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ON THE MOBILITY OF MECHANISMS CONSIDERING THE STATE
OF JOINTS, WITH APPLICATION FOR VEHICLE
George Dobre, Viorel Mateescu, Marin Neacsa,

Mihai Tica

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romnia
KEYWORDS mechanism, mobility, joint, car, axle
ABSTRACT - The paper approaches an interesting aspect: the consideration of the states of
the joints in the calculation of the mechanism mobility. This aspect appears in the operation of
mechanisms modifying the meaning of the classical calculation of their mobility. After an
introduction revealing the subject and the content of the paper, some classical expressions of the
mechanism mobility calculation are discussed. After this, the paper proposes expressions to
calculate the mechanism mobility considering the influence of special factors changing the state
of the mechanism joints. The proposed expression is applied in the particular case of vehicle
(bicycle) mechanism. Final conclusions point out the main aspects treated and results.

INTRODUCTION

The mobility of mechanisms is an important criterion to define the motions of components of
mechanical systems having these structures. The problems connected to the mechanism
mobility were approached in large facets over time (Artobolevskij, before 1965 [3]; Voinea
and Atanasiu, 1959 [13]; Manolescu, 1964 [8]; Manolescu and Manafu, 1972 [9]; Antonescu;
1973 [1] and 1999 [2]; Hunt, 1978 [6]; Baker (1981) [4], Zhao, Zhou and Feng, 2004 [14];
Gogu, 2005 [5], Pennestr et al. 2005 [11] etc.), as concepts, definitions, calculation
expressions and computing modeling. The mobility of mechanisms was generally an object
approached in the general case without considering the influence of different factors over the
relative mobility of components in operation.
The paper tries to consider the influence of special factors as temperature, lubrication, wear,
etc. on the relative motions between the mechanism joint components. These states modify
substantially the behavior of the mechanism and their mobility.
The paper begins with the presentation of some known expressions of the mechanism
mobility calculation. These expressions do not consider the change of the joint states
depending on influence factors. Starting from these preliminaries, the paper proposes derived
expressions for calculation of the mechanism mobility taking into account the states of joints
that lead to the change of the mechanism mobility. The proposed expressions are applied in
the case of mechanisms of a simple vehicle: a bicycle; but the application is possible for other
types of vehicle mechanisms (for example, multi-link axle mechanisms, a future study object
case). The final conclusions reveal the main aspects approached by paper and its results
emphasizing the benefit of using of mechanism mobility expression depending on some states
of joints.


SOME OF MOBILITY EXPRESSIONS

A critical and historical regard over the calculation of the mobility of mechanism is given by
Gogu (2005). Gogu gives a detailed historical overview of mechanism mobility formulas ad
interprets them with discernment; as a result, the analysis of this paper could be carried out by
the interested readers.
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It is very interesting the group of the mechanism mobility calculation mentioned in this paper:
a) the consideration of the kinematic constraint equations and their rank for the given
mechanism position; b) the quick calculation without considering the kinematic constraint
equations. The second criterion will be considered later in the proposal of the paper.
Also, some expressions that will be used in the future proposal of authors are given below.

Expression Hunt. Hunt (1978) [6] gives a more general formula:


= =
=
l
j
j
g
i
i
d f M
1 1
, (1)

where: i is the index of kinematic pair (joint), g , i 1 = , g being the number of kinematic pair
(joint);
j
d - the order of the j loop, l j , 1 = , l being the number of loops. Hunt defines the loop
order as = 6 d , where is k the number of the common constraints of the mechanism.

Expression Visa. For any mechanisms, Visa et al. (2004) [11] give the following mobility
expression adapted to the notations used in (1):


= =
=
l
j
j
g
i
i
S f M
1 1
, (2)
in which intervenes in addition
j
S the spatiality of the loop j: the number of all coordinates
necessary to the loop to position of the element that close the loop.

