Stability in a case of motion of a paraboloid over a plane

Resumo

We solve a nonlinear orbital stability problem for a periodic motion of a homogeneous paraboloid of revolution over an immovable horizontal plane in a homogeneous gravity field. The plane is assumed to be absolutely smooth, and the body–plane collisions are assumed to be absolutely elastic. In the unperturbed motion, the symmetry axis of the body is vertical, and the body itself is in translational motion with periodic collisions with the plane.

The Poincare´ section surfacemethod is used to reduce the problemto studying the stability of a fixed point of an area-preserving mapping of the plane into itself. The stability and instability conditions are obtained for all admissible values of the problem parameters.