Geometric discretization of nonholonomic systems with symmetries (Q964154)

The discretization of nonholonomic mechanical systems through a discrete variational approach is studied. The main contribution of this paper is the derivation of reduced integrators for systems with Lie group structure and internal controllable shape dynamics. The geometric nature of the integrators enabled to identify a discrete nonholonomic momentum map and discrete constraint forces that have properties similar to their continuous analogs. The dynamics of the systems is derived by vertical and horizontal splitting of the variation principle with respect to a nonholonomic connection that encodes the kinematic constraints and symmetries. A family of nonholonomic integrators that are general and easy to implement is obtained. Numerical comparisons with standard integration methods and other nonholonomic integrators showed that the variational nature of the algoritms contributes to stable and accurate integration even at larger time steps. It would be useful to investigate the nature of these results further through error analysis and to also establish a notion of optimality of the chosen discretization.