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Virginia Tech

Dynamics of an unbalanced ring spinning on a rough horizontal surface

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

An interesting stability property, as fascinating as that of spinning tops and gyroscopes, is observable in the motion of an unbalanced ring spinning on a rough horizontal surface. An analytical and numerical study is performed to investigate the general motion of an unbalanced ring modeled as a thin ring with a particle attached to its rim. The translational motion is represented by the rectangular coordinates of the ring geometric center. The rotational motion is represented by a 1-2-3 set of Euler angles. The kinetic motion equations are derived with the use of Newton's second law and Euler's rotational motion equations. The types of motion considered are the pure-rolling and rolling-with-slipping motions. Given favorable initial conditions, ring properties, and a sufficiently large constraint force in the form of friction, the ring undergoes a pure-rolling motion. For other conditions, however, limitations on the magnitude of the friction force render the pure the mathematical model to allow switching from pure-rolling to rolling-with-slipping motion and vice versa. The general motions of the unbalanced ring, obtained by numerically integrating the governing equations with the use of the seventh-eighth order Runge-Kutta method, are in very good qualitative agreement to those observed during an experiment performed with the use of a high-speed video camera.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Engineering Mechanics
Department dc:contributor.department
Engineering Mechanics
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1993

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Budiman, Benny S.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Kraige, Luther Glenn
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Heller, Robert A.
  • Ragab, Saad A.

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-11102009-020140
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45606

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Budiman, Benny S.. Dynamics of an unbalanced ring spinning on a rough horizontal surface. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/45606