The objective of this project was to produce a working dynamic simulation of the tumbling behavior along the longitudinal direction that a T-handle exhibits while in 0g. The following video illustrates this phenomenon.

To analyze this behavior and simulate the motion, I developed equations of motion using conservation of linear momentum and first principles. The result of that analysis is shown below.

DE equations that govern the motion of T-handle

Using these equations, I wrote a MATLAB script to compute the angular positions and velocities. The solution approach involves developing a state-space equation with the above variables and solving it with MATLAB’s built-in ODE solver.

Below is an animation of the T-handle.