Non-linear dynamic intertwining of rods with self-contact

Twisted marine cables on the sea floor can form highly contorted three-dimensional loops that resemble tangles. Such tangles or ‘hockles’ are topologically equivalent to the plectomenes that form in supercoiled DNA molecules. The dynamic evolution of these intertwined loops is studied herein using a computational rod model that explicitly accounts for dynamic self-contact. Numerical solutions are presented for an illustrative example of a long rod subjected to increasing twist at one end. The solutions reveal the dynamic evolution of the rod from an initially straight state, through a buckled state in the approximate form of a helix, through the dynamic collapse of this helix into a near-planar loop with one site of self-contact, and the subsequent intertwining of this loop with multiple sites of self-contact. This evolution is controlled by the dynamic conversion of torsional strain energy to bending strain energy or, alternatively, by the dynamic conversion of twist (Tw) to writhe (Wr).     

A Variational Approach to Obstacle Problems for Shearable Nonlinearly Elastic Rods

We use variational methods to study obstacle problems for geometrically exact (Cosserat) theories for the planar deformation of nonlinearly elastic rods. These rods can suffer flexure, extension, and shear. There is a marked difference between the behavior of a shearable and an unshearable rod. The set of admissible deformations is not convex, because of the exact geometry used. We first investigate the fundamental question of describing contact forces, which we necessarily treat as vector‐valued Borel measures. Moreover, we introduce techniques for describing point obstacles. Then we prove existence for a very large class of problems. Finally, using nonsmooth analysis for handling the obstacle, we show that the Euler‐Lagrange equations are satisfied almost everywhere. These equations provide very detailed structural information about the contact forces. Accepted June 3, 1996     

Euler-Lagrange Equations for Nonlinearly Elastic Rods with Self-Contact

 We derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for nonlinearly elastic rods with self-contact. The excluded-volume constraint is formulated in terms of an upper bound on the global curvature of the centre line. This condition is shown to guarantee the global injectivity of the deformation of the elastic rod. Topological constraints such as a prescribed knot and link class to model knotting and supercoiling phenomena as observed, e.g., in DNA-molecules, are included by using the notion of isotopy and Gaussian linking number. The bound on the global curvature as a nonsmooth side condition requires the use of Clarke's generalized gradients to obtain the explicit structure of the contact forces, which appear naturally as Lagrange multipliers in the Euler-Lagrange equations. Transversality conditions are discussed and higher regularity for the strains, moments, the centre line and the directors is shown. (Accepted December 20, 2002) Published online April 8, 2003 Communicated by S. S. Antman     

Theory of Supercoiled Elastic Rings with Self-Contact and Its Application to DNA Plasmids

Methods are presented for obtaining exact analytical representations of supercoiled equilibrium configurations of impenetrable elastic rods of circular cross-section that have been pretwisted and closed to form rings, and a discussion is given of applications in the theory of the elastic rod model for DNA. When, as here, self-contact is taken into account, and the rod is assumed to be inextensible, intrinsically straight, transversely isotropic, and homogeneous, the important parameters in the theory are the excess link Δℒ (a measure of the amount the rod was twisted before its ends were joined), the ratio ω of the coefficients of torsional and flexural rigidity, and the ratio d of cross-sectional diameter to the length of the axial curve C. Solutions of the equations of equilibrium are given for cases in which self-contact occurs at isolated points and along intervals. Bifurcation diagrams are presented as graphs of Δℒ versus the writhe of C and are employed for analysis of the stability of equilibrium configurations. It is shown that, in addition to primary, secondary, and tertiary branches that arise by successive bifurcations from the trivial branch made up of configurations for which the axial curve is a circle, there are families of equilibrium configurations that are isolas in the sense that they are not connected to bifurcation branches by paths of equilibrium configurations compatible with the assumed impenetrability of the rod. Each of the isolas found to date is connected to a bifurcation branch by a path which, although made up of solutions of the governing equations, contains regions on which the condition of impenetrability does not hold. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Optimization of unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes flows using variational level set method

This paper presents the optimization of unsteady Navier–Stokes flows using the variational level set method. The solid–liquid interface is expressed by the level set function implicitly, and the fluid velocity is constrained to be zero in the solid domain. An optimization problem, which is constrained by the Navier–Stokes equations and a fluid volume constraint, is analyzed by the Lagrangian multiplier based adjoint approach. The corresponding continuous adjoint equations and the shape sensitivity are derived. The level set function is evolved by solving the Hamilton–Jacobian equation with the upwind finite difference method. The optimization method can be used to design channels for flows with or without body forces. The numerical examples demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of this optimization method for unsteady Navier–Stokes flows.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subspace variational principle of rods and shells

This paper builds the general forms of subspace variational principles of rods andshells which are taken as the controlled equations of the constitutive theories developedfrom the three-dimensional (non-polar) continuum mechanics. And the constitutiveequations of rods and shells using the principles are satisfactory.     

