MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
ME450
Modeling of Dynamic
Systems
Instructor: Dr. A. Scott Lewis ARL Science Park Building 814-865-0962
(Science Park Road)
E-Mail: asl103@psu.edu
Lecture Content
• Course Overview
• Organization
• Course Objectives
• Grading Policy and Exams
• Homework
• Schedule/Important Dates (See syllabus for details)
• Intro to CANVAS
• Examples
2
Course Organization
• Course Material
• Lecture notes will be posted on CANVAS with and without
narration on my part
• Official Textbook:
• System Dynamics, W. J. Palm III, McGraw-Hill, 4th Ed., 2021.
• Other References:
• Dynamic Modeling and Control of Engineering Systems, 3rd Ed. by
Kulakowski, Gardner and Shearer, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• Available in pdf form:
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dynamic-modeling-and-control-of-
engineering-systems/5C443FF03E284D43C0B58BB7D51026DA
3
CANVAS Overview
4
Course Objectives
1. Derive equations describing the transient behavior for various
engineering systems through the application and integration of
physical principles.
2. Recognize energy storage elements for various engineering systems
and determine the order of a system.
3. Solve the equation of motion (typically a first-order or second-order
ordinary differential equation) to obtain the time-dependent
response.
4. Analyze the time-dependent response of generic types of first and
second order systems for various inputs.
5. Draw block diagrams representing the dynamics of complex systems
(multiple ODEs).
6. Use MATLAB to analyze and simulate the response of a dynamic
system.
7. Analyze the response of systems under various harmonic inputs and
represent the frequency-dependent response of these systems.
8. Understand basic concept of feedback control applied to simple linear 5
time invariant systems.
Grading Policy
• Students will be graded based on an absolute grading scale:
(See Syllabus for Details)
• Assignments will be weighted as shown on the syllabus.
6
Homework
• Software: MATLAB
• This course will teach the use of MATLAB/Simulink for analyzing
and simulating the response of a dynamic system.
• To test this, homework problems will include a computational
component that will require the use of MATLAB/Simulink
• Students will be asked to turn in:
• The Matlab code
• The Simulink model
• All the plots/figures listed in the assignment
• Three options:
1. Purchase software license and run MATLAB on your personal
machine.
2. Use one of the computers in the MNE computer laboratory
3. Use PSU webapp 7
How to be successful in ME450
• Make sure that you review the prerequisites, we will use a lot of
material from other courses throughout the semester!
• If you don’t know, ask!
• Start early with the homework assignments
• You will need to understand the theory covered in class to solve the
problems (that’s the point…)
• Ask for help the moment you realize that you are falling behind. The
course is fast paced and there is not a lot of time to catch up!
• You will need to put in some extra time outside of class to
completely understand the material covered in class (see above). 8
Other good Suggestions
• Understand instead of memorizing:
• “Take time to fully understand the process of using equations, not
just mindlessly following the examples”
• “Understand solving process, not just what you're solving for”
• “Understand do not memorize”
• Don’t procrastinate and fall behind: it’s hard to catch up!
• “Focus on linearization and understanding state-space because it will
continuously come up throughout the whole semester.”
• “Make sure to learn and understand basic concepts like linearization
when they are taught, not later”
• If you don't understand a concept, don't think you can learn it as the
class goes on. The concepts build on each other
• “If you don't understand start asking questions ASAP”
• Don't be lazy. Skipping quizzes and not trying on homework will 9
affect learning (and the final grade too).
Definition: System
• Combination of elements intended to act together to
accomplish an objective.
• Example:
• A single link in a chain is not a system.
• Multiple links form a chain that has the objective of
transmitting force.
• When the chain is combined with gears, wheels, handlebar,… it
becomes part of a system that has the objective of transport a
person. 10
System Dynamics, W. J. Palm III, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Ed., 2014.
Definition: Input/Output
• The behavior of a system is specified by its input/output
relation:
How the output
𝑦𝑦 = Σ 𝑢𝑢 affect the input
• Example: Bicycle
• Input: Force applied to the pedal 11
• Output: Bicycle speed
Definition: Static/Dynamic
• The output depends on the • The output is function of
current input only. 𝑢𝑢 𝜏𝜏 , 𝜏𝜏 ∈ 𝑡𝑡0 , 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 and 𝑥𝑥 𝑡𝑡0
• Example: • Example:
𝑥𝑥 𝑡𝑡0 = 𝑥𝑥0
𝑦𝑦 𝑡𝑡 = 5𝑢𝑢 𝑡𝑡 + 3
𝑥𝑥̇ 𝑡𝑡 = −𝑥𝑥 𝑡𝑡 + 𝑢𝑢 𝑡𝑡
𝑦𝑦 𝑡𝑡 = 5𝑢𝑢 𝑡𝑡 + 3 12
Basic Concepts: What is a System?
