Physics - Collision in 2 dimensions

Overview

Here we are looking at the collision of 2D rigid objects. Although we live in a 3 dimensional world we can think of this 2D example as a special case where the objects are constrained so that their velocities can be represented in a plane.

We can't use identical equations to the 3D case because the vector cross product does not apply to 2D vectors. We will therefore start analysing this in terms of individual scalar components, this may make the equations quite long but there are less mathematical concepts to learn.

Modeling collisions involves a lot of assumptions and approximations, also the concept of an 'impulse' is not always intuitively obvious. These issues are all discussed on the page above this and it may be worth reading that page before this.

One difficult bit is understanding how to work with objects that have both rotation and linear motion. The main method we will use to do this involves the following stages.

1. Determine the collision point and the normal direction at this point.
2. Calculate the minimum impulse to prevent the objects intersecting, or to
   reverse the approach velocity, depending on the coefficient of friction.
3. Calculate the effect of this impulse on the rotation and linear motion
   separately.

If you would like to see a practical example of this see this page (sent to me by Kevin Pegrume) which demonstrates this and highlights some of the counter intuitive issues.

Results

Here are equations for calculating the two components of impulse (J) in the x and y dimensions. Then the equations to use this to calculate the new velocities.

This is just an overview, we will define the terms and give the derivation later:

/**
This function calulates the velocities after a 2D collision vaf, vbf, waf and wbf from information about the colliding bodies
@param double e coefficient of restitution which depends on the nature of the two colliding materials
@param double ma total mass of body a
@param double mb total mass of body b
@param double Ia inertia for body a.
@param double Ib inertia for body b.
@param vector ra position of collision point relative to centre of mass of body a in absolute coordinates (if this is
                 known in local body coordinates it must be converted before this is called).
@param vector rb position of collision point relative to centre of mass of body b in absolute coordinates (if this is
                 known in local body coordinates it must be converted before this is called).
@param vector n normal to collision point, the line along which the impulse acts.
@param vector vai initial velocity of centre of mass on object a
@param vector vbi initial velocity of centre of mass on object b
@param vector wai initial angular velocity of object a
@param vector wbi initial angular velocity of object b
@param vector vaf final velocity of centre of mass on object a
@param vector vbf final velocity of centre of mass on object a
@param vector waf final angular velocity of object a
@param vector wbf final angular velocity of object b
*/
CollisionResponce(double e,double ma,double mb,matrix Ia,matrix Ib,vector ra,vector rb,vector n,
    vector vai, vector vbi, vector wai, vector wbi, vector vaf, vector vbf, vector waf, vector wbf) {
  double k=1/(ma*ma)+ 2/(ma*mb) +1/(mb*mb) - ra.x*ra.x/(ma*Ia) - rb.x*rb.x/(ma*Ib)  - ra.y*ra.y/(ma*Ia)
    - ra.y*ra.y/(mb*Ia) - ra.x*ra.x/(mb*Ia) - rb.x*rb.x/(mb*Ib) - rb.y*rb.y/(ma*Ib)
    - rb.y*rb.y/(mb*Ib) + ra.y*ra.y*rb.x*rb.x/(Ia*Ib) + ra.x*ra.x*rb.y*rb.y/(Ia*Ib) - 2*ra.x*ra.y*rb.x*rb.y/(Ia*Ib);
  double Jx = (e+1)/k * (Vai.x - Vbi.x)( 1/ma - ra.x*ra.x/Ia + 1/mb - rb.x*rb.x/Ib)
     - (e+1)/k * (Vai.y - Vbi.y) (ra.x*ra.y / Ia + rb.x*rb.y / Ib);
  double Jy = - (e+1)/k * (Vai.x - Vbi.x) (ra.x*ra.y / Ia + rb.x*rb.y / Ib)
     + (e+1)/k  * (Vai.y - Vbi.y) ( 1/ma - ra.y*ra.y/Ia + 1/mb - rb.y*rb.y/Ib);
  Vaf.x = Vai.x - Jx/Ma;
  Vaf.y = Vai.y - Jy/Ma;
  Vbf.x = Vbi.x - Jx/Mb;
  Vbf.y = Vbi.y - Jy/Mb;
  waf.x = wai.x - (Jx*ra.y - Jy*ra.x) /Ia;
  waf.y = wai.y - (Jx*ra.y - Jy*ra.x) /Ia;
  wbf.x = wbi.x - (Jx*rb.y - Jy*rb.x) /Ib;
  wbf.y = wbi.y - (Jx*rb.y - Jy*rb.x) /Ib;
}

