2018/07/04 by Angadh Nanjangud, Nanjangud, Angadh
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems #Astro and Planetary Science #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Rocket and propulsion systems research #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1807.01575
openalex publication_date 2018/07/04 · openalex created_date 2022/08/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In classical mechanics, the 'geometry of motion' refers to a development to\nvisualize the motion of freely spinning bodies. In this paper, such an approach\nof studying the rotational motion of axisymmetric variable mass systems is\ndeveloped. An analytic solution to the second Euler angle characterising\nnutation naturally falls out of this method, without explicitly solving the\nnonlinear differential equations of motion. This is used to examine the coning\nmotion of a free axisymmetric cylinder subject to three idealized models of\nmass loss and new insight into their rotational stability is presented. It is\nseen that the angular speeds for some configurations of these cylinders grow\nwithout bounds. In spite of this phenomenon, all configurations explored here\nare seen to exhibit nutational stability, a desirable property in solid rocket\nmotors.\n