Gyroscopic Stabilization of 2nd-Order-Systems with Indefinite Damping

We consider the gyroscopic stabilization of the unstable system ẍ + D ẋ + Kx = 0 with positive definite stiffness matrix K. The indefinite damping matrix D is responsible for the instability of the system. The modelling of sliding bearings can lead to negative damping, see [6]. A gyroscopic stabilization of an unstable mechanical system with indefinite damping matrix was investigated in [4] in the case of matrix order n = 2 using the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The question was raised whether an unstable system can be stabilized by adding a gyroscopic term Gẋ with a suitable skew-symmetric matrix G = −G^T . (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)