In the perfectly elastic case there are 4 unknowns (2 dimensions of velocity of object a + 2 dimensions of velocity of object b) and the conservation laws only give us 3 equations (conservation of momentum in 2 dimensions + conservation of scalar energy). Therefore the conservation laws are not enough to solve this. In the perfectly inelastic case the two objects will have the same final velocity in the direction of the impulse only.

The result will depend on the geometry, for example in the following example the impulse is not along the direction of travel:

Whereas, in the following case the impulse is along the direction of travel:

So the first thing is to decide the direction of the impulse , if there is no friction then the impulse will be normal to the surface at the collision point. Once we know then we can work out the magnitude of the impulse.

For the perfectly elastic case the impulse will be:

2* * ((_ai - _bi)• ) *

For the perfectly inelastic case the impulse will be:

* ((_ai - _bi)•) *

Due to the dot product operation the result of (_ai - _bi)• is a scalar, but we want this to act in the direction of the impulse so we multiply by to give a vector.

where:		other definitions
symbol	description	type	units
Ma	mass of object a	scalar	kg
Mb	mass of object b	scalar	kg
ai	initial velocity of object a	vector	m/s
bi	initial velocity of object b	vector	m/s
•	dot product operation (see vectors here)
	unit vector in the direction of the impulse	vector

This case is not very practical. It would be quite difficult to arrange a collision where the objects are free to move in 2 dimensions but are prevented from rotation, however it is a step toward the more general case.

---

Collision in 2 dimensions (with rotation no friction)

In this case we include the posibility that rotation may be transferred or generated by the collision.

In the following example the approach velocity and the normal are in the same direction, also the objects have no initial angular velocity, rotation will be generated because the line from the centre of mass to the collision point is not in the same direction.

Collision in 2 dimensions (with rotation and friction)

In the following example the objects hit head-on, however due to the rotation and friction, the impulse is at a different angle to the approach velocity and to surface normal. This impulse tends to reduce the angular speed of A and to cause B to rotate in the opposite direction.

For more about this example see here.

For further information see:

• Rotations
• Angular momentum

The conservation of energy and conservation of momentum laws above are not enough to calculate the final rotations or directions. These will depend on the geometry of the object and where on the objects they hit, if it hits on on side it may go spinning off in one direction, if it hits on the other side it will go off spinning in a different direction.

In this case the bodies can rotate around their centre-of-mass. The rotations after the collision will be different than before the collision depending on the angles between the centres of mass and the point of impact.

Let:

• is initial angular speed of body a in radians per sec
• is final angular speed of body a in radians per sec
• is initial angular speed of body b in radians per sec
• is final angular speed of body b in radians per sec
• moment of inertia of body a about its centre of mass.
• moment of inertia of body b about its centre of mass.

conservation of energy:
* + * + * + * + * + *

= * + * + * + * + * + *

conservation of momentum in x dimension:
* + * = * + *

and conservation of momentum in y dimension:
* + * = * + *

Conservation of angular momentum about centre of mass of whole system (see here for derivation)

* + * *dac + * + * * dbc= * + * *dac + * + * * dbc

so we have 4 equations an 6 unknowns ( , , , , and )

I think we need two more to be something about how energy is translated to angular motion from linear motion or back. This depends on how the centres of mass and collision point line up:

