A dual form of Noether's theorem with applications to continuum mechanics

Considering simultaneously the equations of motion of the physical system and of the non-physical adjoint system, we introduce a general form of Noether's theorem by constructing a “dual Lagrangian” functional with a corresponding invariant of motion which preserves its value along the trajectories of combined physical and unphysical systems. The statement of invariance of this functional reduces to the classical statement of Noether's theorem if the system is self-adjoint; some possible generalizations are indicated. Applications to continuum mechanics are discussed within the framework of Noble's dual variational formulation.     

Spatially distributed classical Lagrangian mechanics

It is well known that the existence of two nontrivial integrals of the motion makes it possible to parametrize the motion of a Lagrangian rigid body by two variables. On the basis of this fact it is shown that certain combinations of the quantities that characterize the trajectory of such a body satisfy well-known nonlinear equations: sine—Gordon, Korteweg—de Vries, Klein-Gordon, and nonlinear Schrödinger equation.Elabuga State Pedagogical Institute. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. 369–373, December, 1994.     

Geometric mechanics: Foundations of the theory and fundamental equations

Geometric mechanics, which develops traditional geometric methods of mechanics, enables one to construct theories of complex coupled systems on the basis of Newtonian axiomatics without recourse to the methods of Lagrangian analytical mechanics, Euler's methods for the dynamics of a rigid body and other theories and principles. Geometric methods simplify the general theory of complex mechanical systems and bring it closer to computerized computational technologies and to engineering practice.     

Regularization of 2D frictional contacts for rigid body dynamics

Classic rigid body mechanics does not provide frictional forces acting in a 2D contact interface between two bodies during sticking. This is due to the statical undeterminacy related with this problem. Many technical systems, e.g. disk clutches, have such surface-to-surface contacts and it is sometimes desirable to treat them as rigid body systems despite the 2D contact. Alternatively it is possible to model the systems using elastic instead of rigid bodies, but this might lead to certain drawbacks. Here a new regularization model of such 2D contacts between rigid bodies is proposed. It is derived from a material model for elasto-plasticity in continuum mechanics. Only dry friction is taken into account. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Variational formulations in continuum mechanics

Variational formulations of the governing equations are of great interest in continuum mechanics: on the one hand a deeper theoretical insight in the respective system is possible, on the other hand variational formulations give rise for the development of semi-analytical and numerical methods like Ritz' direct method, especially FEM. Despite these benefits, there are many problems in continuum mechanics for which a variational principle is not available. The reason for this is that in contrast to conservative Newtonian mechanics, where the Lagrangian is given as difference between kinetic and potential energy, no generally valid construction rule for the Lagrangian has been established in the past. In this paper a construction rule is developed, on the Galilei-invariance of the system, leading to a general scheme for Lagrangians the individual analytical form of which is determined by an inverse treatment of Noether's theorem. This procedure is demonstrated for an elastically deforming body. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Symmetry and integrable canonical flows

Following the method of a group theoretic formulation of rigid body dynamics, we construct an elementary proof that f commuting generators of symmetries of an f degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian system yield integrability of the dynamics in the form of f independent translations in phase space. The integrability of the dynamical system follows directly from the trivial integrability of a particular set of group parameter velocities that are nonintegrable in the absence of symmetry, and does not rely at all upon any assumption of separability of the Hamiltonian-Jacobi partial differential equation. Our method relies upon Hamel's explanation of when one can and cannot choose group parameters as generalized coordinates, and uses the Poisson bracket formulation of mechanics that is familiar to physicists.

We formally extend Euler's theorem on rigid body motions to other transformation groups for Hamiltonian flows in phase space, and also note the analogy between nonholonomic coordinates in classical mechanics and uncertainty principles in quantum mechanics.     

