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The Schr ̄Sdinger equation for a K irchhoff
elastic rod with noncircular cross section
Xue Yun( ̄ 纭)a) ,Liu Yan—zhu(刘延柱) ,and Chen Li-Qun(陈立群) )
)Institute of Applied M athematics and M echanics,Shanghai University,Shanghai 200072,China
b)Departm ent of M echanical Engineering,Shanghai Institute of Technology,Shanghai 200233,China
)D epartment of Engineering M echanics,Shanghai Jiaotong University,Shanghai 200030,China
fReceived 27 June 2003;revised manuscript received 4 November 2003)
The extended SchrSdinger equation for the Kirchhoff elastic rod with noncircular cross section is derived using
the concept of complex rigidity.A s a m athem atical m odel of supercoiled D NA.the SchrSdinger equation for the rod
with circular cross section is a special cas e of the equation derived in this paper.In the twistless case of the rod when
the Drincipal axes of the cross section are coincident w ith the Frenet coordinates of the centreline,the Schr6dinger
eauation is transform ed to the D uffi ng equation.The equilibrium and stability of the tw istless rod are discussed,and
a bifurcation phenomenon is presented.
Keywords:Kirchhoff elastic rod,SchrSdinger equation,DNA m odel
PA CC :0320,0340D
1.Introduction
The analysis of the equilibrium and stability of
a thin elastic rod has a 1ong tradition in clas sic me—
chanics since 1730 via Bernoulli and Euler.This the-
oretical problem has an important application in the
study of chemical and biological fibres such as the su-
percoiled structure of DNA.In 1859 Kirchhoff found
the dynamic analogue of equilibrium of a thin elastic
rod and the motion of a rigid body about a fixed point,
and constituted fundamental equations for the equilib—
rium of the thin elastic rod.【 , In 1994.on the basis
of the Kirchhoff equation.Shi and Hearst derived the
SchrSdinger equation with the curvature and twist—
ing as unknown variables.【0—61 As a new m athematical
model of supercoiled DNA the SchrSdinger equation is
suitable for the rod with circular cross section only.In
the present paper,using a concept of complex rigidity
of the rod,we extend the SchrSdinger equation to the
more generalized case when the rod has a noncircu—
lar cross section. The Schr6dinger equation derived
by Shi and Hearst was a special case of the extended
SchrSdinger equation.As another special case of the
extended Schr6dinger equation,the equilibrium of a
twistless rod is discussed when the principal axes of
the cross section are coincident with the Frenet coordi-
http://WWW.1op.org/journals/cp
nates of the centreline,and the extended SchrSdinger
equation is transformed to the Duffi ng equation. A
qualitative analysis can be made in this case to dis—
CUSS the equilibrium and stability of the rod,and a
pitchfork bifurcation is presented.
2.D erivation of nonlinear Schr6d.
inger equation
% treat a thin elas tic rod with noncircular cross
section.Let P be an arbitrary point on the centreline
with arc—coordinate s. Establish the Frenet coordi—
nate flame(P—nbt),where n一,b-,t-axes are normal,
binomial and tangent of the centreline at point P re—
spectively.A principal coordinate flame(P—xyz)is
fixed on the cross section.where the z—aX is along
the tangent t-axis and X is the angle between coor-
dinate planes(n,b)and(x, ).Let el,e2,e3,and
en,eb,et be basis vectors of(P—xyz)and(P—nbt);it
follows that
en ‘e1 eb‘e2 COS)(,
et e3 (1)
Denote the curvature vector of the cross section at
point P by ,of which the components wi(i=1,2,
3)in(P—xyz)can be determined by the curvature ,
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No.6 The Schr6dinger equation for a Kirchhoff elastic rod with 795
torsion 7_and twisting angle)(as follows
031 sin )(
a)2 COS)(
0J3 7-+ )(,
where the dot means the derivative with respect to
the arc—coordinate 8.Introduce a complex variable∈,
defined as
∈= l+i0J2= exp (三一)()
The rod is subjected to a self-contact force F。
en+ eb,of which the components (i=1,
3)in(P—xyz)can be written as
1 + 2)
2一 0J1),
where = .Denote the resultant force and torque
on the crOSS section at point P ,respectively,by F and
M with components and尬 (i=1,2,3)in(P—xyz),
and assum e that the rod has an intrinsic twisting
in the relaxed state,then the following relationship
sho1】1d be satjsfied:
M 1= A 1,
M 2= B 2,
M3=c( 3一 ), (5)
where A ,B ,C are the bending and twisting rigidities
of the cross section about x一,Y一,z—axes,respectively.
Introduce a complex torque M = M l+ iM 2,and a
com plex rigidity D as
D = D1+ iD2,
D1= A sin )(+ B COS )(
D2=(B—A)sin)(COS)(
then the first two terms of Eq.(5)can be
complex form ,
M = J[)∈.
written in
complex forces F =R +iF2 and F。: +i ,we
can write the components of Kirchhoff equations(8a)
and(8b)on x一,y-axes in complex form,
户 w3F- )一i F。=。
M +i(Dw3一MaX+iF=0
The components of Kirchhoff equations
on the z—axis can be written as
+Im(F ̄):0
c 3+ D2 = 0
(10)
(8a)and(8b)
(11)
(12)
In the case without contact force when F。= 0.the
Kirchhoff equation perm its a Jacobi integral as
去(D1n2+c ;)+ =H (13)
where the constant H is determ ined by values of ̄di
and F3 at initially given arc—coordinate 8.
