Euler Angles/ Rigid Body application

[redlegtwoone]

I apologize upfront, as I have no experience with math to begin with. However, I have a real life problem I am trying to figure out here at work and I would appreciate some help. Here is my situation:

Homework Statement

In a 3 dimensional plane, I have an artillery piece pointing at azimuth zero. Then, if I tilt (bank or roll) 4 degrees to the right, it is still pointing at azimuth of zero.
However, if I raise the tube 65 degrees it no longer points at AZ of 0.
How do I determine the new azimuth with the elevation and tilt added? The total length is 3 meters long, if that makes a difference.

The Attempt at a Solution

I tried to break it down into trigonomic functions before I knew about Euler angles, but it really goes beyond my mathematical comprehension. Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance.

-Red Leg 21

 

[voko]

I am not sure what kind of help can be given here. You already know about Euler's angles.

 

[redlegtwoone]

Right, but like I said I have no idea what all the little squiggly shapes and symbols mean. My knowledge of Euler's angles does not extend past how to spell Euler...

 

[voko]

Well, the whole topic of rotation in 3D has a lot of material and a number of different approaches. At a minimum, you have to understand, solidly, reference frames and vectors. Do you have that?

 

[Nickie]

Hello Red Leg 21,

Thank you for reaching out for help with your real-life problem. It sounds like you are using Euler angles to describe the orientation of your artillery piece. Euler angles are a set of three rotations around different axes that can be used to describe the orientation of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. In your case, the azimuth zero is the initial orientation of your artillery piece, and the tilt to the right and elevation are the rotations that change its orientation.

To determine the new azimuth, you will need to use a combination of trigonometric functions and the Euler angle equations. The tilt to the right and elevation will change the orientation of the artillery piece, so you will need to use the equations to calculate the new values for the three Euler angles. Once you have those values, you can use trigonometric functions to find the new azimuth.

If you are not familiar with these equations and functions, it may be helpful to consult a mathematician or a physics textbook for guidance. Alternatively, there are also online resources and calculators available that can help you with these calculations.

I hope this helps you in solving your problem. Good luck!