The influence of dissipative and constant forces on the form and stability of steady motions of mechanical systems with cyclic coordinates

Mechanical systems with cyclic coordinates subject to dissipative forces with complete dissipation and constant forces applied only to the cyclic variables are considered. Problems of the existence of steady motions in such systems and the conditions for their stability are discussed. It is shown, in particular, that if the Rayleigh function is proportional to the kinetic energy, the stability conditions for the steady motions of the system are the same as or (under certain assumptions) similar to such conditions for steady motions of a corresponding conservative system. The example of a physical pendulum is used to show that such conclusions are generally false: dissipative and constant forces may cause destabilization of stable motions of the system.     

Stabilization of the stationary motions of non-holonomic mechanical systems

The possible stabilization of the unstable stationary motions of a non-holonomic system is studied from the standpoint of general control theory /1, 2/. As distinct from the case previously considered /3/, when forces of a certain structure are applied with respect to both positional and cyclical coordinates, the stabilization is obtained here by applying control forces only with respect to the cyclical coordinates /4/; the control forces may be applied with respect to some or all of the cyclical coordinates, and depend on the positional coordinates, the velocities, and the corresponding cyclical momenta. It is shown that, just as in the case of holonomic systems /5, 6/, depending on the control properties of the corresponding linear subsystem, the stationary motions, whether stable or unstable, can be stabilized, up to asymptotic stability with respect to all the phase variables, or asymptotic stability with respect to some of the phase variables and stability with respect to the remaining variables. The type of stabilization with respect to the given phase variables depends on the Lyapunov transformations which are needed in order to reduce the critical cases obtained to singular cases /7, 8/.     

Stabilität bei Systemen mit quasizyklischen Koordinaten

Quasicyclic or quasiignorable coordinates occur in mechanical systems with equations of motion of the Lagrangian type and can be interpreted as a generalisation of the well known cyclic or ignorable coordinates. In this paper parts of the theory of cyclic coordinates are extended to quasicyclic coordinates. Especially we present sufficient conditions for the existence of the reduced system and generalize the Routh-Salvadori theorem about the stability of stationary motions.     

Stabilization of the motions of mechanical systems with variable masses

A holonomic mechanical system with variable masses and cyclic coordinates is considered. Such a system can have generalized steady motions in which the positional coordinates are constant and the cyclic velocities under the action of reactive forces vary according to a given law. Sufficient Routh-Rumyantsev-type conditions for the stability of such motions are determined. The problem of stabilizing a given translational-rotational motion of a symmetric satellite in which its centre of mass moves in a circular orbit and the satellite executes rotational motion about its axis of symmetry is solved.     

On the influence of gyroscopic forces on the stability of steady-state motion : PMM vol. 39, n 6, 1975, pp. 963–973

The question of the influence of gyroscopic forces on the stability of steady-state motion of a holonomic mechanical system when the forces depend upon the velocities of only the position coordinates was answered by the Kelvin-Chetaev theorems [1] on the influence of gyroscopic and dissipative forces on the stability of equilibrium. However, if the gyroscopic forces depend as well on the velocities of the ignorable coordinates, then their influence on the stability of steady-state motions can, as the two problems in [2] show, prove to be entirely different from the influence of gyroscopic forces depending only on the velocities of the position coordinates. In this paper we investigate the influence of gyroscopic forces depending linearly on the velocities of the generalized coordinates, including the ignorable ones, on the stability of the steady-state motion of a holonomic conservative system. We prove that when the gyroscopic forces applied with respect to the ignorable coordinates are given as total time derivatives of certain functions of the position coordinates, the gyroscopic forces can both stabilize as well as destabilize the steady-state motion. Under certain conditions, this influence is also preserved for the action of dissipative forces depending on the velocities of only the position coordinates. In the case of action of dissipative forces depending also on the velocities of the ignorable coordinates, we have indicated the stability and instability conditions of the steady-state motion. Examples are considered. In conclusion, we discuss the conditions under which the application of gyroscopic forces to the system is equivalent to adding terms depending linearly on the generalized velocities to the Lagrange function.     

The stability and stabilization of the motion of non-conservative mechanical systems

Two stability problems are solved. In the first, the stability of mechanical systems, on which dissipative, gyroscopic, potential and positional non-conservative forces (systems of general form) act, is investigated. The stability is considered in the case when the potential energy has a maximum at equilibrium. The condition for asymptotic stability is obtained by constructing Lyapunov's function. In the second problem, the possibility of stabilizing a gyroscopic system with two degrees of freedom up to asymptotic stability using non-linear dissipative and positional non-conservative forces is investigated. Stability of the gyroscopic system is achieved by gyroscopic stabilization. The stability conditions are obtained in terms of the system parameters. Cases when the gyroscopic stabilization is disrupted by these non-linear forces are indicated.     