The application of the solid-angle theorem in the special theory of relativity

Ishlinskii's theorem, well known in classical mechanics, asserts that if an axis, selected in a rigid body, having zero projection of the angular velocity onto this axis, described a closed conical surface during the motion of the body, then, after the axis has returned to its initial position the body will have described an angle around it numerically equal to solid angle of the described cone. It is shown that the same relation also exists in the Special Theory of Relativity—the angle of rotation described by a rigid body during motion along a curvilinear trajectory due to the Thomas precession effect, is numerically equal to the solid angle observed in a fixed frame of reference described by an axis connected with the body due to a change in the rotation of the image of the rigid body. The latter phenomenon is due to the Lorentz contraction of the length and the retardation of light radiated by different parts of the body [10–13].     

Lagrangian reduction and the double spherical pendulum

This paper studies the stability and bifurcations of the relative equilibrium of the double spherical pendulum, which has the circle as its symmetry group. The example as well as others with nonabelian symmetry groups, such as the rigid body, illustrate some useful general theory about Lagrangian reduction. In particular, we establish a satisfactory global theory of Lagrangian reduction that is consistent with the classical local Routh theory for systems with an abelian symmetry group.Dedicated to Professor Klaus Kirchgässner on the occasion of his 60th birthdayResearch partially supported by a Humboldt award at the Universität Hamburg and by DOE Contract DE-FGO3-88ER25064.     

On conditions of existence of permanent rotations of connected rigid bodies system about vertical vector

In contrast to the classical problem of motion of a heavy rigid body about a fixed point where the permanent rotations are well known and completely investigated [7, 3] as the most simple and good visually demonstrated type of motions, in multibody mechanics under an increasing of quantity of the system bodies, mechanical parameters and the order of differential motion equations the study of such motions is more complicated problem. The problem on permanent rotations of two connected rigid bodies under influence of gravity force was investigated in [2, 4]. In this paper a system consisting of arbitrary constant quantity, n, of heavy rigid bodies which are sequentially jointed in a chain is considered. The conditions of existence of motions when each body permanently rotates about the vertical vector are determined. These conditions are analyzed in a general case when the bodies angular velocities are different.     

Special Symmetric Two-tensors, Equivalent Dynamical Systems, Cofactor and Bi-cofactor Systems

A general analysis of special classes of symmetric two-tensor on Riemannian manifolds is provided. These tensors arise in connection with special topics in differential geometry and analytical mechanics: geodesic equivalence and separation of variables. It is shown that they play an important role in the theory of correspondent (or equivalent) dynamical systems of Levi-Civita. By applying some new developments of this theory, it is shown that the recent notions of cofactor and cofactor-pair systems arise in a natural way, as non-Lagrangian systems having a Lagrangian equivalent. This circumstance extends the Hamiltonian methods, including the separation of variables of the Hamilton–Jacobi equation, to a special class of nonconservative systems. In this extension the case of indefinite metrics, may occur. Hence, it is shown that also pseudo-Riemannian geometry plays an important role also in classical mechanics.Research sponsored by the Dept. of Mathematics, University of Turin, and by INDAM-GNFM.     

The rate of convergence of the Lax-Oleinik semigroup-degenerate fixed point case

For the standard Lagrangian in classical mechanics, which is defined as the kinetic energy of the system minus its potential energy, we study the rate of convergence of the corresponding Lax-Oleinik semigroup. Under the assumption that the unique global minimum point of the Lagrangian is a degenerate fixed point, we provide an upper bound estimate of the rate of convergence of the semigroup.     

Optimal general inequalities for Lagrangian submanifolds in complex space forms

Lagrangian submanifolds appear naturally in the context of classical mechanics. Moreover, they play some important roles in supersymmetric field theories as well as in string theory. In this paper we establish general inequalities for Lagrangian submanifolds in complex space forms. We also provide examples showing that these inequalities are the best possible. Moreover, we provide simple non-minimal examples which satisfy the equality case of the improved inequalities.     

