Dynamics: Introduction to Kane's Method

Discipline: Flight Mechanics

Kane's method of formulating dynamical equations of motion has proved especially useful for dealing with the complex multibody mechanical systems that in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have challenged engineers in industry, government, and universities: the Galileo spacecraft sent to Jupiter, the International Space Station, and the robotic manipulator arms aiding astronauts on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station are but a few examples. The method is systematic and easily taught. The basic apparatus of Kane's method is presented, and then applied in examples involving a single particle, a single rigid body, two connected rigid bodies, and a nonholonomic system. Brief comparisons between Kane's method and other classical methods are made throughout.

About the Speaker:
Carlos M. Roithmayr is a senior aerospace engineer in the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He earned a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology, both an M.S. and a Degree of Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He began his career with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His research interests include dynamics of multibody mechanical systems, spacecraft attitude dynamics and control, and orbital mechanics, and he has contributed to a wide variety of Agency projects and missions. He is author or coauthor of numerous refereed journal papers.