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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lorenzo, Nick
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02145
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author Lorenzo, Nick
author_facet Lorenzo, Nick
contents In a full 3D context, we study a projectile subject to linear drag, a non-uniform gravitational field, time-dependent wind, and parameterized atmospheric thinning. In this general context, we provide integral solutions, exact to $\mathcal{ O }( \varepsilon )$, for the position and velocity of the projectile, where $\varepsilon$ is a small perturbation parameter; in the special case of constant wind, we provide closed-form solutions, exact to $\mathcal{ O }( \varepsilon )$. Under the constant-wind assumption, we provide closed-form solutions of $\mathcal{ O }( 1 )$ for the time of tangency, times of flight, and extreme values of the radius achieved by the projectile. We provide physical interpretations throughout, including a physical interpretation of the branches $W_0$ and $W_{ -1 }$ of the Lambert W function in the context of flight time. We also provide parameterized, error-controlled algorithms to compute trajectories, complete with a full Matlab implementation that we make freely available. We compare the results of our implementation to a general-purpose, stiff ODE solver.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_02145
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A More General Linear Projectile Problem
Lorenzo, Nick
Classical Physics
In a full 3D context, we study a projectile subject to linear drag, a non-uniform gravitational field, time-dependent wind, and parameterized atmospheric thinning. In this general context, we provide integral solutions, exact to $\mathcal{ O }( \varepsilon )$, for the position and velocity of the projectile, where $\varepsilon$ is a small perturbation parameter; in the special case of constant wind, we provide closed-form solutions, exact to $\mathcal{ O }( \varepsilon )$. Under the constant-wind assumption, we provide closed-form solutions of $\mathcal{ O }( 1 )$ for the time of tangency, times of flight, and extreme values of the radius achieved by the projectile. We provide physical interpretations throughout, including a physical interpretation of the branches $W_0$ and $W_{ -1 }$ of the Lambert W function in the context of flight time. We also provide parameterized, error-controlled algorithms to compute trajectories, complete with a full Matlab implementation that we make freely available. We compare the results of our implementation to a general-purpose, stiff ODE solver.
title A More General Linear Projectile Problem
topic Classical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02145