English

Brachistochrone of off-centered cylinders

Classical Physics 2023-12-27 v2

Abstract

We consider the problem of finding paths of shortest transit time between two points (popularly known as Brachistochrone) for cylinders with off-centered center of mass, rolling down without slip, subject solely to the force of gravity. This problem is set up using principles of classical rigid body dynamics and the desired path function is solved for numerically using the method of discrete calculus of variations. We discover a distinct array of brachistochrone trajectories for off-centered cylinders, demonstrate a critical dependence of such paths on the initial location and orientation of cylinders' centers of mass and bring new insights into the family of brachistochrone problems and solutions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.01243,
  title  = {Brachistochrone of off-centered cylinders},
  author = {Krishnaraj Sambath and Vidhya Nagarajan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.01243},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

Preprint version (in arXiv) identical in content, only differs in format, to accepted version (in EJP)