[Math] Projectile motion with air resistance proportional to velocity squared, system of DE’s.

ordinary differential equationsprojectile motion

A plane flies at a constant altitude of 1000 ft with a constant speed of 300 mph. The plane drops a relief package to a person on the ground. Assume the origin is point where the supply pack is released and the positive x-axis points forward from the plane, while the positive y-axis points downward. Assume the horizontal and vertical components of air resistance are proportional to the square of the velocity. Assume that the constant of proportionality for the air resistance is k = 0.0053 and that the package weighs 256 lbs.

Find the horizontal distance the package will travel from the time of its release to the point where it hits the ground.

I realize I need to build a system of differential equations and will need to solve this numerically, but I am not sure I am building my equations correctly.

I think I need to consider the following DE for each direction.

$m\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}=mg-k(\frac{dx}{dt})^{2}$

Given that

$x(0)=0$,
$x'(0)=300$,
$y(0)=0$,
$y(0)=0$,
$m=\frac{w}{g}=\frac{256}{32}=8$

I built the equations as follows:

$8x''= -.0053(x')^2$

$8y''=256-.0053(y')^2$

I cannot get a solution from wxMaxima, therefore I assume I am building the equations incorrectly.

Can I get some help on setup with this system of DE's?

Best Answer

A better model could be done

$$ m \ddot x = - k \sqrt{\dot x^2+ \dot y^2}\dot x\\ m \ddot y = -m g - k \sqrt{\dot x^2+ \dot y^2}\dot y\\ $$

Integrating with parameters $m = 1, k = 0.005, v_{x_0} = 10, v_{y_0} = 20, x_0 = y_0 = 0, g = 10$ the following plot can be obtained

In red without the aerodynamic force and in black with the aerodynamic force

enter image description here

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