Imagine that all the linear motion is converted into angular motion by the collision in a very short time (t)

Linear impulse F * t = m (v2 - v1)

converted into Angular impulse T * t = I (w2 - w1)

and T = F * r

so 't' cancels out and gives: * ( - ) * rb = * ( - )

But only some of the energy will be converted between linear and angular momentum. I guess that during the collision there will be a reaction at the point of collision

At this point I was stuck until I got the following message from Chris Rodrigues:

From: "C Rodrigues" To: Martin Baker Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2001 6:17 AM Subject: 3d Physics: Collision modeling Martin B, I was working on the problem of modeling collisions in 2d when I found your page. It gave me an idea on how to proceed. I started from the fact that, for rigid bodies in an inelastic collision with no friction, the velocity of each body at the point of collision will be the same, i.e. the two bodies will stick together. (Wish I could draw you a picture.) More precisely, the component of velocity normal to the surface at the point of collision will be the same. This produces a single equation to solve. The unknown variable is the magnitude of the impulse required to satisfy the condition. Without friction, the impulse will be normal to the surface of collision. Here is the algebra how I would solve the collision without friction problem for two dimensions: For vectors * represents dot product, x represents scalar cross product (v1.x * v2.y - v2.x * v1.y). I also write +90deg to mean rotate a vector 90 degrees counterclockwise. Given object a with position Ra (vector), initial velocity Va, mass Ma, initial angular velocity Wa, moment Ia, object b with analogous characteristics, point of collision Rc, unit vector perpendicular to the surface of collision, pointing into object a called U,magnitude of impulse i: final velocity of collision point on a = final velocity of collision point on b old velocity of collision point on a + change in velocity of collision point on a = old velocity of collision point on b + change in velocity of collision point on b old velocity of collision point on a - old velocity of collision point on b = change in velocity of collision point on b - change in velocity of collision point on a the right side of the equation, after some simplification, is i * (1/Ma + 1/Mb + ((Rc - Ra) x U)^2/Ia + ((Rb - Ra) x U)^2/Ib) Since i is the only unknown in the equation, it can be solved. i = -(Va + Wa * (Rc - Ra)+90deg - Vb - Wb * (Rc - Rb)+90deg) * U / ( 1 / Mb + 1/Ma + U * (Rc - Rb)+90deg)^2 + U * (Rc - Rb)+90deg)^2 ) This is the impulse on object a; the negative of i is the impulse on object b. Now the new velocities of objects a and b can be calculated. It's worth noting that elastic collisions are covered simply by multiplying the impulse on both bodies by 2. Also, the method for solving can be extended to three dimensions. The simulation I made using this method works well for objects of different masses, but it causes objects to spin too fast. I do not know whether the problem is with the formula or with my programming. Please e-mail me back with your thoughts, or if I didn't explain something clearly. -Chris

With help fromChris, Here is the method:

(the following diagram may not be ideal because, if the shapes have corners, it is difficult to know what the normal vector U should be. However we do need to be able to cope with this case.)

impulse on a = integral of force over time, (change in momentum of the colliding objects)

In this case we are considering the impulse to consist of a component which is changing the linier momentum and a component changing the angular momentum, ie:

impulse on a = i = component of impulse changing linear motion + component of impulse changing rotational motion

In the case of linier motion component, this is the change of linier momentum, which is i = Δv * M

so for object a this is i=(Va - Vaf) Ma

where:

• Vaf is the final velocity

In the case of angular motion component:

net Torque = T = d L/ d t = F x R = F * ((Rc -r)+90deg * U)

where:

• T is net instantanous Torque (in this case caused only by instantanous contact force)
• L is angular momentum
• x is cross product
• F is force acting on contact point
• R is distance between centre of mass and contact point
• r is centre of mass of object
• Rc is contact point
• U is unit vector normal to contact point

so change in angular momentum is:

d L = F dt * ((Rc -r)+90deg * U)

so impulse due to angular motion is:

i = intergral of F dt

i = d L / ((Rc -r)+90deg * U)

i = Δw* I / ((Rc -r)+90deg * U)

where:

