Skip to main content
Log in

Locking constraints for elastic rods and a curvature bound for spatial curves

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Calculus of Variations and Partial Differential Equations Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper presents necessary conditions for curves in R3 subject to the nonholonomic constraint of an upper bound for curvature and suitable boundary conditions. The proof essentially uses a reformulation of the problem by means of framed curves. The Euler–Lagrange equations for nonlinearly elastic Cosserat rods subject to a general class of locking constraints is derived by similar methods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Agarwal, P.K., Biedl, T., Lazard, S., Robbins, S., Suri, S., Whitesides, S.: Curvature-constrained shortest paths in a convex polygon. SIAM J. Comput. 31, 1814–1851 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Antman, S.S.: {Nonlinear Problems of Elasticity}. Springer, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Boissonnat, J.-D., Cér´ezo, A., Leblond, J.: Shortest paths of bounded curvature in the plane. Internat. J. Intell. Syst. 10, 1–16 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cantarella, J., Kusner, R.B., Sullivan, J.M.: On the minimum ropelength of knots and links. Inventiones Math. 150, 257–286 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Cantarella, J., Fu, J.H.G., Kusner, R., Sullivan, J.M., Wrinkle, N.C.: Criticality for the Gehring link problem. arXiv:math.DG/0402212v1 (2004)

  6. Ciarlet, P.G., Nečas, J.: Unilateral problems in nonlinear, three-dimensional elasticity. Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 87, 319–338 (1985)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Clarke, F.H.: Optimization and Nonsmooth Analysis}. John Wiley & Sons, New York (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dacorogna, B.: Direct Methods in the Calculus of Variations. Springer, Berlin (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Dubins, L.E.: On curves of minimal length with a constraint on average curvature, and with prescribed initial and terminal positions and tangents. Amer. J. Math. 79, 497–516 (1957)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Durumeric, O.C.: Local structure of ideal shapes of knots. (2002) [arXiv:math.GT/ 0204063v1]

  11. Gonzalez, O., Maddocks, J.H., Schuricht, F., von der Mosel, H.: Global curvature and self-contact of nonlinearly elastic curves and rods. Calc. Var. 14, 29–68 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Markov, A.A.: Some examples of the solution of a special kind of problem on greatest and least quantities. (in Russian) Soobshch. Karkovsk. Mat. Obshch. 1, 250–276 (1889)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Reeds, J.A., Shepp, L.A.: Optimal paths for a car that goes both forwards and backwards. Pacific J. Math. 145, 367–393 (1990)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Michalowski, M.: Wegoptimale Robotersteuerung unter Krümmungsnebenbedingungen. Diploma thesis, University of Cologne (1999)

  15. Schuricht, F.: A variational approach to obstacle problems for shearable nonlinearly elastic rods. Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 140, 103–159 (1997)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Schuricht, F.: Global injectivity and topological constraints for spatial nonlinearly elastic rods. J. Nonlinear Sci. 12, 423–444 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Schuricht, F., von der Mosel, H.: Ordinary differential equations with measurable right-hand side and parameters in metric spaces. Universität Bonn, SFB 256 Preprint 676 (2000)

  18. Schuricht, F., von der Mosel, H.: Global curvature for rectifiable loops. Math. Z. 243, 37–77 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. Schuricht, F., von der Mosel, H.: Euler-Lagrange equation for nonlinearly elastic rods with self-contact. Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 168, 35–82 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  20. Schuricht, F., von der Mosel, H.: Characterization of ideal knots. Calc. Var. 19, 281–305 (2004)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  21. Sussmann, H.J.: Shortest 3-dimensional paths with a prescribed curvature bound. In: Proceedings of the 34th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 3306–3312. IEEE Publications, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sussmann, H.J., Tang, G.: Shortest paths for the Reeds-Shepp car: a worked out example of the use of geometric techniques in nonlinear optimal control. Report SYCON 91-10, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (1991)

  23. Verriest, E.: Existence and uniqueness for a variational problem (solution of problem 97-4*). SIAM Review 40(1), 132–143 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  24. von der Mosel, H.: Existence and regularity for nonlinear elastic self-contact problems. Habilitation thesis, Universität Bonn, July 2001 (published in: Bonner Mathematische Schriften 349, March 2002)

  25. Walter, W.: Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen. Springer, Berlin (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wang, Y.: Existence and uniqueness for a variational problem. Problem 97-4*. SIAM Review 39(1), 125–126 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Zeidler, E.: Nonlinear Functional Analysis and its Applications, vol. 3. Variational Methods in Optimization. Springer, New York (1985)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 49K15, 51M16, 74B20, 74K10

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schuricht, F. Locking constraints for elastic rods and a curvature bound for spatial curves. Calc. Var. 24, 377–402 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-005-0322-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-005-0322-0

Keywords

Navigation