[For the entire collection see Zbl 0591.00018.] The authors investigate a symmetric rotor which is suspended vertically on a stringlike mechanism. Classical results are available if the string is weightless and perfectly flexible. Then the rotation of a rotor hanging straight down is stable at any rotation speed, and there are other dynamic equilibrium configurations with small deviations from the vertical which now depend on the rotor speed. These results hold in a similar way when the suspension consists of a rigid rod with gimbal and spherical joint connections. And finally a suspension is considered which consists of n rigid rods interconnected by a series of Hooke’s joints, each of it providing two degrees of freedom. The nonvertical equilibrium configurations and their bifurcation conditions are derived.
Reviewer: G.Schweitzer