Energy-Preserving Integrators Applied to Nonholonomic Systems

We introduce energy-preserving integrators for nonholonomic mechanical systems. We will see that the nonholonomic dynamics is completely determined by a triple \(({{\mathcal {D}}}^*, \varPi , \mathcal {H})\), where \({{\mathcal {D}}}^*\) is the dual of the vector bundle determined by the nonholonomic constraints, \(\varPi \) is an almost-Poisson bracket (the nonholonomic bracket) and \( \mathcal {H}: {{\mathcal {D}}}^*\rightarrow \mathbb {R}\) is a Hamiltonian function. For this triple, we can apply energy-preserving integrators, in particular, we show that discrete gradients can be used in the numerical integration of nonholonomic dynamics. By construction, we achieve preservation of the constraints and of the energy of the nonholonomic system. Moreover, to facilitate their applicability to complex systems which cannot be easily transformed into the aforementioned almost-Poisson form, we rewrite our integrators using just the initial information of the nonholonomic system. The derived procedures are tested on several examples: a chaotic quartic nonholonomic mechanical system, the Chaplygin sleigh system, the Suslov problem and a continuous gearbox driven by an asymmetric pendulum. Their performance is compared with other standard methods in nonholonomic dynamics, and their merits verified in practice.

     

Poincaré transformations in nonholonomic mechanics

We report on the application of the Poincaré transformation (from the theory of adaptive geometric integrators) to nonholonomic systems—mechanical systems with non-integrable velocity constraints. We prove that this transformation can be used to express the dynamics of certain nonholonomic systems at a fixed energy value in Hamiltonian form; examples and potential applications are also discussed.     

Hamel’s Formalism for Classical Field Theories

This paper introduces Hamel’s formalism for classical field theories with the goal of analyzing the dynamics of continuum mechanical systems with velocity constraints. The developed formalism is utilized to prove the existence and uniqueness of motions of an infinite-dimensional generalization of the Chaplygin sleigh, a canonical example of nonholonomic dynamics. The formalism is very flexible and, for mechanical field theories, includes the Eulerian and Lagrangian representations of continuum mechanics as special cases. It also provides a useful approach to analyzing symmetry reduction.

     

Variational and Geometric Structures of Discrete Dirac Mechanics

In this paper, we develop the theoretical foundations of discrete Dirac mechanics, that is, discrete mechanics of degenerate Lagrangian/Hamiltonian systems with constraints. We first construct discrete analogues of Tulczyjew’s triple and induced Dirac structures by considering the geometry of symplectic maps and their associated generating functions. We demonstrate that this framework provides a means of deriving discrete Lagrange–Dirac and nonholonomic Hamiltonian systems. In particular, this yields nonholonomic Lagrangian and Hamiltonian integrators. We also introduce discrete Lagrange–d’Alembert–Pontryagin and Hamilton–d’Alembert variational principles, which provide an alternative derivation of the same set of integration algorithms. The paper provides a unified treatment of discrete Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics in the more general setting of discrete Dirac mechanics, as well as a generalization of symplectic and Poisson integrators to the broader category of Dirac integrators.     

A long-term numerical energy-preserving analysis of symmetric and/or symplectic extended RKN integrators for efficiently solving highly oscillatory Hamiltonian systems

This paper presents a long-term analysis of one-stage extended Runge–Kutta–Nyström (ERKN) integrators for highly oscillatory Hamiltonian systems. We study the long-time numerical energy conservation not only for symmetric integrators but also for symplectic integrators. In the analysis, we neither assume symplecticity for symmetric methods, nor assume symmetry for symplectic methods. It turns out that these both types of integrators have a near conservation of the total and oscillatory energy over a long term. To prove the result for explicit integrators, a relationship between ERKN integrators and trigonometric integrators is established. For the long-term analysis of implicit integrators, the above approach does not work anymore and we use the technology of modulated Fourier expansion. By taking some adaptations of this technology for implicit methods, we derive the modulated Fourier expansion and show the near energy conservation.

