On the stability of equilibria of nonlinear nonholonomic systems (Q1202825)

This note studies the problem of the stability of equilibrium of nonlinear nonholonomic systems. First, a problem for nonlinear nonholonomic system is considered as a conditioned holonomic system problem. Second, if an equilibrium state of the system exists, the stability of equilibrium of the corresponding holonomic system can be discussed by its first approximation equations. If the coefficients of the first approximation equations are constant, the characteristic equation must have some zero roots, and the number of these zero roots is equal to the sum of the number of the equations of nonholonomic constraints and the dimension of manifold of the equilibrium state of the nonholonomic system. It is simply to eliminate these zero roots and then to determine the stability by examining if the real parts of the other roots are negative or not.