Large Deformations of a Whirling Elastic Cable

Wang, C. Y. and Watson, Layne T. (1990) Large Deformations of a Whirling Elastic Cable. Technical Report TR-90-19, Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Abstract

The large deformations of a whirling elastic cable is studied. The ends of the cable are hinged but otherwise free to translate along the rotational axis. The nonlinear governing equations depend on a rotation-elasticity parameter J. Bifurcation about the straight, axially rotating case occurs when J is greater than or equal to n(pi). Perturbation solutions about the bifurcation points and matched asymptotic solutions for large J are found to second order. Exact numerical solutions are obtained using quasi-Newton and homotopy methods.