Stability of axial motions of nonlinearly elastic loops

We establish the stability of axial motions (steady motions along the lengthwise direction) of nonlinearly elastic loops of string. A key observation here is that a linear combination of the total energy and the total circulation of the string, both of which are conserved quantities, yields an appropriate Liapunov function. From our previous work 5], we know that there are uncountably many shapes corresponding to a given axial speed. Accordingly, we establish orbitai stability (modulo this collection of relative equilibria). For a well-defined class of soft materials, there is an upper bound on the axial speed sufficient for stability; stiff materials are shown to be orbitally stable at any axial speed.