Lets start by modeling the movement

of the points D, C and the oscillation

of the table.
O
C
D
G
A
B
(Writing
table)
A physical implementation of a harmonograph by Karl Sims
http://www.karlsims.com/harmonograph/index.html
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
1
Modeling a Three-Pendulum Harmonograph - Part #1 by George Lungu
This first part of the presentation deals with
the movement equations of the three pendu-
lums.
<excelunusual.com>
<excelunusual.com>
Lets describe the damped oscillation of the end of the first pendulum (point D)
(you can brush-up your knowledge by searching the keyword Lissajous):
( ) t f
t
t
A x
damping

|
|
.
|

\
|

=
1 1 1
2 sin exp t
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
( )
1 1 1 1
2 sin exp t A +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A y
damping
Initial
amplitude
Damping
factor
Damping coefficient Frequency
Time
Phase
difference
2
Overall Amplitude
- The overall amplitude is not constant but will decrease exponentially in time
- The initial amplitude, damping coefficient, frequency, phase and phase
difference are all adjustable
- A phase difference of 0
o
will result in a straight line oscillation, a 90
o
in a circle
and in an ellipse for any angle in between
<excelunusual.com>
3
Modeling rigid pendulum 2-D oscillations:
- Lets see some examples of how the trajectories might look like. Below there are the
oscillation equations of the first pendulum
( ) t f
t
t
A x
damping

|
|
.
|

\
|

=
1 1 1
2 sin exp t
( )
1 1 1 1
2 sin exp t A +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A y
damping
Initial
amplitude
Damping
factor
Damping coefficient Frequency
Time
Overall Amplitude
- Insert a worksheet named Pendulum_Equations and create a table of data: X(t) and
Y(t). After that, we save several parametric plots of data to see the effect of the oscillation
parameters on the shape of the pendulum trajectories.
<excelunusual.com>
4
- Lets see several examples of effects of pendulum parameters on pendulum end trajectories:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=0.3, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
Amplitude change
<excelunusual.com>
5
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Frequency change
<excelunusual.com>
6
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=60, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Phase Difference change
<excelunusual.com>
7
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=90, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Phase Difference change
<excelunusual.com>
8
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=135, Damping
Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Phase Difference change
<excelunusual.com>
9
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=5, Phase Diff.=0, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Phase Difference change
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=180, Damping
Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
<excelunusual.com>
10
Pendulum Parameter Effects:
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=90, Damping Time=2sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
-1.3
-0.8
-0.3
0.2
0.7
1.2
1.7
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
X
Y
Init. Amplitude=1.2, Frequency=10, Phase Diff.=90, Damping
Time=0.3sec.
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time [s]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
X(t)
Y(t)
Damping Time change
<excelunusual.com>
( )
2 2 2 2
2 sin exp t +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A x
damping
( )
2 2 2 2 2
2 sin exp t A + +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A y
damping
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
Initial
amplitude
Damping
factor
Damping
coefficient
Frequency
Time
Phase difference
between the second
and the first pendulum
11
- The overall amplitude is not constant but will decrease exponentially in time
- The initial amplitude, damping coefficient, frequency, phase and phase
difference are all adjustable
- A phase difference of 0
o
will result in a straight line oscillation, a 90
o
in a circle
and in an ellipse for any angle in between
Overall Amplitude
Phase difference
between x and y
Coming back to the second pendulum, (point C) we can
write the oscillation equations:
<excelunusual.com>
( )
3 3 3 3
2 sin exp t +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A x
damping
( )
3 3 3 3 3
2 sin exp t A + +
|
|
.
|

\
|

= t f
t
t
A y
damping
For the third pendulum(the table) we can write the oscillation
equations:
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
x
1
x
2
x
y
1
y
2
y
B
A
E
D
C
F
G
O
R
R
H
Initial
amplitude
Damping
factor
Damping
coefficient
Frequency
Time
Phase difference
between the third and
the first pendulum
12
- The overall amplitude is not constant but will decrease exponentially in time
- The initial amplitude, damping coefficient, frequency, phase and phase
difference are all adjustable
- A phase difference of 0
o
will result in a straight line oscillation, a 90
o
in a circle
and in an ellipse for any angle in between
Overall Amplitude
Phase difference
between x and y