[Physics] Terminal velocity and distance traveled with constant but limited power

accelerationfrictionnewtonian-mechanics

I'm trying to model how far to move an object over time according to a power applied resisted by friction.

So maybe… an object accelerates at a certain rate until the power provided can no longer overcome friction (in relation to mass of the object), causing the object to move at a constant velocity as long as power is still applied (and slow down due to friction once the power stops acting on it). Answering the questions: What the the position, velocity, and acceleration at a certain period of time? After a certain time interval the velocity and acceleration should be constant by these criteria. Also, how is the terminal velocity in this situation determined?

For a real-life example, a car can accelerate over time, up to a certain max speed where the power of the car cannot overcome the force of friction/drag.

All the examples I have found relate to aerodynamic drag, thus the resistance scales with the velocity, though I'm not sure how this would apply in a different case.

Best Answer

If we apply a force $F$ to a mass $m$ and a friction force (drag) $F_d$ also acts on it the force diagram becomes:

Drag problem.

With $a$ the acceleration the object experiences, the equation of motion becomes:

$F=ma+F_d$.

As the mass moves towards the right, say for an infinitesimal distance $dx$, an infinitesimal amount of work $dW$ is performed on $m$ by $F$:

$dW=(ma+F_d)dx$.

If we divide both sides with $dt$ then $\frac{dW}{dt}=P$ with $P$ the power, constant in this case. So we have:

$P=\frac{dW}{dt}=(ma+F_d)\frac{dx}{dt}$ and by definition $\frac{dx}{dt}=v$, so:

$P=(ma+F_d)v$.

Now the question becomes, what is $F_d$?

We know that in general $F_d \propto v^n$, where $v$ is the velocity and $n$ is some exponent. For instance in the case Navier Stokes drag (viscous drag of a fluid on a spherical object), $n=1$.

For the case of air drag the exponent $n=2$ is generally assumed.

Let's however explore the case of $n=1$, so that $F_d=kv$, with $k$ a proportionality constant, so we get:

$P=(ma+kv)v$.

With $a=\frac{dv}{dt}$, we get:

$P=mv\frac{dv}{dt}+kv^2$, a differential equation that can be separated by variables to yield:

$m \frac{v}{P-kv^2}dv=dt$.

This can be integrated between $t=0, v=0$ and $t, v$ and yields after reworking:

$\Large{v=\sqrt{\frac{P}{k}(1-e^{-\frac{2kt}{m}})}}$.

For $t \to +\infty$ the exponential term $e^{-\frac{2kt}{m}} \to 0$, so that the terminal velocity $v_t$ is achieved for $t = +\infty$ and is given by:

$\large{v_t=\sqrt{\frac{P}{k}}}$.

Since as the terminal speed is only achieved for $t = \infty$, it will be achieved also only for $x = \infty$.

The general shape of the $(v,t)$ function is as follows, with $v_t$ being reached only asymptotically:

Velocity curve.

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