Rigid body dynamics

Academic unit or major

Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering

Instructor(s)

Kunio Takahashi

Class Format

Lecture (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

1-2 Tue (S3-207(S322)) / 1-2 Fri (S3-207(S322))

Class

-

Course Code

TSE.A301

Number of credits

200

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

3Q

Syllabus updated

Sep 16, 2025

Language

English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

This course gives knowledge and skills of the rigid body dynamics including the motion of point mass observed from moving coordinates and the motion of rigid body, mainly for the students who are learning the transdisciplinary science and engineering.
The aim is to let the students to understand the logic of the dynamics of the rigid body and to learn the skills for applications, based on the basic dynamics learnt in the lectures of the first year. Because recent engineering and technology are not limited in a discipline, the understanding of them will be helpful for global engineers, who will develop the future of the world and need wide-ranged knowledge and skills to solve complicated problems.

Course description and aims

Out-comes are the knowledge and the skills
1) To derive the equation of motion of point mass observed from moving coordinate and to utilize it for applications.
2) To explain the mechanism of the centrifugal force and the Coliori’s force
3) To derive the equation of motion of rotating rigid body and to utilize it for applications
4) To derive the equation of motion of rotating rigid body observed from moving coordinates and to utilize it for applications

Keywords

Equation of motion, absolute coordinate, moving coordinate, rotational motion of rigid body, Inertia tensor, Foucault’s pendulum, gyro effect, precession of spinning top

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Lecture and exercises

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

pdf in OCW

Reference books, course materials, etc.

pdf in OCW

Evaluation methods and criteria

exercise 30% + final exam. 70% ( + bonus point for contribution to the lecture )

Related courses

• LAS.P101 ： Fundamentals of Mechanics 1
• LAS.P102 ： Fundamentals of Mechanics 2
• LAS.M105 ： Calculus II
• LAS.M106 ： Linear Algebra II

Prerequisites

The followings should be finished ;
LAS.P101 ： Fundamentals of Mechanics 1, LAS.P102 ： Fundamentals of Mechanics 2, LAS.M105 ： Calculus II, LAS.M106 ： Linear Algebra II