Carlos Alvaro

Arroyo Parejo

Advanced Flight Mechanics

Linearization of the Simple Pendulum

The geometry of the problem is described in Figure 1. For this problem, we are not going to consider aerodynamic
effects.
The equations for the position, velocity and acceleration are given as follows
r = lur

r = lu
l2 ur

r = lu
With these equations, we obtain a nonlinear differential equation of motion of the pendulum (tangential
component u ).
g
+ sin = 0
l

Figure 1: Simple pendulum

In order to linearize this equation we are going to do two steps:
1. Find the equilibrium positions.
2. Linearize the equation about these equilibrium positions.
The equilibrium positions can be obtained knowing that at equilibrium = 0. Thus
g
= 0 sin = 0 eq = 0, 1
l
For the linearization


g
= 0 +
0 + + sin(0 + ) = 0
= 0 +
l

where
sin(0 + ) = sin0 cos + cos0 sin
knowing that for small angles, i.e. , we have that
sin
cos 1
Hence

g
0 + + (sin0 + cos0 ) = 0
l
Finally, doing an appreciation between the zero-order terms and the first-order terms
g
Zero-order: 0 + sin0 = 0 2
l

= = 0 + g = 0

0
eq
g
Equilibrium
l
First-order: + cos0
g
P ositions

0 = eq = = 0
l

1 Note
2 This

that there are infinite equilibrium positions since sin = 0 = n where n is an integer number.
equation for equilibrium position, i.e. 0 = eq = 0, , does not provide any information.

Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering Dept.

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