Dynamics of Non-holonomic Mechanical Systems
467
22.2.4 Other Equations of Motion
In the following, we put in evidence other equations of motion, corresponding to the
non-holonomic mechanical system, i.e.: Chaplygin’s equations, Voronets’s equations,
Volterra’s equations and Maggi’s equations; as well, we obtain the canonical form of
the equations of motion (Hamilton’s equations in quasi-co-ordinates) too (Chaplygin,
S.A, 1954).
22.2.4.1 Chaplygin’s Systems. Chaplygin’s Equations
S. A. Chaplygin noticed that, in the case of many non-holonomic conservative
mechanical systems, the generalized co-ordinates
+
12
1
, ,..., , ,...,
s
hh
qq qq q can be
chosen so that the generalized velocities corresponding to the first
h co-ordinates be
considered independent; the other
−sh co-ordinates do not intervene, neither in the
coefficients
+ ,hkj
c of the catastatic constraint relations (22.1.1') (where we make
=
0
0
k
a ), written in the form (the matrix
⎤
⎦
kj
a is of rank h )
++
=
==−
∑
,
1
, 1,2,...,
h
j
hk hkj
j
qcqk sh ,
(22.2.88)
nor in the expression of the Lagrangian
L , written without taking into account these
constraint relations (so that
/ 0, 0, 1,2,...,
hk hk
Tq Q k sh
++
∂∂ = = = −); in these
systems, called Chaplygin systems, the equations of motion can be separated from the
non-integrable constraint equations. We preserve the denomination of Chaplygin
systems also for the non-conservative systems with general non-holonomic constraints
(non-catastatic, for which
≠
0
0
k
a ), if the generalized forces and the coefficients
kj
c
do not depend explicitly on the co-ordinates
++12
, ,...,
s
hh
qq q . The motion of the skate,
the motion of a circular disc on a plane and the motion of the two-wheeled carriage,
considered in the previous section, correspond just to such systems.
Obviously, the constraint relations (22.2.88) allow to write the relations
++
=
δ= δ= −
∑
,
1
, 1,2,...,
h
j
hk hkj
j
qcqk sh
,
(22.2.88')
for the virtual generalized displacements, the virtual generalized displacements
δδ δ
12
, ,...,
h
qq q being independent too.
Starting from the d’Alembert-Lagrange theorem (18.2.27'), written in the form
11
dd
0,
dd
hsh
jj
kh hk
jj
hk hk
jk
TT T T
Qq Q q
tq q tq q
−
++
++
==
∂∂ ∂ ∂
⎡⎛ ⎞ ⎤
⎡⎛ ⎞ ⎤
−−δ+ − − δ=
⎜⎟
⎜⎟
⎢⎥
⎢⎥
∂∂ ∂ ∂
⎣⎝ ⎠ ⎦
⎣⎝ ⎠ ⎦
∑∑
using the relations (22.2.88') and observing that in a double sum one can invert the
order of summation, we obtain
−
+
+
==
∂∂ ∂
⎡⎛ ⎞ ⎤
⎛⎞
−−+ δ=
⎜⎟
⎜⎟
⎢⎥
∂∂ ∂
⎝⎠
⎣⎝ ⎠ ⎦
∑∑
,
11
dd
0
dd
hsh
jj
hkj
jj
hk
jk
TT T
Qc q
tq q tq
;