First integrals in the problem ofthe motion of a heavy rigid body about a fixed point under unilateral constraint

The problem of the existence of integrable cases of the Euler and Lagrange types, and also particular integrals of the Hess and Appel'rot type without additional assumptions on the value of the area integral, is considered for the problem of the motion of a heavy rigid body about a fixed point with constraints on the angle between the rising vertical and a vector fixed in the body.     

Evolution of a regular precession of a solid body carrying a visco-elastic disk

The motion of inertia is studied of a system consisting of an axisymmetric solid body with fixed point and a homogeneous visco-elastic disk lying in the equatorial plane of the ellipsoid of inertia of the solid body (the center of disk coincides with the fixed point). In the case of a solid disk immobilized relative to the solid body the system accomplishes a regular precession (the case of Euler motion of a symmetric solid body with a fixed point /1/). The deformation of the disk is taking place in the plane of the disk, and is accompanied by energy dissipation is the cause of the regular precession finishing by steady rotation about the vector of the moment of momentum of the system /2/.     

Modeling of chaotic motion of gyrostats in resistant environment on the base of dynamical systems with strange attractors

A chaotic motion of gyrostats in resistant environment is considered with the help of well known dynamical systems with strange attractors: Lorenz, Rössler, Newton–Leipnik and Sprott systems. Links between mathematical models of gyrostats and dynamical systems with strange attractors are established. Power spectrum of fast Fourier transformation, gyrostat longitudinal axis vector hodograph and Lyapunov exponents are find. These numerical techniques show chaotic behavior of motion corresponding to strange attractor in angular velocities phase space. Cases for perturbed gyrostat motion with variable periodical inertia moments and with periodical internal rotor relative angular moment are considered; for some cases Poincaré sections areobtained.     

A problem of steady-state electrochemical shaping with a non-Schlicht velocity hodograph

We solve the problem of the steady-state electrochemical shaping by two semi-infinite cathode plates oriented and located arbitrarily with respect to the direction of the feed motion. A characteristic feature of this problem is a non-schlicht velocity hodograph.     

Absolute and relative choreographies in rigid body dynamics

For the classical problem of motion of a rigid body about a fixed point with zero area integral, we present a family of solutions that are periodic in the absolute space. Such solutions are known as choreographies. The family includes the well-known Delone solutions (for the Kovalevskaya case), some particular solutions for the Goryachev-Chaplygin case, and the Steklov solution. The “genealogy” of solutions of the family naturally appearing from the energy continuation and their connection with the Staude rotations are considered. It is shown that if the integral of areas is zero, the solutions are periodic with respect to a coordinate frame that rotates uniformly about the vertical (relative choreographies).      

On the fast rotation of a heavy rigid body about a fixed point

Fast rotation of a symmetric heavy rigid body about a fixed point (the kinetic energy is large in comparison with the potential) is considered in cases when the resonance equations of Euler's motion /1, 2/ are approximately satisfied at the initial instant (the body is assumed to effect turns, ε is small, during time . It is shown that during that time ( ) a finite deviation from inertial motion takes place. Such mechanical effect is similar to the precession of a fast top, except that it is more “early” (in the considered time scale the top precession is slow). Approximate equations that define the motion in the principal order and are integrable in quadratures. The formal process of derivation of higher approximations is indicated, and a geometric interpretation of motions is given.     

On the solution of problems of filtration with a limit gradient

The plane stable filtration of an incompressible liquid with a limit gradient is considered /1/. A special non-linear filtration law is introduced, for which the basic system of equations obtained by transformation of the hodograph /2/ has a general solution which enables the theory of functions of a complex variable to be effectively employed. As a special case the proposed law contains the law considered in /3/. Solutions of the problems of the motion produced by a source in a narrow zone, and the motion from a source-sink pair are presented.     

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].     

A free boundary problem of elliptic equation arising in supersonic flow past a conical body

We study free boundary value problems of elliptic equation caused by a supersonic flow past a non-symmetric conical body. The flow is described by the potential flow equation. In the self-similar coordinate system the problem can be reduced to a boundary value problem of second order nonlinear elliptic equation with a free boundary. Applying the partial hodograph transformation and the method of nonlinear alternative iteration we proved the existence of solution to this boundary value problem. Consequently, we also proved the conclusion that for the problem of supersonic flow past a conical body, if the conical body is slightly different from a circular cone with its vertex angle less than a given value determined by the parameters of the coming flow, then there exists a weak entropy solution with an attached conical shock.     

