Generalized Speed

A generalized speed is a symbolic variable representing the mechanism motion. It is common to equate a generalized speed to the first derivative of a corresponding generalized speed with respect to time, however, this is not required. In fact, a more compact form of equations of motion are often obtained by using an alternate set of generalized speeds, for example, in free motion of a rigid body it is common to define generalized coordinates as positions relative to the origin in the inertial frame, with generalized speeds being the velocity components in the body-fixed frame.

Keyword Arguments

param str name

Key to be used when referencing this coordinate in the mechanism.q dictionary. Can be entered using LaTeX symbol formatting, i.e. omega yields ω, etc.

param str equates_to

Equation representing terms in the point velocity or frame angular velocity equations that will be replaced by this generalized speed.

param numeric initial

Initial value for the generalized speed

param str description

Description of the generalized speed

return str

Message describing the created generalized speed