Discrete Lagrange-d'Alembert-Poincaré equations for Euler's disk

Abstract

Nonholonomic systems are described by the Lagrange-d’Alembert principle. The presence of symmetry leads to a reduced d’Alembert principle and to the Lagrange-d’Alembert-Poincaré equations. First, we briefly recall from previous works how to obtain these reduced equations for the case of a thick disk rolling on a rough surface using a three-dimensional abelian group of symmetries. The main results of the present paper are the calculation of the discrete Lagrange-d’Alembert-Poincaré equations for an Euler’s disk and the numerical simulation of a trajectory and its energy behavior.