Stabilization of rotations of a rigid body with a fixed point by periodic perturbations

Abstract

The dynamics of a body with a fixed point is considered in the case where the moments of inertia of the system depend periodically on time. A stability of permanent rotations is estimated by a numerical approach. In a neighborhood of permanent rotations the linearization of equations of motion results in Hill's equation, and the stability is determined by the eigenvalues of a monodromy matrix. It is shown that stable rotations may be destabilized by periodically changing the moments of inertia due to parametric resonance.