Analytical solution for the problem of maximum exit velocity under Coulomb friction in gravity flow discharge chutes

In this paper, an analytical solution for the problem of finding profiles of gravity flow discharge chutes required to achieve maximum exit velocity under Coulomb friction is obtained by application of variational calculus. The model of a particle which moves down a rough curve in a uniform gravitational field is used to obtain a solution of the problem for various boundary conditions. The projection sign of the normal reaction force of the rough curve onto the normal to the curve and the restriction requiring that the tangential acceleration be non-negative are introduced as the additional constraints in the form of inequalities. These inequalities are transformed into equalities by introducing new state variables. Although this is fundamentally a constrained variational problem, by further introducing a new functional with an expanded set of unknown functions, it is transformed into an unconstrained problem where broken extremals appear. The obtained equations of the chute profiles contain a certain number of unknown constants which are determined from a corresponding system of nonlinear algebraic equations. The obtained results are compared with the known results from the literature.     

A constrained theory of a Cosserat point for the numerical solution of dynamic problems of non-linear elastic rods with rigid cross-sections

A constrained theory of a Cosserat point has been developed for the numerical solution of non-linear elastic rods. The cross-sections of the rod element are constrained to remain rigid but tangential shear deformations and axial extension are admitted. As opposed to the more general theory with deformable cross-sections, the kinetic coupling equations in the numerical formulation of the constrained theory are expressed in terms of the simple physical quantities of force and mechanical moment applied to the common ends of neighboring elements. Also, in contrast with standard finite element methods, the Cosserat element uses a direct approach to the development of constitutive equations. Specifically the kinetic quantities are determined by algebraic expressions which are obtained by derivatives of a strain energy function. Most importantly, no integration is needed over the element region. A number of example problems have been considered which indicate that the constrained Cosserat element can be used to model large deformation dynamic response of non-linear elastic rods.     

Constrained Hamilton variational principle for shallow water problems and Zu-class symplectic algorithm

In this paper, the shallow water problem is discussed. By treating the incompressible condition as the constraint, a constrained Hamilton variational principle is presented for the shallow water problem. Based on the constrained Hamilton variational principle, a shallow water equation based on displacement and pressure (SWE-DP) is developed. A hybrid numerical method combining the finite element method for spatial discretization and the Zu-class method for time integration is created for the SWEDP. The correctness of the proposed SWE-DP is verified by numerical comparisons with two existing shallow water equations (SWEs). The effectiveness of the hybrid numerical method proposed for the SWE-DP is also verified by numerical experiments. Moreover, the numerical experiments demonstrate that the Zu-class method shows excellent performance with respect to simulating the long time evolution of the shallow water.     

Further study of the equivalent theorem of Hellinger-Reissner and Hu-Washizu variational principles

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Brachistochrone with Coulomb friction

The classical brachistochrone is considered with the inclusion of a resistant force, which is due to Coulomb friction, in addition to the uniform gravitational force that is present. The solution to this problem is expressed in terms of standard functions, and it is developed in two separate ways by means of constrained variational calculus methods. These ways involve formulations of the problem in terms of temporal and spatial independent variables, respectively. The equations of motion that result in both cases are non-linear and coupled. The utilization of path variables is a central feature of the developments provided.     

Classification of parametrically constrained bifurcations

If the constraint boundary relates to a bifurcation parameter, a bifurcation is said to be parametrically constrained. Relying upon some substitution, a parametrically constrained bifurcation is transformed to an unconstrained bifurcation about new variables. A general form of transition sets of the parametrically constrained bifurcation is derived. The result indicates that only the constrained bifurcation set is influenced by parametric constraints, while other transition sets are the same as those of the corresponding nonparametrically constrained bifurcation. Taking parametrically constrained pitchfork bifurcation problems as examples, effects of parametric constraints on bifurcation classification are discussed.     

Equivalence of Dynamics for Nonholonomic Systems with Transverse Constraints

This paper is concerned with the dynamics of a mechanical system subject to nonintegrable constraints. In the first part, we prove the equivalence between the classical nonholonomic equations and those derived from the nonholonomic variational formulation, proposed by Kozlov in [10–12], for a class of constrained systems with constraints transverse to a foliation. This result extends the equivalence between the two formulations, proved for holonomic constraints, to a class of linear nonintegrable ones. In the second part, we derive the nonholonomic variational reduced equations for a constrained system with symmetry and constraint transverse to a principal bundle fibration, using a reduction procedure similar to the one developed in [5]. The resulting equations are compared with the nonholonomic reduced ones through mechanical examples.     

