4 ms·
Too computationally intensive for what? The Lagrangian approach is kinda great. If you can describe the potential energy and the kinetic energy of a system as
by ble 11y ago
Too computationally intensive for what?
The Lagrangian approach is kinda great. If you can describe the potential energy and the kinetic energy of a system as two functions of whatever variables, Lagrangian mechanics allows you to derive the differential equations that govern the evolution of that system for free.
There's absolutely zero fucking around with forces, torques, etc. to get yourself a set of equations with which to model system behavior. You do have to add one constraint equation for every constraint on the system, but this is way easier than trying to formulate a set of differential equations that just happens to satisfy an arbitrary set of constraints.
I don't know of a reason why Lagrangian mechanics would tie one to a particular algorithm or class of algorithm; pretty much no matter how you do it, if you're modeling a mechanical system, you're solving some differential equations in one way or another.
TL:DR; can't confirm at this time
- SilasX 11y agoBut doesn't it have a hard time with coulomb friction, since you can only work with conservative fields/forces? A quick search confirms you have to use a bolted-on "dissipation function".
- pckspcks 11y agoCorrect. In contrast to Newtonian mechanics, Lagrangians and Hamiltonians completely describe essentially all fundamental laws of physics -- including things like quantum and relativity. However, they are cumbersome to work with for some complex, compound phenomena, such as friction.