     

Discrete Nonholonomic Lagrangian Systems on Lie Groupoids

This paper studies the construction of geometric integrators for nonholonomic systems. We develop a formalism for nonholonomic discrete Euler–Lagrange equations in a setting that permits to deduce geometric integrators for continuous nonholonomic systems (reduced or not). The formalism is given in terms of Lie groupoids, specifying a discrete Lagrangian and a constraint submanifold on it. Additionally, it is necessary to fix a vector subbundle of the Lie algebroid associated to the Lie groupoid. We also discuss the existence of nonholonomic evolution operators in terms of the discrete nonholonomic Legendre transformations and in terms of adequate decompositions of the prolongation of the Lie groupoid. The characterization of the reversibility of the evolution operator and the discrete nonholonomic momentum equation are also considered. Finally, we illustrate with several classical examples the wide range of application of the theory (the discrete nonholonomic constrained particle, the Suslov system, the Chaplygin sleigh, the Veselova system, the rolling ball on a rotating table and the two wheeled planar mobile robot). This work was partially supported by MEC (Spain) Grants MTM 2006-03322, MTM 2007-62478, MTM 2006-10531, project “Ingenio Mathematica” (i-MATH) No. CSD 2006-00032 (Consolider-Ingenio 2010) and S-0505/ESP/0158 of the CAM.     

Integrators for Nonholonomic Mechanical Systems

We study a discrete analog of the Lagrange-d'Alembert principle of nonhonolomic mechanics and give conditions for it to define a map and to be reversible. In specific cases it can generate linearly implicit, semi-implicit, or implicit numerical integrators for nonholonomic systems which, in several examples, exhibit superior preservation of the dynamics. We also study discrete nonholonomic systems on Lie groups and their reduction theory, and explore the properties of the exact discrete flow of a nonholonomic system.     

Equivariant constrained symplectic integration

Summary We use recent results on symplectic integration of Hamiltonian systems with constraints to construct symplectic integrators on cotangent bundles of manifolds by embedding the manifold in a linear space. We also prove that these methods are equivariant under cotangent lifts of a symmetry group acting linearly on the ambient space and consequently preserve the corresponding momentum. These results provide an elementary construction of symplectic integrators for Lie-Poisson systems and other Hamiltonian systems with symmetry. The methods are illustrated on the free rigid body, the heavy top, and the double spherical pendulum.     

Dirac reduction for nonholonomic mechanical systems and semidirect products

This paper develops the theory of Dirac reduction by symmetry for nonholonomic systems on Lie groups with broken symmetry. The reduction is carried out for the Dirac structures, as well as for the associated Lagrange–Dirac and Hamilton–Dirac dynamical systems. This reduction procedure is accompanied by reduction of the associated variational structures on both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian sides. The reduced dynamical systems obtained are called the implicit Euler–Poincaré–Suslov equations with advected parameters and the implicit Lie–Poisson–Suslov equations with advected parameters. The theory is illustrated with the help of finite and infinite dimensional examples. It is shown that equations of motion for second order Rivlin–Ericksen fluids can be formulated as an infinite dimensional nonholonomic system in the framework of the present paper.     

Nonholonomic Mechanical Systems and Kaluza–Klein Theory

In the first part of the paper we present a new point of view on the geometry of nonholonomic mechanical systems with linear and affine constraints. The main geometric object of the paper is the nonholonomic connection on the distribution of constraints. By using this connection and adapted frame fields, we obtain the Newton forms of Lagrange–d’Alembert equations for nonholonomic mechanical systems with linear and affine constraints. In the second part of the paper, we show that the Kaluza–Klein theory is best presented and explained by using the framework of nonholonomic mechanical systems. We show that the geodesics of the Kaluza–Klein space, which are tangent to the electromagnetic distribution, coincide with the solutions of Lagrange–d’Alembert equations for a nonholonomic mechanical system with linear constraints, and their projections on the spacetime are the geodesics from general relativity. Any other geodesic of the Kaluza–Klein space that is not tangent to the electromagnetic distribution is also a solution of Lagrange–d’Alembert equations, but for affine constraints. In particular, some of these geodesics project exactly on the solutions of the Lorentz force equations of the spacetime.     

Reduction of almost Poisson brackets for nonholonomic systems on Lie groups

We present a systematic geometric construction of reduced almost Poisson brackets for nonholonomic systems on Lie groups with invariant kinetic energy metric and constraints. Our construction is of geometric interest in itself and is useful in the hamiltonization of some classical examples of nonholonomic mechanical systems.      

Conservation laws, hierarchy of dynamics and explicit integration of nonholonomic systems

This paper can be regarded as a continuation of our previous work [1, 2] on the hierarchy of the dynamical behavior of nonholonomic systems. We consider different mechanical systems with nonholonomic constraints; in particular, we examine the existence of tensor invariants (laws of conservation) and their connection with the behavior of a system. Considerable attention is given to the possibility of conformally Hamiltonian representation of the equations of motion, which is mainly used for the integration of the considered systems.      