Expression DOF. It is very interesting to bring for discussion a modern approach of the
modality to consider the mobility of mechanism in the frame of multi-body system (MBS)
analysis:

DN DOM DOF = , (3)

in which: DOF (Degrees of Freedom) is the number of the motions non-determined
kinematical; DOM (Degrees of Mobility) - the number of degrees of mobility, that is of the
generalized coordinates defining the motions of all mechanism parts; DN (Driver Number)
the number of driving motions, that is of restrictions in kinematics (number of driving
motions). The expression (3) is used by MBS software promoting different types of analysis
of the multi-body systems.

Observations. The analysis of the mentioned expressions of mobility (1)(3) could lead to
the following conclusions:

1. The expressions Hunt (1) and Visa (2) are similar, but these are written using specific
concepts: the order
j
d of loop j, by Hunt, and the spatiality
j
S of the same loop j, by
Visa .
2. The expression (3) seems to be similar to the previous (1) and (2). But this aspect is
deceiver, because: a) the concept DOM is similar to the mobility M from (1) and (2); b)
the concept DN is not appearing in (1) and (2), it is practically the number of driving
elements that determine the desmodromy of the full mechanism; c) the concept DOF is
not according to the IFToMM terminology [7], but it is more used in the modern
software for the motion analysis of multi-body-systems. As a result of these
observations, the expression (3) could be written in the form:
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DN M DOF = . (4)

Conclusion. In the following part of the paper, the last expression (3) will be considered in a
modified form.

PROPOSAL TO CALCULATE THE MOBILITY

The intention of the paper is to take into account some quantities influencing the mobility that
change the degree of freedom of joints (kinematic pairs). The following general expression of
mechanism mobility could be written using (2):


= =
=
g
i
l
j
k j k i k
) q ( S ) q ( f ) q ( M
1 1
, (5)
in which intervene in addition to meaning of the quantities described before:
k
q - the
influencing quantity, k the index of quantity.
The number of these influencing quantities depends on the type of the kinematic pairs. Some
influencing quantities are given below.
The lubrication is an important factor: the lack of the correct lubrication could determine the
joint operation lock: of piston in engine cylinder, of pair of surfaces of the cylindrical
articulation, etc. In other words, the joint could be annulled in operating if the motion of its
connected elements disappears. The friction state could block the relative motion of
connected elements.
The clearance from joint has a visible influence: as example in the sample case of
cylindrical articulation: the joint clearance determines relevant supplemental displacements
between the components of the joint (their relative radial motions), modifying in this way the
mobility of the mechanism having these real joints.
The operating temperature could influence other quantities with influence on the
mechanism mobility: lubrication, deformations, clearance, etc.
There are other influencing quantities on the mechanism mobility not discussed below.
Thus, the final expression of the DOF is according to (4):

DN ) M(q ) DOF(q
k k
= . (6)

STUDY CASE. APPLICATION TO VEHICLE MECHANISMS

An interesting mobility analysis case is the mechanism of bicycle (fig. 1, a). The
corresponding mechanism has:
1. five elements:
a) the base 0 (road);
b) and the mobile components m = 4: 1a front wheel fork; 1b chassis; 2 front wheel;
3 rear wheel;
2. five joints:
a) two joints A and B composed by a cylinder (the wheel 2 or 3) on a plane (the road 0);
b) three revolute joints:
1
O (between 1a and 1b),
2
O (between 1a and 2),
3
O (between 1b
and 3).

For analysis of the mechanism mobility in the case of states of joints A an B, it is considered
that the vehicle is moving in curve. In this case the joint
1
O is blocked by the driver to

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inscribe the vehicle in curve trajectory; so that the elements 1a and 1b are relatively blocked
and form the element 1 (fig. 1, b). In this case:
a) the number of mobile elements is m = 3;
b) the number of joints is g = 4:

- of class II is 2: A and B; their mobility is 4
2 1
= = f f ;
- of joints of class V is 2:
1
O and
2
O ; their mobility is 1
4 3
= = f f ;
The number of loops is given by the classical known expression:
1 3 4 m g l = = = . (7)

The analysis of the motion possibilities of the mobile elements is given in the table 1. In this
table, the coordinate system (not-figured in the fig. 1, b) is placed in a point on the trajectory
curve and having the directions: x on the tangent at curve; y on the normal on curve; z
perpendicular on the both directions. The symbols of motions represent the true or false value
in bivalent logics. The analysis of the results from table shows that the number common
motion restrictions is 2 (two values 0 of sum of troth values), respectively the spatiality is
4
1
= S .
Thus, the mechanism mobility is (5):
6 4 1 1 4 4
1 1
= + + + = =

