CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
CHBE 230
Tutorial 3 - Additional problems
Learning objectives
Learn and understand how to use various root-finding
methods to solve an engineering problem
Learn how to use a minimum finding method to solve
an engineering problem
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Case study: ballistic trajectory with linear drag
z
v0
zmax
z0
x
xmax
Questions:
1. Compute the distance to touch the ground xmax
2. Compute the maximum height zmax
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
What should we do ?
Formulate the trajectory problem and solve the problem
analytically
Compute xmax as a root-finding problem
Compute zmax as another root-finding problem
Compute zmax as a minimum finding problem
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Analytical solutions
c
vx (t) = vx0 e mt
m ⇣ m ⌘ c
vz (t) = g + vz0 + g e mt
c c
m c
x(t) = vx0 (1 e t )
m
c
m m⇣ m ⌘ c
z(t) = z0 gt + vz0 + g (1 e mt )
c c c
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Step 1: Preamble and variables
Create a directory/folder and name it Tutorial3
In this folder, create a new Jupyter notebook and call it
Tutorial3-CaseStudy.ipynb
In the first cell, copy & paste the Matlibplot preamble
that we have been using in any notebook
In the next cell, import the required Python packages
(again by copy & paste from an existing notebook),
which packages do we need ?
Identify the variables and define them in your code,
assign them all a value
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Answers to step 1
required Python packages
numpy
matplotlib and matplotlib.pyplot
our own root_finding
Variables: Let’s all take
mass m m=1
gravity g g = 9.81
drag coefficient c c = 0.4
initial x velocity vx0 vx0 = 10
initial z velocity vz0 vz0 = 7
initial z position z0 z0 = 5
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Step 2: Plotting the trajectory
Create an additional variable tend and assign a value
of 2 for the set of other parameters considered
Define the 4 functions x(t), z(t), vx(t), vz(t)
Create a numpy array called tplot containing discrete
values of time from 0 to tend. Let’s use 1001 values
Compute x(t) and z(t) at the discrete values of time by
vectorized computations and store the values in 2
numpy arrays xplot and zplot
Plot zplot versus xplot. For this, copy & paste the
block of instructions to plot a function from an existing
notebook and adapt it to your needs
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Step 3: Computing xmax
Formulate the problem:
when x(t)=xmax, we have z(t)=0, i.e., the object has
hit the ground
we need to determine t̃ such that z(t̃) = 0 and
then compute xmax = x(t̃)
z(t̃) = 0 is a root finding problem
Solve z(t̃) = 0 with the false position method with a=0,
b=2 and tol=10-8
Report the value of t̃ and the number of iterations
needed for convergence
Compute xmax = x(t̃) and report its value
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Step 4: Computing zmax as a root finding problem
Formulate the problem:
when z(t)=zmax, we have vz(t)=0, i.e., the object has
0 vertical velocity
we need to determine t̃ such that vz (t̃) = 0 and
then compute zmax = z(t̃)
vz (t̃) = 0 is a root finding problem
Solve vz (t̃) = 0 with the Secant method with initial
guess =1, h=10-6 and tol=10-5
Report the value of t̃ and the number of iterations
needed for convergence
Compute zmax = z(t̃) and report its value
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Step 5: Computing zmax as a minimum finding problem
A bracketing method similar to the Bisection method for
root finding is able to determine the minimum of a
function f over an interval [a,b] by returning a sub-
interval in which this minimum is attained.
This method was not discussed in class but is available
in your python package root_finding and its
construction is detailed in the appendix of Lecture 3’s
slides for your curiosity
The method is called golden_minimum as it uses the
golden number to shrink the interval at each iteration
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
Here we will only use the method, its usage is similar to
the Bisection method or the False position method. It
takes the same input parameters as the Bisection
method or the False position method and returns xmin
the location of the minimum and fmin the minimum of the
function in the interval [a,b]
(xmin, fmin) = golden_minimum(function, a, b, tol=1e-5,
max_iter=100, conv_hist=True, with_plot=False)
CHBE 230 - Tutorial 3
We would like to compute zmax using
golden_minimum but z(t) has a maximum and not a
minimum. Fortunately we can write zmax = - min ( - z(t) )
Define a function that returns - z(t)
Call golden_minimum with a=0, b=2 and tol=10-8
Report the values of tmax and zmax where zmax=z(tmax)
Check that you get the same values as at Step 4