On the stability of mixed convective motions in a vertical layer with wave-like boundaries

The stability of the stationary and oscillatory convective motions which develop in a vertical layer with periodically curved boundaries is studied for the case of longitudinal fluid injection. The amplitude of the boundary undulations and the flow of fluid along the layer are both assumed to be small, and methods of perturbation theory are used. The characteristic properties of the incremental spectrum of the spatially periodic motions are studied and the most dangerous types of perturbations as well as the forms of the stability regions are determined.

Theoretical investigations of the effect of spatial inhomogeneity of the boundary conditions on the stability of convection were sparse, and they deal mainly with horizontal layers of fluid /1–3/. Stationary, spatially periodic motions in a vertical layer with curved boundaries were investigated in /4/ for the case of free convection (when the flow was closed), and their stability was investigated in /5/. It was established that the presence of a small but finite flow of fluid along the layer leads to an increase in the number of different modes of flow, and to the appearance of non-stationary convective motions in the region near the threshold.     

The stability and stabilization of non-linear,non-stationary mechanical systems

Mechanical systems acted upon by extremely non-linear positional forces are considered. The decomposition method is used to determine the sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability of an equilibrium. Problems of stabilizing the equilibrium of non-linear, non-stationary systems with specified potential forces by adding forces of different structure are studied. For systems with a non-stationary, homogeneous, positive-definite potential, the possibility of stabilization by linear dissipative forces, uncharacteristic of linear systems, is established. For systems with an even number of coordinates n ≥ 4, in the presence of dissipative forces with complete dissipation, the possibility of vibrational stabilization by adding circular and gyroscopic forces with coefficients fluctuating about zero is demonstrated.     

Controllability and observability in the problem of stabilizing mechanical systems with cyclic coordinates

An approach based on linear control theory is used to solve the problem of stabilizing the steady motions of holonomic mechanical systems in which only cyclic coordinates are controllable [1–3]. The most general structure of forces acting on the system is considered and it is assumed that the constraints imposed are time-independent. The set of new criteria of controllability and observability based on the reduction of the problem under consideration is obtained. The reduction enables one to reduce the investigation of these problems to an analysis of a problem of less dimensions.     

Gyroscopic stabilization of nonconservative systems

The problem is considered of the stabilization of a mechanical system having only nonconservative positional forces by adding gyroscopic forces. The gyroscopic stabilization is proved to be always realizable in the case of a degenerate matrix of nonconservative forces and even number of coordinates. If the matrix of nonconservative forces is nonsingular then a possibility of the gyroscopic stabilization is established for all systems whose number of coordinates is divisible by four. For a nonautonomous systemwith nonconservative positional forces and dissipative forces with complete dissipation, some sufficient conditions are obtained for stabilization up to the exponential stability by addition of gyroscopic forces.     

Weakly supercritical dissipative structures on curved surfaces

Cellular, low amplitude structures appearing at cylindrical and spherical fronts of gaseous combustion and laser evaporation are described. In the case of a spherical front all these structures are found to be unstable. When the cylindrical front of gaseous combustion is expanded, we must expect the quasi one-dimensional structure homogeneous with respect to the ignorable coordinate to be replaced by a parquet-like pattern of rectangular cells, and later to reach a non-stationary regime. On the cylindrical front of laser evaporation the quasi one-dimensional structure of maximum amplitude is globally stable.

The best known hydrodynamic example of a kinetic problem connected with the formation of dissipative structures i.e. thermodynamically nonequilibrium stationary structures appearing as a result of the development of aperiodic instability in a spatially homogeneous state, are Benard cells /1,2/. New problems of this kind are connected with the instability of plane fronts of laser evaporation of condensed material, and of gaseous combustion /3–5/. The instability is aperiodic and appears at finite values of the wave number of the perturbation representing curvature of a plane front. The development of the instability leads to the formation of a stationary, periodically curved front /3/.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate such structures and their stability on cylindrical and spherical surfaces, and this corresponds to the problem of the propagation of a cylindrical or spherical flame through a gas, and of the laser evaporation of a spherical sample. Problems dealing with dissipative structures on curved surfaces are also of interest in biophysics, where a spherical surface models a cell membrane, while the cylindrical surface models the axon /6/.     

On the motion of a solid in a magnetic field

The problem of the motion of a magnetic solid in a constant uniform magnetic field, taking gyromagnetic effects into account, is considered. The equations of motion are derived, the Hamiltonian structure is studied, and the cases of integrability indicated. Certain classes of stationary motions are studied and their stability examined.