• A combination of components acting together to perform a specific
objective
• Components: Conceptual isolation from the environment or other systems, so
must have a clear boundary, which determines the allowable inputs and
outputs of a system
• Combination: Nontrivial interaction
• A specific objective: Determines the specific input-outputs pair of a system
13
Basic Concepts: What Makes a System Dynamic?
• Dynamic system has significant rate of change, and this change
must be influenced by the past. More specifically, the change of the
system output at a particular time instant, depends both on the
system input at that instant and the states of system.
States
• A recollection or memory of what happened in the past
• Minimum set of variables that describe completely the state of the system
at any given instant of time.
Evolution of the system
• Described by differential equations, for linear/lumped systems, by linear
ODEs
Differential Equations F = m𝑥𝑥̈
System
output Throttle velocity 14
input
position
states position, velocities
Basic Concepts: System
Components
Input • A variable that excites a system
(Cause) • Inputs are not always known beforehand (control vs. disturbance)
• A variable that we observe and/or are interested in (subset of the
Output possible outputs)
(Effect) • Measurements/instrumentation
• Not necessarily what we want to know
• A variable that is used to describes the internal system dynamics
State
• A set of states can be used to fully describe system’s current situation.
• With two identical sets of initial values of states, performance of a
system is the same
• Sometimes, the states of a system cannot be measured
(unobservable) 15
Approach
• System dynamic approach for mechanical systems:
Physical System
Newton’s laws
Equation of Motion
Math operations
Standard Mathematical Models
(Transfer function, impulse
response,…)
16
Analysis
Example: Fluid/Thermal Systems
𝑚𝑚̇ 12
𝑇𝑇1
𝑇𝑇
𝑉𝑉
𝑚𝑚̇ 2 𝑚𝑚̇
𝑇𝑇2
𝑑𝑑
• Conservation of Mass: 𝜌𝜌𝑉𝑉 = 𝑚𝑚̇ 1 𝑡𝑡 + 𝑚𝑚̇ 2 𝑡𝑡 − 𝑚𝑚̇ 𝑡𝑡
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
=0
• Conservation of Energy:
17
𝑑𝑑
𝜌𝜌𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐𝑝𝑝 𝑇𝑇 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑚𝑚̇ 1 𝑡𝑡 𝑐𝑐𝑝𝑝 𝑇𝑇1 + 𝑚𝑚̇ 2 𝑡𝑡 𝑐𝑐𝑝𝑝 𝑇𝑇2 − 𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐
̇ 𝑝𝑝 𝑇𝑇 𝑡𝑡
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
Generalization
• The same approach can be extended to model and analyze
different types of systems
Newton’s laws Physical System
Conservation of mass
Conservation of energy
Kirchhoff's laws
… Governing Equations
Math operations
Standard Mathematical Models
(Transfer function, impulse
response,…)
18
Analysis
Example
19
Example: Cruise Control
𝑑𝑑
𝑚𝑚𝑣𝑣 𝑣𝑣 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐹𝐹𝑡𝑡 𝑡𝑡 − 𝐹𝐹𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑔𝑔 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑑𝑑 𝑡𝑡
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
20
Source: Vehicle Propulsion Systems, L.Guzzella, A. Sciarretta, Springer 2013 (Third
Edition)
Example: Cruise Control
Target vehicle speed Traction
(driver setting) Force Vehicle Speed
Plant Model
𝑑𝑑
𝑚𝑚𝑣𝑣 𝑣𝑣 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐹𝐹𝑡𝑡 𝑡𝑡 − 𝐹𝐹𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑔𝑔 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐹𝐹𝑑𝑑 𝑡𝑡
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
21
Course Objective
• The same generalized procedure is used for control design
Newton’s laws Physical System
Conservation of mass
Conservation of energy
Kirchhoff's laws
… Governing Equations
Math operations
Standard Mathematical Models
(Transfer function, impulse
response,…)
22
Analysis Control Design