• I = moment of inertia

so total impulse due to linear and angular momentum is:

i = Δv * M = Δw* I / ((Rc -r)+90deg * U)

Perfectly inelastic collision case Final Velocities for perfectly inelastic collision case conservation of momentum applies independantly of rotation, so, va * Ma + vb * Mb = vf * (Ma + Mb) where: va = initial velocity vector of object a Ma = mass of object a vb = initial velocity vector of object b Mb = mass of object b vf = final velocity vector of both objects so vf = * + *   apply conservation of angular momentum choose to measure all angular momentums around the common centre of mass (Pm). Because this is inelastic case I have assumed that, on collision, the two objects stick together instantly, held on these relative positions and rotating about their common centre of mass. I could not find a way to allow them to be fixed normal to the direction of impact but allow them to slide along the point of imact. (because both objects are rotating). before the collision angular momentum is the sum of the angular momentums due to spin + the sum of angular momentums due orbiting about Pm. Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb after the collision the angular momentum about the same point is Wf ( Ma * (Pa-Pm)^2 + Ia +Mb * (Pb-Pm)^2 + Ib) By conservation of angular momentum these two are equal: Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb = Wf ( Ma * (Ra-Rm)^2 + Ia +Mb * (Rb-Rm)^2 + Ib) Wf = (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ma * (Ra-Rm)^2 + Ia +Mb * (Rb-Rm)^2 + Ib) where: Rm = common centre of mass = (Ra * Ma + Rb * Mb )/ (Ma + Mb) Rb - Rm = (Rb Ma + Rb Mb - Ra * Ma - Rb * Mb)/ (Ma + Mb) = (Rb - Ra) * Ma / (Ma + Mb) Ra - Rm = (Ra Ma + Ra Mb - Ra * Ma - Rb * Mb)/ (Ma + Mb) = (Ra - Rb) * Mb / (Ma + Mb) so: Wf = (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ma * ((Ra - Rb) * Mb / (Ma + Mb))^2 + Ia +Mb * ((Rb - Ra) * Ma / (Ma + Mb))^2 + Ib) Wf = (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ia + Ib + Ma * ((Ra - Rb) * Mb / (Ma + Mb))^2 +Mb * ((Rb - Ra) * Ma / (Ma + Mb))^2) Wf = (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ia + Ib + Ma * ((Ra - Rb)^2 * Mb^2 +Mb * ((Rb - Ra) ^2* Ma^2) / (Ma + Mb)^2) Wf = (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ia + Ib + (Ma + Mb)*Ma*Mb (Ra - Rb)^2 / (Ma + Mb)^2) calculate i on object a The forces that change the motion of the objects must do three things during the collision: Change the linier velocity of the centre of gravity of the two objects Change the angular rotations of the two objects about their own centres of mass Make the two objects orbit around their common centre of mass Item 3 is a continous force and not really an impulse. So take the impulse as being items 1 & 2 only. To simplify the equation let- ra = ((Rc -Ra)+90deg * U) so: i = (Va-Vf) * Ma + (Wa-Wf)* Ia / ra = (va Mb - vb * Mb)/(Ma + Mb)) * Ma + ( (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ia + Ib + (Ma + Mb)*Ma*Mb (Ra - Rb)^2 / (Ma + Mb)^2))* Ia / ra = ((va - vb) * Mb*Ma)/(Ma + Mb)) + ( (Ia * Wa + Da * Ma Va + Ib * Wb + Db * Mb Vb) /( Ia + Ib + (Ma + Mb)*Ma*Mb (Ra - Rb)^2 / (Ma + Mb)^2))* Ia / ra) )

 

EuclideanSpace

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The 2D case is quite complex so you may want to work through the 1D case here first.

Information on this page:

• Results
• Code
• Derivation
• Other Methods

Noethers Theorem