Variational discretization of constrained Birkhoffian systems

In this paper, we derive a variational characterization of constrained Birkhoffian dynamics in both continuous and discrete settings. When additional algebraic constraints appear, derivation of the necessary conditions under which the Pfaff action is extremized gives constrained Birkhoffian equations. Inspired by this continuous framework, we directly discretize the constraints as well as the Pfaff action and consequently formulate the discrete constrained Birkhoffian dynamics. Via this discrete variational approach which is parallel with the continuous case, the resulting discrete constrained Birkhoffian equations automatically preserve the intrinsic symplectic structure when identified as numerical algorithms. Considering that the obtained algorithms require not only the specification of an initial configuration but also a second configuration to operate, we present a natural, reasonable, and efficient method of initialization of simulations. While retaining the structure-preserving property, the obtained discrete schemes exhibit excellent numerical behaviors, demonstrated by numerical examples dealing with the mathematical pendulum and the 3D pendulum.     

Generalized variational principles for boundary value problem of electromagnetic field in electrodynamics

An expression of the generalized principle of virtual work for the boundary value problem of the linear and anisotropic electromagnetic field is given. Using Chien＇s method, a pair of generalized variational principles （GVPs） are established, which directly leads to all four Maxwell＇s equations, two intensity-potential equations, two constitutive equations, and eight boundary conditions. A family of constrained variational principles is derived sequentially. As additional verifications, two degenerated forms are obtained, equivalent to two known variational principles. Two modified GVPs are given to provide the hybrid finite element models for the present problem.     

耦合热弹性动力学的统一变分原理族

对耦合热弹性动力学问题,迄今文献中只建立了Ｇｕｒｔｉｎ型合卷积的统一变分原理,其缺点是只适用于常系数的线性问题,且因含卷积而使实际数值离散和求解复杂化．文中首次成功地建立了耦合热弹性动力学问题经典型（不含卷积）统一变分原理族,其关键是建议了动态差分变换和初终值条件的新处理法．该方法可以推广到各向异性材料以及非线性问题上去,同时在应用有限元法离散和求解上都比较简便．     

基于对偶变量变分原理的完整约束系统保辛算法

基于对偶变量变分原理，选择积分区间两端位移为独立变量，构造了求解完整约束哈密顿动力系统的高阶保辛算法。首先，利用拉格朗日多项式对作用量中的位移、动量及拉格朗日乘子进行近似；然后，对作用量中不包含约束的积分项采用Gauss积分近似，对作用量中包含约束的积分项采用Lobatto积分近似，从而得到近似作用量；最后，在此近似作用量的基础上，利用对偶变量变分原理，将求解完整约束哈密顿动力系统问题转化为一组非线性方程组的求解。算法具有保辛性和高阶收敛性，能够在位移的插值点处高精度地满足完整约束。算法的收敛阶数及数值性质通过数值算例验证。     

Variational theory for spatial rods

The simplest theory of spatial rods is presented in a variational setting and certain necessary conditions for minimizers of the potential energy are derived. These include the Weierstrass and Legendre inequalities, which require that the vector describing curvature and twist belong to a domain of convexity of the strain energy function.     

Stability of Schr(o)dinger-Poisson type equations

Variational methods are used to study the nonlinear Schr(o)dinger-Poisson type equations which model the electromagnetic wave propagating in the plasma in physics. By analyzing the Halniltonian property to construct a constrained variational problem, the existence of the ground state of the system is obtained. Furthermore, it is shown that the ground state is orbitally stable.     

Homogenization of the signorini boundary-value problem in a thick plane junction

We consider a mixed boundary-value problem for the Poisson equation in a plane thick junction Ω_ε that is the union of a domain Ω₀ and a large number of ε-periodically located thin rods. The nonuniform Signorini conditions are given on the vertical sides of the thin rods. The asymptotic analysis of this problem is made as ε → 0, i.e., in the case where the number of thin rods infinitely increases and their thickness tends to zero. With the help of the integral identity method, we prove the convergence theorem and show that the nonuniform Signorini conditions are transformed (as ε → 0) into the limiting variational inequalities in the domain that is filled up with thin rods when passing to the limit. The existence and uniqueness of a solution to this nonstandard limit problem are established. The convergence of the energy integrals is proved as well. Published in Neliniini Kolyvannya, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 44–58, January–March, 2009.