CME 102 – Ordinary Differential Equations for Engineers https://stanford.

edu/~shervine

VIP Cheatsheet: Applications Spring-mass system

r Free undamped motion – A free undamped spring-mass system of mass m and spring
coefficient k follows the ODE x00 + m
k
x = 0, which can be written as a function of the natural
frequency ω as:
Shervine Amidi r
k
x00 + ω 2 x = 0 with ω=
June 2, 2018 m

r Free damped motion – A free damped spring-mass system of mass m, of spring coefficient
β 0
k and subject to a friction force of coefficient β follows the ODE x00 + m x +m
k
x = 0, which can
Physics Laws be written as a function of the damping parameter λ and the natural frequency ω as:
r
r Gravitational force – A mass m is subject to the gravitational force F
~g , which is expressed β k
x00 + 2λx0 + ω 2 x = 0 with λ= and ω=
with respect to ~g of magnitude 9.81 m · s−2 and directed towards the center of the Earth, as 2m m
follows:
which has the following cases summed up in the table below:
~g = m~g
F
Condition Type of motion
r Spring force – A spring of constant k and of relaxed position ~
x0 attached a mass m of λ>ω Over damped
position ~
x has a force F
~s expressed as follows:
λ=ω Critically damped
~s = −k(~
F x0 )
x−~ λ<ω Under damped

r Friction force – The friction force Ff of constant coefficient β applied on a mass of velocity r Forcing frequency – A forcing function F (t) is often modeled with a periodic function of
~v is written as: the form F (t) = F0 sin(γt), where γ is called the forcing frequency.

~f = −β~v
F r Forced undamped motion – A forced undamped spring-mass system of mass m and spring
coefficient k follows the ODE x00 + m
k
x = F0 sin(γt), which can be written as a function of the
natural frequency ω as:
r Mass moment of inertia – The mass moment of inertia of a system of mass mi located at r
distance ri from point O, expressed in point O is written as: 00 k
x + ω x = F0 sin(γt)
2
with ω=
X m
J0 = mi ri2
i
which has the following cases summed up in the table below:

Condition Type of motion

r Torque – The torque T~ of a force F
~ located at ~
r from the reference point O is written as:
γ 6= ω General response
T~ = ~ ~
r×F γ≈ω Beats
γ=ω Resonance
r Newton’s second law – A mass m of acceleration ~a to which forces F
~i are applied verifies
the following equation:
r Forced damped motion – A forced damped spring-mass system of mass m, of spring
β 0
coefficient k and subject to a friction force of coefficient β follows the ODE x00 + m x +m
k
x=
X
m~a = ~i
F
F0 sin(γt), which can be written as a function of the damping parameter λ and the natural
i
frequency ω as:
r
– In the 1-D case along the x axis, we can write it as mx00 = Fi . β k
P
00 0
i x + 2λx + ω x = F0 sin(γt)
2
with λ= and ω=
2m m
– In the rotationary case, around point O, we can write it as J0 θ00 = Ti .
P
i

Stanford University 1 Spring 2018

CME 102 – Ordinary Differential Equations for Engineers https://stanford.edu/~shervine

Boundary Value Problems

r Types of boundary conditions – Given a numerical problem between 0 and L, we distin-
guish the following types of boundary conditions:

Name Boundary values

Dirichlet y(0) and y(L)
Neumann y(0) and y 0 (L)
Robin y(0) and αy(L) + βy 0 (L)

r Numerical differentiation – The table below sums up the approximation of the derivatives
of y at point xj , knowing the values of y at each point of a uniformly spaced set of grid points.

Order of derivative Name Formula Order of error

yj+1 − yj
Forward difference yj0 = O(h)
h
y j − yj−1
First derivative Backward difference yj0 = O(h)
h
yj+1 − yj−1
Central difference yj0 = O(h2 )
2h
yj+1 − 2yj + yj−1
Second derivative Central difference yj00 = O(h2 )
h2

r Direct method – The direct method can solve linear ODEs by reducing the problem to the
resolution of a linear system Ay = f , where A is a tridiagonal matrix.
r Shooting method – The shooting method is an algorithm that can solve ODEs through an
iterative process. It uses a numerical scheme, such as Runge-Kutta, and converges to the right
solution by iteratively searching for the missing initial condition y 0 (0).
Remark: in the linear case, the shooting method converges after the first two initial guesses.

Stanford University 2 Spring 2018