On a periodic motion of a rigid body carrying a material point in the presence of impacts with a horizontal plane

A material system consisting of an outer rigid body (a shell) and an inner body (a material point) is considered. The system moves in a uniform field of gravity over a fixed absolutely smooth horizontal plane. The central ellipsoid of inertia of the shell is an ellipsoid of rotation. The material point moves according to the harmonic law along a straight-line segment rigidly attached to the shell and lying on its axis of dynamical symmetry. During its motion, the shell may collide with the plane. The coefficient of restitution for an impact is supposed to be arbitrary. The periodic motion of the shell is found when its symmetry axis is situated along a fixed vertical, and the shell rotates around this vertical with an arbitrary constant angular velocity. The conditions for existence of this periodic motion are obtained, and its linear stability is studied.     

The dynamics of nonholonomic systems consisting of a spherical shell with a moving rigid body inside

In this paper we investigate two systems consisting of a spherical shell rolling without slipping on a plane and a moving rigid body fixed inside the shell by means of two different mechanisms. In the former case the rigid body is attached to the center of the ball on a spherical hinge. We show an isomorphism between the equations of motion for the inner body with those for the ball moving on a smooth plane. In the latter case the rigid body is fixed by means of a nonholonomic hinge. Equations of motion for this system have been obtained and new integrable cases found. A special feature of the set of tensor invariants of this system is that it leads to the Euler — Jacobi — Lie theorem, which is a new integration mechanism in nonholonomic mechanics. We also consider the problem of free motion of a bundle of two bodies connected by means of a nonholonomic hinge. For this system, integrable cases and various tensor invariants are found.     

The indentation of a flat punch into a rigid-plastic half-space

The indentation of a flat punch into a rigid-plastic half-space is modelled by a centred field of slip lines with rotation of the rectilinear free boundary about the corner point of the punch. Adjacent to the rectilinear boundary, there is a rigid, stress-free region which is calculated using a velocity hodograph and determines the curvature of the initial horizontal boundary of the half-space during indentation up to the steady-state stage of the motion of the punch in the unbounded rigid-plastic medium.     

The motion of an absolutely rigid body on a two-degrees-of-freedom joint in a uniform gravitational field

The motion of an absolutely rigid body attached to a fixed base by a two-degrees-of-freedom joint in a uniform gravitational field parallel to the fixed axis of the joint is studied qualitatively. Various kinds of motion are described and analysed, depending on the total mechanical energy and the projection of the angular momentum of the body onto the fixed axis of the joint as well as on the inertial parameters of the system.

This paper is a continuation of [1].     

The First Biharmonic Steklov Eigenvalue: Positivity Preserving and Shape Optimization

We consider the Steklov problem for the linear biharmonic equation. We survey existing results for the positivity preserving property to hold. These are connected with the first Steklov eigenvalue. We address the problem of minimizing this eigenvalue among suitable classes of domains. We prove the existence of an optimal convex domain of fixed measure.     

On the orbital stability of pendulum-like oscillations and rotations of a symmetric rigid body with a fixed point

We deal with the problem of orbital stability of planar periodic motions of a dynamically symmetric heavy rigid body with a fixed point. We suppose that the center of mass of the body lies in the equatorial plane of the ellipsoid of inertia. Unperturbed periodic motions are planar pendulum-like oscillations or rotations of the body around a principal axis keeping a fixed horizontal position. Local coordinates are introduced in a neighborhood of the unperturbed periodic motion and equations of the perturbed motion are obtained in Hamiltonian form. Regions of orbital instability are established by means of linear analysis. Outside the above-mentioned regions, nonlinear analysis is performed taking into account terms up to degree 4 in the expansion of the Hamiltonian in a neighborhood of unperturbed motion. The nonlinear problem of orbital stability is reduced to analysis of stability of a fixed point of the symplectic map generated by the equations of the perturbed motion. The coefficients of the symplectic map are determined numerically. Rigorous results on the orbital stability or instability of unperturbed motion are obtained by analyzing these coefficients. The orbital stability is investigated analytically in two limiting cases: small amplitude oscillations and rotations with large angular velocities when a small parameter can be introduced.     

