Stability and long-time behaviour of a rigid body containing a damper (Q6058573)

The article investigates the stability and long-term behavior of a coupled system comprising two rigid bodies separated by a thin layer of lubricant. It establishes stability conditions, indicating that permanent rotations of the entire system, with solids at relative rest, are exponentially stable only when the axis of rotation aligns with the principal axis of inertia of the outer body. All other equilibria are normally hyperbolic, signifying instability. In terms of convergence to equilibrium, the article demonstrates that all solutions to the governing equations converge to an equilibrium configuration irrespective of the initial conditions. Concerning numerical evidence and attainability conditions, the article presents numerical evidence supporting the stability results and discusses conditions ensuring the attainability of the stable configurations. Regarding the methodology, the article utilizes a linearization principle for the stability analysis of dynamical systems with a center manifold. It characterizes the long-term behavior through a careful analysis of the partially dissipative system of equations governing the motion of the coupled system.