Stationary-state solutions to the rotation of solid bodies with liquid- filled cavities and their stability (Q1070839)

All the possible equilibrium states of axi-symmetrical solid bodies with liquid-filled cavities, rotating around fixed axes, are considered according to the extremum conditions on the potential energy. The conclusion is that there exists a unique stable final-state solution, for which the system uniformly rotates around its vertical symmetrical axis, for both cases, for the inverted body and the suspended one. The stability of the rotating system subject to large disturbances is investigated applying the Lyapunov direct method for a continuous system. The results obtained present the conditions of stability and instability of the rotating solid body with a liquid-filled cavity.