= =
) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
g
i
l
j
k j k i k
q S q f q M . (8)












Thus the mechanism has not determined motions of mobile elements. Actually the mobile

Figure 1: Schema of the mechanism of a bicycle
a) Current position. b) Motion in curve trajectory. 0, 1a, 1b, 2, 3 elements; A, B, O
1
, O
2
, O
3
joints.

Note. Tx, Ty, Tz translations on the directions x, y, z. Rx, Ry, Rz rotations after the
directions x, y, z.
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components have determined motions if the vehicle no skid. In this case the sufficient friction
determines the adherence in the linear displacement between the two elements from joints A
and B, allowing only their relative rolling: 1
2 1
= = f f . So the spatiality of the mechanism
becomes 3
1
= S and:
1 3 1 1 1 1
1 1
= + + + = =

= =
) ( ) q ( S ) q ( f ) q ( M
g
i
l
j
k j k i k
. (9)
Considering that the driving motions are 1 = DN (of the wheel 2 on road), the DOF is:
0 1 1 ) ( ) ( = = = DN q M q DOF
k k
.
Thus the mobile components have determined motion. It is now considering that the
mechanism has not determined motions of its mobile elements. In this case, the centrifuge
force value causes the vehicle slip. The simple expression considering this effect is:
g m
v
m >

2
, (10)
in which appear: m is the vehicle mass; v - the linear speed of the vehicle; - the curvature
radius of the vehicle trajectory; - the friction coefficient between the wheel and the road; g
- the gravitational acceleration. The following linear speed at which appears the skidding is
given by:
g v > . (11)
Because the current unit of the vehicle speed is h km / , thus the corresponding its expression
is:
| |
(

>
h
km
s
m
g m , v
2
6 3 . (12)
For different states of the road determining different coefficients of friction between tyre and
road (the joints A and B from fig. 1), the linear speeds from which starts the vehicle skidding
(non-adhesion) depending on the trajectory radius and specific coefficient of friction tyre-road
are given in the fig. 2.













Figure 2: Variation of the limit linear speed of the vehicle depending on the curvature
radius of the vehicle trajectory for different state of the road (coefficient of friction
according to Nazar, 2008 [10]

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Under these speed values for a concrete road, the guiding mechanism fulfills the mobility
condition to have determined motions of its mobile components. For example: for the linear
speed h km / 30 and the curvature radius m 30 :
- the vehicle does not skid if the road is dry, wet or even sludge;
- but it skids for road with loose snow or ice.
The approached example shows that the joint state (that is, the value of the friction between
components) decisively determines the mechanism mobility. If the adhesion between the joint
wheel-road is exceeded, then this joint has not a single mobility see the expression (9) and
restored a joint cylinder-plan with the mobility 4. As a result the mechanism will not have the
degree of mobility equal to the number of driving elements and will have an indefinite motion
(sliding on random trajectories).

CONCLUSIONS

The following specific conclusions could be stated.
1. The mobility of the mechanisms is an important object of study in mechanical
engineering using these structures.
2. The expressions for mobility of mechanisms given by the specific literature do not
generally consider the influence of different factors on relative motions of components.
3. The paper proposes expressions for the calculation of the mobility of mechanisms taking
into account some influencing factors on the relative motion between the components of
joints.
4. The proposed expressions are applied in the case of a simple vehicle: a bicycle. The
application emphasizes the benefit of considering the state of the road (or coefficient of
friction between wheel and road) to describe correctly the mobility in operation of the
studied mechanism.


REFERENCES

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Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, Oulu, 1999.
(3) Artobolevskij, I. I. Teoria mehanizmov, Izd. Nauka, Moskva, 1965.
(4) Baker, J. E. On mobility and relative freedoms in multiloop linkages and structures, Mech. Mach. Theory, Vol. 16, Issue.
6, 1981, pp. 583-597.
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