On the equilibrium stability of mechanical systems with dissipation


Miroslav Vesković




The paper considers the problem of the equilibrium stability of the first and second kinds of the nonholonomic dissipative systems with a bilateral and unilateral constraints. We have proved the theorems on the instability under the following the assumptions that: the constraint equations, the kinetic and potential energies and the Rayleigh's dissipation function are infinitely differentiable functions; in the equilibrium position the potential energy has not the minimum. The suggested theorems obtained represent an extension to nonholonomic systems of some results [1], [6], [9], referring to the equilibrium stability of holonomic systems. The proving technique will be similar to that used in the paper [1].