Angular velocity of a 3D rigid body with Eulerian Angles

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on expressing the angular velocity of a 3D rigid body in pure rotation using Eulerian angles and a transformation matrix. The body is fixed at the origin of a global coordinate system and is undergoing forced rotation about an unspecified axis due to external torque, while maintaining constant angular velocity. The user seeks to relate the position vector of a point on the body over time to angular velocity, acknowledging the challenge of infinite solutions from the cross product equation. They express interest in using the relationship between the position vector and its time derivative to derive angular velocity. The conversation emphasizes the complexity of the problem while exploring alternative methods to achieve the desired expression for angular velocity.
Curl
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Say I have an odd shaped rigid body in pure rotation. I fix an orthogonal x-y-z coordinate system to the body, and coincide the origin of this coordinate system to the origin of my global coordinate system X-Y-Z.

I have 3 Eulerian angles (as functions of time) which I can use to describe the orientation of my rigid body at any instant. I also have a transformation matrix A which I can use to convert any vector r' in the x-y-z system to a vector r in the X-Y-Z system.

I am trying to find out how I can express the angular velocity, ω of my rigid body using this information. I know that r x ω=dr/dt for any position vector r describing the position of a point on the rigid body (correct?).
I also know that r=Ar', so that r=dA/dt*r' (since r' is constant, the point stationary in the x-y-z frame).
I cannot "solve" for ω in the r x ω=dr/dt since there are infinitely many possibilities (it yields a skew-symmetric 3x3 matrix). It seems like if I have the position vector of a point on the body as a function of time, I should be able to express the angular velocity but I'm stuck.

It's probably a very easy question but I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.
 
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Curl said:
Say I have an odd shaped rigid body in pure rotation.
Clarify this, please. Do you mean that the body is undergoing a forced rotation about some fixed axis, or that the body is floating freely in space and has some constant angular momentum in an inertial frame, or neither of these two?
 
Odd shaped rigid body - imagine a rock. Not a 2D/1D object (like a lamina or rod).
It is undergoing forced rotation about the origin (we don't know the axis of rotation) by some external torque, but no net force on the body, and it is not translating. The origin of x-y-z always coincides with the origin of X-Y-Z. For now, let's say that the external torque is such that the body is rotating at a constant angular velocity.

My idea was if I have r(t) and dr(t)/dt I could express the angular velocity. A.T., I've seen that method but I wanted to see if it is possible to do this problem my way.
 
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