Perturbation Dynamics on Moving Chains

Chain dynamics have gained renewed interest recently, following the release of a viral YouTube video showcasing a phenomenon called the chain fountain. Recent work in the field shows that there exists unexplained behavior in newly proposed chain systems. We consider a general system of a chain trave...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zakirova, Ksenia V
Format: Others
Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_theses/90
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=hmc_theses
Description
Summary:Chain dynamics have gained renewed interest recently, following the release of a viral YouTube video showcasing a phenomenon called the chain fountain. Recent work in the field shows that there exists unexplained behavior in newly proposed chain systems. We consider a general system of a chain traveling at constant velocity in an external force field and derive steady state solutions for the time invariant shape of the chain. Perturbing the solution introduces moving waves along the steady state shape with components that propagate along and against the direction of travel of the chain. Furthermore, we develop a numerical model using a discrete approximation of the chain in order to empirically test our results. The behavior of the chain fountain and related chain systems is discussed in the context of these findings.