Motion and Machinery:

Displacement, Velocity
and Acceleration,
Linkage and
Constraints
• Displacement - is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from
the initial to the final position of a point P undergoing motion.[1] It
quantifies both the distance and direction of the net or total motion
along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of
the point trajectory.
• Velocity - is the rate of change of its position with respect to a frame
of reference, and is a function of time. Velocity is equivalent to a
specification of an object's speed and direction of motion. Velocity is
a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical
mechanics that describes the motion of bodies.
• Acceleration - is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with
respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities in that they have
magnitude and direction. The orientation of an object's acceleration is
given by the orientation of the net force acting on that object.
• Linkage - is an assembly of bodies connected to manage forces and
movement. The movement of a body, or link, is studied using
geometry so the link is considered to be rigid. The connections
between links are modeled as providing ideal movement, pure
rotation or sliding for example, and are called joints.
• Constraints - refers to demarcations of geometrical characteristics
between two or more entities or solid modeling bodies; these
delimiters are intentional in defining diverse properties of theoretical
physical position and motion, or displacement.
 All parts of a mechanism have displacement,
velocity and acceleration. A mechanism called the
Scotch Yoke explain what is harmonic motion. The
wheel turns at a constant speed and the yoke
moves up and down.
It was shown that the displacement
‘x’, velocity ‘v’ and acceleration ‘a’
of point p was given as follows:
 Displacement in mechanisms are obtained
graphically (from scale drawings) or analytically
or both.
Velocities and accelerations can be
conveniently analyzed graphically by the
“vector-polygon” method or analytically (in case
of plane motion) via complex numbers. In all
cases, the “vector equation of closure” is
utilized, expressing the fact that the mechanism
forms a closed kinematic chain.
Velocity Analysis: Vector-
Polygon Method
•The method is illustrated using a point D on
the connecting rod of a slider-crank
mechanism. The vector-velocity equation for
C is
a vector parallel to line to line AX
Where: = velocity of C
= velocity of B
Velocity Analysis: Complex-Number
Method
Acceleration Analysis: Vector-
Polygon Method
Important Concepts in Velocity
Analysis
• The absolute velocity of any point on a mechanism is
the velocity of that point with reference to ground.
• Relative velocity describes how one point on a
mechanism moves relative to another point on the
mechanism.
• The velocity of a point on a moving link relative to the
point of the link is given by the equation: , where is the
angular velocity of the link and is the distance from
pivot.
Acceleration Components

•Normal Acceleration: =
- Points toward the center of rotation
Tangential Acceleration: =
- In a direction perpendicular to the link
Coriolis Acceleration: =
- In a direction perpendicular to the link
Sliding Acceleration: =
- In the direction of sliding
 A rotating link will produce normal and
tangential acceleration components at any
point a
distance, r, from the rotational pivot of the link.
The total acceleration of that point is the vector
sum of the components.
 The total acceleration of a point is the vector sum of
all applicable acceleration components:
A = An + At + Ac + As
These vectors and the above equation can be broken into
x and y components by applying sines and cosines to the
vector diagrams to determine the x and y components of
each vector. In this way, the x and y components of the
total acceleration can be found.
Linkage Synthesis Problem