A generalization of Chaplygin’s Reducibility Theorem

In this paper we study Chaplygin’s Reducibility Theorem and extend its applicability to nonholonomic systems with symmetry described by the Hamilton-Poincaré-d’Alembert equations in arbitrary degrees of freedom. As special cases we extract the extension of the Theorem to nonholonomic Chaplygin systems with nonabelian symmetry groups as well as Euler-Poincaré-Suslov systems in arbitrary degrees of freedom. In the latter case, we also extend the Hamiltonization Theorem to nonholonomic systems which do not possess an invariant measure. Lastly, we extend previous work on conditionally variational systems using the results above. We illustrate the results through various examples of well-known nonholonomic systems.     

Mathematical modelling and theoretical analysis of nonholonomic kinematic systems with a class of rheonomous affine constraints

In this paper, we deal with kinematic control systems subject to a class of rheonomous affine constraints. We first define A-rheonomous affine constraints and explain a geometric representation method for them. Next, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for complete nonholonomicity of the A-rheonomous affine constraints. Then, a mathematical model of nonholonomic kinematic systems with A-rheonomous affine constraints (NKSARAC), which is included in the class of nonlinear affine control systems, is introduced. Theoretical analysis on linearly-approximated systems and accessibility for the NKSARAC is also shown. Finally, we apply the results to some physical examples in order to confirm the effectiveness of them.     

Четаев型非完整力学系统的微分几何原理

本文应用现代微分几何的方法研究Четаев型非完整力学系统.通过恰当地定义Четаев型约束Pfaff系统,给出了非完整力学系统的微分几何结构,从而将带有非完整约束的Lagrange方程表达为一种与坐标无关的不变形式,并且采用这个新观点讨论了约束的嵌入和非完整力学系统的守恒定律等问题,得到了约束子流形上的Noether型定理.     

带一类第一积分的非完整系统的Szebehely问题

研究非完整系统动力学的一类逆问题·给出非完整系统的运动方程及其显式，考虑一类仅受齐次非完整约束的力学系统的Ｓｚｅｂｅｈｅｌｙ问题，研究已知一类第一积分的一般非完整系统的情形·最后举例说明其应用·     

Discrete Variational Optimal Control

This paper develops numerical methods for optimal control of mechanical systems in the Lagrangian setting. It extends the theory of discrete mechanics to enable the solutions of optimal control problems through the discretization of variational principles. The key point is to solve the optimal control problem as a variational integrator of a specially constructed higher dimensional system. The developed framework applies to systems on tangent bundles, Lie groups, and underactuated and nonholonomic systems with symmetries, and can approximate either smooth or discontinuous control inputs. The resulting methods inherit the preservation properties of variational integrators and result in numerically robust and easily implementable algorithms. Several theoretical examples and a practical one, the control of an underwater vehicle, illustrate the application of the proposed approach.     

具有单面非完整约束的力学系统的Lie对称性与守恒量

研究具有单面非完整约束的力学系统的Ｌｉｅ对称性。给出由Ｌｉｅ对称性得到系统守恒量的条件和守恒量的形式,并研究上述问题的逆问题,即根据系统的已知积分来求相应的Ｌｉｅ对称性,最后举例说明结果的应用。     

Nonholonomic LR Systems as Generalized Chaplygin Systems with an Invariant Measure and Flows on Homogeneous Spaces

We consider a class of dynamical systems on a compact Lie group G with a left-invariant metric and right-invariant nonholonomic constraints (so-called LR systems) and show that, under a generic condition on the constraints, such systems can be regarded as generalized Chaplygin systems on the principle bundle G \to Q = G/H, H being a Lie subgroup. In contrast to generic Chaplygin systems, the reductions of our LR systems onto the homogeneous space Q always possess an invariant measure. We study the case G = SO(n), when LR systems are ultidimensional generalizations of the Veselova problem of a nonholonomic rigid body motion which admit a reduction to systems with an invariant measure on the (co)tangent bundle of Stiefel varieties V(k, n) as the corresponding homogeneous spaces. For k = 1 and a special choice of the left-invariant metric on SO(n), we prove that after a time substitution the reduced system becomes an integrable Hamiltonian system describing a geodesic flow on the unit sphere S^n-1. This provides a first example of a nonholonomic system with more than two degrees of freedom for which the celebrated Chaplygin reducibility theorem is applicable for any dimension. In this case we also explicitly reconstruct the motion on the group SO(n).