Law.

I
I

Measuring the coefficient of friction.

Driving
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Coulombs law doesnt work so well for rubber on

concrete;
Theory suggests you dont spin your wheels. Almost
always spinning is bad.
But sometimes, in snow or mud, spinning is a good
idea.
You can push a car sideways, if the wheels are
spinning, turning sliding friction into viscous friction.

Reducing imprecision due to friction: dithering.

Reducing imprecision due to friction: impact.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and

practice.
In practice, there is.Anonymous

Friction angle,
friction cone.
Moment labeling of
friction cone.
Static equilibrium
problems.
Some practical
friction tricks.