The gyromagnetic effects arise because the electrons have magnetic and mechanical spin moments /1/. The rotation of the body causes it to become magnetized (the Barnett effect) and when a freely suspended body is magnetized, it begins to rotate (the Einsteinde Haas effect). It is found that gyromagnetic phenomena must be taken into account when analysing the motion of gyroscopic precision systems.     

The stability of the steady motions of a rigid body in a central field

The problem of the translational-rotational motion of a rigid body with a triaxial ellipsoid of inertia in a central gravitational field is considered. The body is modelled by a weightless sphere, at the ends of the three mutually perpendicular diameters of which there are point masses. It is shown that, unlike the cases when the approximate expression for the potential of the gravity forces is used, there are not only “trivial” steady motions of the body, for which the main central axes of inertia of the body coincide with the axes of the orbital system of coordinates, but also other classes of steady motions. In addition, the stability of these “trivial” steady motions is investigated, and the possibility of secular stability of the motions, unstable in the satellite approximation, is pointed out.     

Stability of steady rotations of a heavy gyrostat about its principal axis

Stability of steady rotations of a gyrostat about its principal axis is investigated with the use of the Arnol'd —Moser theorem /1, 2/ extended to stationary motions /3, 4/. It is shown that steady rotations are stable for all parameter values that belong to the region where the necessary stability conditions are satisfied, except for some manifold of lesser dimension.     

The existence and stability of the equilibria of mechanical systems with constraints produced by large potential forces

A modification of Routh's theorem is investigated for systems with unilateral constraints produced by large potential forces, which enables steady motions to be found and the sufficient conditions for their stability to be investigated. The problem of an orbital “monkey bridge” is considered as an example.     

The exponential stability and stabilization of non-autonomous mechanical systems with non-conservative forces

The exponential stability of the unperturbed motion of a non-autonomous mechanical system with a complete set of forces, that is, dissipative, gyroscopic, potential and non-conservative positional forces, is investigated. The problem of stabilizing a non-autonomous system with specified non-conservative forces is considered with and without the use of potential forces. The problem of stabilizing a non-autonomous system with specified potential forces by the action of the forces of another structure is studied. The domain of stabilizability of the relative equilibrium position of a satellite in a circular orbit is found.     

Reverse motions of mechanical systems

The possibility of the occurrence of sections of reverse motions in natural mechanical systems, when, in the second half of a time interval, the motion in the first half of the interval is repeated in the reverse order and the opposite velocity with a specified accuracy, is investigated. It is shown that such motions are characteristic of natural mechanical systems in the neighbourhood of a non-degenerate equilibrium position if the natural frequencies are independent. Systems with gyroscopic and dissipative forces are also considered. It is shown that, in these systems, sections of reverse motion can be observed in a special system of coordinates. Examples are presented.     

Controllability and observability in the problem of stabilizing steady motions of non-holonomic mechanical systems with cyclic coordinatest

The approach to the solution of stabilization problems for steady motions of holonomic mechanical systems [1, 2] based on linear control theory, combined with the theory of critical cases of stability theory, is used to solve the analogous problems for non-holonomic systems. It is assumed that the control forces may affect both cyclic and positional coordinates, where the number r of independent control inputs may be considerably less than the number n of degrees of freedom of the system, unlike in many other studies (see, e.g., [3–5]), in which as a rule r = n. Several effective new criteria of controllability and observability are formulated, based on reducing the problem to a problem of less dimension. Stability analysis is carried out for the trivial solution of the complete non-linear system, closed by a selected control. This analysis is a necessary step in solving the stabilization problem for steady motion of a non-holonomic system (unlike holonomic systems), since in most cases such a system is not completely controllable.     

On detachment conditions in the problem on the motion of a rigid body on a rough plane

The classical mechanical problem about the motion of a heavy rigid body on a horizontal plane is considered within the framework of theory of systems with unilateral constraints. Under general assumptions about the character of friction, we examine the question on the possibility of detachment of the body from the plane under the action of reaction of the plane and forces of inertia. For systems with rolling, we find new scenarios of the appearing of motions with jumps and impacts. The results obtained are applied to the study of stationary motions of a disk. We have showed the following.

The stability of non-conservative systems and an estimate of the domain of attraction

The stability of mechanical systems, on which dissipative, gyroscopic, potential and positional non-conservative forces act, is investigated. The condition for asymptotic stability is obtained using the Lyapunov function and an estimate of the domain of attraction is also found in terms of the system being considered. A precessional system is also examined. It is shown that the condition for the asymptotic stability of a system is the condition of acceptability in the sense of the stability of a precessional system. The results obtained are applied to the problem of the stabilization, using external moments, of the steady motion of a balanced gyroscope in gimbals.