We solve F from Eq.(10)and obtain
F=iM 一(Dw3一 ) (14)
Substituting Eq.(14)and its derivative with respect to
8 into Eq.(9),in which M is expressed by Eq.(7),we
obtain a complex differential equation as
J[) ∈+ 一 F。
where kl and k2 ar e defined as
k1=2Dw3一 ( 3一 )一2i ,
z=一H-Cw ̄ s+(23_C_D) ;
+D+i[2Dw3一(C—J[)) 3】.
(15)
(16a)
(16b)
Equation(15)is the SchrSdinger equation for an elas—
tic rod with non—circular cross section. The set of
equations(15)and(12)is closed about complex vari—
able∈and real variable 0J3.
Substituting the exponential expression of∈into
complex equation(15)and separating them into real
and im aginar y parts,we obtain
D1诧+2(D 一D27-)庀+去J[) 3一 = ,
J[)2托+ #2k + 3 = ,
The Kirchhoff equation of the rod in vector form is .
W nere
F + x F + F。 = 0
M + x M + et x F = 0,
(8a)
(8b)
in which the derivatives with respect to the arc—
coordinate 8 are performed in the(P—xyz).Defining
(17a)
(17b)
l=2[日+D2亍一 l+(c +2D2—2c2)7-1
一(3c一2Dl 7- 一C2 ,
2=c( 一7_一戈)+2(Dl 7_+ 2),
3=(2D1一D27-)7-+Dl亍+D2一c(亍+戈).(18)
= 乏
,●
一 一
矸
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796 Xue ’ n et al V01.13
Equation(12)can be written as
(于+戈)+D2 =0
The set of real differential equations(17)and(19)is
closed about the curvature .torsion 7-and twisting
angle)(.
3.Special cases
3.1.A rod w ith circular cross section
For a rod with circular cross section,let A = B,
then DI=A,D2=0,and Eq.(12)or Eq.(19)has a
first integral as
033 CO30 or )( 0330一T (20)
which means that the twisting density 033 of the rod
is constant.The coeffi cients of SchrSdinger equations
(15)and(17)become
l=2Dw3一C(0330
,= 一日
1
2
3
u u3o+
u )
(兰
2(H+Ar )一 u;o
(u 一u3o)+2AT,
A彳-.
D1 u;。, }
Substituting these into Eqs.(15)and(17),we
the Schr6dinger equation derived by Shi and
for a rod with circular cross section.[。, ,。]
o r
(21)
obtain
Hearst
≤+ 1 一 (22)
恙一 T --
2
_cn+ 3
2忘 T -- 詈) , (23a)
where i=ki/A (i=1,2),F =F /A,and
C
Q
H Q
B 4 (罢
A(w3o一03o)
where =C/A is the ratio of rigidities
3.2.Twistless rod
(23b)
(24)
In the case of a rod with noncircular cross section
we rewrite Eq.(12)as
3 B) COS)(sin)( (25)
As A ≠ B.the twisting density 033 is constant only
when)(三 jrr/2(j=O,1,...),i.e.when the princi—
pal axes of the cross section are coincident with the
Frenet coordinates of the centreline.W ithout loss of
generality,let)(三 丌/2,then 031= ,032= 0 and
D l= A,D2= 0.Since there is no twisting relative to
the Frenet coordinates frame,戈= 0,and the twisting
density 033 is equivalent to the torsion 7-.Let
03 3 T = 0330
and the coeffi cient l is simplified to
1 2(H+C03 ̄033o) (3C一2A)03 ̄o
(26)
(27)
Substituting Eq.(2r)into Eq.(17a)and letting =
=0}we obtain a Duffing equation of curvature K
一 . 1 3
—c + 一 ’ 2
where the coemcient c is defined as
C H+ u。。+ 1 ; )
(28)
(29)
4.Stability analysis and bifurca-
tion
The coefficient c of Duffing equation(28)can be
written as
C ( 1)u;o (30)
where is a dim ensionless param eter,depending on
the initial condition of the rod
Letting 忍= 0 leads to an equation of constant curva-
ture s as
l(3A一2)(1 )u;o+ 2]二0 (32)
Let > 2/3 and 1,then Eq.(32)has only a
trivial solution s = 0,corresponding to a straight
equilibrium of the rod. W hen > 1,as well as the
trivial solution.there exist two nontrivial solutions
= -[-0330、//(3 一2)( 一1),corresponding to a he—
lical equilibrium . The curvature of the rod has a
pitchfork bifurcation at = 1,and a stability criterion
of the straight equilibrium of the rod can be derived
according to the theory of Poincar6 as
1: stable,
>1:unstable (33)
重;
+
一
=
2
\、●/
O
+
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r 『
N o.6 The SchrSdinger equation for a K irchhoff elastic rod with 797
In the case of straight equilibrium ,let s = 0,
=F0 and 0330= Mo/C,the constant H can be
calculated from Eq.(13);and then substituting into
Eq.(31),the stable condition 1 can be obtained:
等( 一 A一 cd30)
In a special case when C = 2A,u = 0
(34)is simplified to the same form as
References
(34)
the condition
the Greenhil1
formula.[。]
4A. (35)
It is show n that the stability criterion fo r a straight
rod with circular cross section under extension and
torsion is effective for a twistless straight rod with
noncircular cross section when the rigidities satisfy the
Kovalevskaya condition C = 2A.
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103 3166
[8】Shi Y,Hearst J E et al 1998 J.Chem.Phys.109 2959
[9】Greenhill A G 1883 Proc.1nst.Mech.Eng.(London)
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