Rolling of a Homogeneous Ball on a Moving Cylinder

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of a homogeneous ball rolling on the inner surface of a circular cylinder in a field of gravity parallel to its axis. It is assumed that the ball rolls without slipping on the surface of the cylinder, and that the cylinder executes plane-parallel motions in a circle perpendicular to its symmetry axis. The integrability of the problem by quadratures is proved. It is shown that in this problem the trajectories of the ball are quasi-periodic in the general case, and that an unbounded elevation of the ball is impossible. However, in contrast to a fixed (or rotating) cylinder, there exist resonances at which the ball moves on average downward with constant acceleration.