Spherical and Planar Ball Bearings — a Study of Integrable Cases

Abstract

We consider the nonholonomic systems of \(n\) homogeneous balls \(\mathbf{B}_{1},\dots,\mathbf{B}_{n}\) with the same radius \(r\) that are rolling without slipping about a fixed sphere \(\mathbf{S}_{0}\) with center \(O\) and radius \(R\). In addition, it is assumed that a dynamically nonsymmetric sphere \(\mathbf{S}\) with the center that coincides with the center \(O\) of the fixed sphere \(\mathbf{S}_{0}\) rolls without slipping in contact with the moving balls \(\mathbf{B}_{1},\dots,\mathbf{B}_{n}\). The problem is considered in four different configurations, three of which are new. We derive the equations of motion and find an invariant measure for these systems. As the main result, for \(n=1\) we find two cases that are integrable by quadratures according to the Euler – Jacobi theorem. The obtained integrable nonholonomic models are natural extensions of the well-known Chaplygin ball integrable problems. Further, we explicitly integrate the planar problem consisting of \(n\) homogeneous balls of the same radius, but with different masses, which roll without slipping over a fixed plane \(\Sigma_{0}\) with a plane \(\Sigma\) that moves without slipping over these balls.