Qualitative analysis of systems with an ideal non-conservative constraint

The Hamiltonian form developed in /1/ for the equations of motion of systems with ideal non-conservative constraints enables familiar methods of classical and celestial mechanics to be used to analyse the dynamics of such systems. When this is done certain difficulties arise, due to the fact that the Hamiltonian is not analytic. In this paper one of the possible algorithms applying KAM theory /2/ and Poincaré's theory of periodic motions /3/ to the analysis of systems in which the Hamiltonian is non-analytic in one of the phase variables is described. As an example, some results of /4/ concerning the dynamics of a rigid body colliding with a fixed, absolutely smooth, horizontal plane are refined.     

Modelling of unilateral constraints using power-based restriction functions within Lagrangian mechanics

The consideration of unilateral contacts within multi-body systems is a common but also difficult task. Established modelling approaches such as the rigid body theory or the Hertzian contact are suitable for single-body systems but show serious problems with increasing system complexity. Indeed, there are different approaches to extend the existing models to multi-body systems, but with a growing number of contacts and the consideration of tangential friction, those enhancements are hardly applicable, showing numeric problems or becoming unmanageable. Thus, to overcome these limitations, a new modelling approach for unilateral contacts defined by power-based restriction functions is proposed in this contribution. The proposed contact model is based on continuous functions, making it numerically robust as well as applicable within Lagrangian mechanics. The approach is easily applicable and even remains manageable for multiple contacts since each constraint can be independently adapted by four physical parameters. The simple applicability and generalizability of the approach is demonstrated by several examples.     

Dynamical models of molecular chains and efficient integration algorithms

Chains of point masses and chains of rigid bodies are used to model biological polymers. To investigate their dynamics we propose a method which allows an efficient realization of the constraints jointly with a simple and accurate integration of the free rigid body motion. The method is quite effective to evolute the geodesic flow of a rigid body chain and the global performance depends on the computational complexity of the algorithms used to compute the interaction forces. Our approach is suitable to describe a chain of rigid bodies immersed in a thermal bath. In the method we propose, the constraints are realized by hard springs whose elastic constant is set to maximize the energy dissipation rate of a Runge–Kutta integrator scheme. Moreover the use of local Lagrangian coordinates is introduced using the possibility of a continuous change of chart, such that the distance from the coordinate singularities is the highest possible. For a chain of point masses the numerical results are checked with another method where the constraints are exactly realized by means of Lagrangian coordinates. When the chain is subject to regular interactions potentials plus a thermal bath the exact and approximate constraints realization provide comparable results.     

带有升降气囊与压块的飞艇动力学建模

研究飞艇的动力学建模,将飞艇的机体视为浮力与重力相等的浸没刚体,且考虑了飞艇机体与升降气囊以及压块之间的动力学耦合作用．整体的动力学方程首先通过Newton-Euler定律和Kirchhoff方程推出．此外,应用Hamilton与Lagrange半直积约化理论,可以将动力学方程解释为Lie-Poisson系统或者Euler-Poincaré系统．这两种动力学描述在基于能量的控制设计中有着重要作用．     

Some Methods of Analysis of the Dynamic Systems with the Various Dissipation in Dynamics of a Rigid Body

In is well–known due to its complexity, the problem of the motion of a rigid body in an unbounded medium requires the introduction of certain simplifying restrictions. The main aim in this connection is to introduce hypotheses that would make it possible to study the motion of the rigid body separately from the motion of the medium in which the body is embedded. On the one hand, a similar approach was realized in the classical Kirchhoff problem on the motion of a body in an unbounded ideal incompressible fluid that undergoes an irrotational motion and is at rest at infinity. On the other hand, it is obvious that the above–mentioned Kirchhoff problem does not exhaust the possibilities of this kind of simulation. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

弹性力学的Lagrange形式：用Routh方法建立弹性有限变形问题的基本方程

将弹性有限变形问题纳入Lagrange力学的理论体系中，并用经典力学中业已存在的Routh方法构建了有限变形平面应变问题和有限变形平面应力问题的基本微分方程，讨论了有限变形大挠度问题vonkarman方程中存在的矛盾进而提出了两种改进方案．