On the stability of potential systems under the action of non-conservative positional forces (Q2197289)

In this paper, the stability of linear mechanical systems with finite numbers of degrees of freedom subjected to potential and non-conservative positional forces is considered. The study is restricted to the consideration of the case where the potential matrix $K$ is either positive definite or positive semi-definite ($K > 0$). Simple sufficient stability conditions have been obtained for the following two cases: (1) the potential matrix has positive distinct eigenvalues (Theorem 1); (2) the potential matrix has one zero eigenvalue, with the rest of the eigenvalues being positive and distinct (Theorem 2). According to the authors, Theorems 1 and 2 are much simpler than the corresponding criteria, which were obtained earlier by Agafonov. Theorems 1 and 2 are applicable when all eigenvalues of the potential matrix are distinct and unless the degree of freedom is two, they give only sufficient conditions for stability. Some numerical results are given in support of the claims made by the authors.