Optimum velocity for a person moving under rain

The total rain received by a moving body has previously been modelled by defining a wetness function. Several cases such as one-dimensional motion of an inclined plane, two-dimensional motion of an inclined plane, motion with time-varying velocity, inclined rain for an inclined plane, rain on a cylindrical surface and three-dimensional motion of a convex body were treated in detail. One of the major conclusions was that for a fixed distance, assuming vertical rain, the body should travel as fast as possible since the total wetness decreases with increasing velocity. The wetness function was shown to decrease asymptotically to a constant value as the velocity increases and in the high-speed range, increasing the velocity does not decrease the wetness substantially. One might think that the excess amount of energy required for a higher speed does not compensate for the small fraction of decrease in wetness. In this work, criteria are developed for a critical speed (optimum speed), for which the wetness is small enough for a reasonable energy consumption. Three cases are investigated: (1) vertical rain; (2) rain inclined towards the body; (3) rain inclined away from the body. In the first two cases, there is no absolute minimum for the wetness function and the optimum velocity is determined by special criteria. The third case is somewhat different, however, and if the inclination angle is higher than a critical value, an absolute minimum for wetness is obtained and the optimum velocity for this case is defined to be the velocity corresponding to this absolute minimum. Therefore the definition of optimum velocity is qualitatively different from the first two cases.     

二维流面上的流动问题的速度图方法

对于一些特殊的流动,尤其是平面上的位势流动,速度图方法有其显著的优点．对于理想流体来说,流面总是存在的,在流面上,流动的速度向量总是在其切空间里．通过引入流函数和势函数,采用张量分析作为工具,给出了二维曲流面上位势流动的速度图方法,得到了流函数满足的速度图方程,为一些特殊的流动问题提供了一类分析方法．并且,对于得到的二维速度图方程,得到了相应的特征方程和特征根,从而可以对方程的类型进行分类．最后,给出了一些特殊流动的实例．     

Quadratic integrals and the reducibility of the equations of motion of a complex mechanical system in a central field

A mechanical system, consisting of a non-variable rigid body (a carrier) and a subsystem, the configuration and composition of which may vary with time (the motion of its elements with respect to the carrier is specified), is considered. The system moves in a central force field at a distance from its centre which considerably exceeds the dimensions of the system. The effect of the system motion about the centre of mass on the motion of the centre of mass, which is assumed to be known, is ignored (the analogue of the limited problem [1] for a rigid body). The necessary and sufficient conditions for a quadratic integral of the motion around the centre of mass to exist are obtained in the case when there is no dynamic symmetry. It is shown that, for a quadratic integral to exist, it is necessary that the trajectory of the motion of the centre of mass should be on the surface of a certain circular cone, fixed in inertial space, with its vertex at the centre of the force field. If the trajectory does not lie on the generatrix of the cone, only one non-trivial quadratic integral can exist and the initial system, in the presence of this quadratic integral, reduces to autonomous form. For the motion of the centre of mass along the generatrix or the motion of the system around a fixed centre of mass, the necessary and sufficient conditions for a non-trivial quadratic integral to exist are obtained, which are generalizations of the energy integral, the de Brun integral [2] and the integral of the projection of the kinetic moment. When three non-trivial quadratic integrals exist, the condition for reduction to an autonomous system describing the rotation of the rigid body around the centre of mass and integrable in quadratures are indicated [3, 4].     

The motion of a cylindrical body in a stratified fluid under the action of a radiation force

The free motion of a thin cylindrical body is investigated based on a previously derived expression for the radiation force acting on moving point sources in a stratified fluid. The fundamental equations of motion are derived, the limits of applicability of the approximation used are indicated and the results of calculations of typical trajectories of a body which begins to move with a specified velocity from a position of neutral buoyancy at an angle to the horizon are presented. Calculations of the trajectory of motion of a thin cylindrical body in a stratified fluid when the total radiation force is taken into account show that the effect of the lateral component of this force is considerable and leads not only to quantitative corrections but also to qualitative effects (for example, to an increase in the oscillations of the body and a change in its direction of motion). The results obtained pertain both to the motion of solids in fluids and to the translational motion of vortex dipoles in weakly stratified media.     

Optimal control of the rectilinear motion of a rigid body on a rough plane by means of the motion of two internal masses

The problem of the optimal control of a rigid body moving along a rough horizontal plane due to motion of two internal masses is solved. One of the masses moves horizontally parallel to the line of motion of the main body, while the other mass moves in the vertical direction. Such a mechanical system models a vibration-driven robot–a mobile device able to move in a resistive medium without special propellers (e.g., wheels, legs or caterpillars). Periodic motions are constructed for the internal masses to ensure velocity-periodic motion of the main body with maximum average velocity, provided that the period is fixed and the magnitudes of the accelerations of the internal masses relative to the main body do not exceed prescribed limits. Based on the optimal solution obtained for a fixed period without any constraints imposed on the amplitudes of vibration of the internal masses, a suboptimal solution that takes such constraints into account is constructed.