Variational discretization of thermodynamical simple systems on Lie groups (Q2180358)

Continuous and discrete variational formulations of simple thermodynamical systems defined on finite-dimensional Lie groups are presented. The paper consists of two parts. In the first part, for a system with configuration space given by a finite-dimensional Lie group, an Euler-Poincaré reduction is performed. The second part deals with the variational discretization of thermodynamical systems and of Euler-Poincaré systems. A variational discretization for such thermodynamical systems is developed. It extends the variational integrators theory for mechanical systems on Lie groups. The good behavior of the variational scheme is illustrated on the example of a heavy top immersed in a viscous fluid whose flow is approximated by a Stokes flow.