Equilibrium Configurations of a Kirchhoff Elastic Rod under Quasi-static Manipulation

Author(s):  
Timothy Bretl ◽  
Zoe McCarthy
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongzhao Wang ◽  
Qichang Zhang ◽  
Wei Wang

The mechanical deformation of DNA is very important in many biological processes. In this paper, we consider the reduced Kirchhoff equations of the noncircular cross-section elastic rod characterized by the inequality of the bending rigidities. One family of exact solutions is obtained in terms of rational expressions for classical Jacobi elliptic functions. The present solutions allow the investigation of the dynamical behavior of the system in response to changes in physical parameters that concern asymmetry. The effects of the factor on the DNA conformation are discussed. A qualitative analysis is also conducted to provide valuable insight into the topological configuration of DNA segments.


2012 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
SATOSHI KAWAKUBO

AbstractThe Kirchhoff elastic rod is one of the mathematical models of equilibrium configurations of thin elastic rods, and is defined to be a solution of the Euler–Lagrange equations associated to the energy with the effect of bending and twisting. In this paper, we consider Kirchhoff elastic rods in a space form. In particular, we give the existence and uniqueness of global solutions of the initial-value problem for the Euler–Lagrange equations. This implies that an arbitrary Kirchhoff elastic rod of finite length extends to that of infinite length.


1986 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 864-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Y. Wang

This paper models a rotating space satellite with a long flexible antenna. Large deformations of the elastic rod are caused by the centrifugal forces. Bifurcation analysis shows the effect of end mass on the critical rotation speeds above which sinuous equilibrium configurations occur. The nonlinear governing equations are then integrated numerically. We find a class of solutions with a looped configuration whose existence requires a certain minimum total energy and minimum angular momentum. Catastrophic changes are possible.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (31) ◽  
pp. 1550193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Xiao ◽  
Zaixing Huang ◽  
Lei Qiang ◽  
Jun Gao

In a multivalent salt solution, a segment of DNA is modeled as an elastic rod subjected to the interfacial traction. The shooting method is used to calculate the equilibrium configurations of condensed DNA under the action of the longitudinal end-force and interfacial traction simultaneously. The results show that the shapes of DNA are mainly determined by the competition between the interfacial energy and elastic strain energy of stretching. The change of end-to-end distance with the longitudinal end-force is consistent with the worm-like chain (WLC) model. The higher the concentration is, the stronger the condensation of DNA.


Author(s):  
Sookkyung Lim ◽  
Yongsam Kim ◽  
David Swigon

We investigate the effects of electrostatic and steric repulsion on the dynamics of a pre-twisted charged elastic rod immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid. Equations of motion of the rod include the fluid–structure interaction, rod elasticity and a combination of two interactions that prevent self-contact, namely the electrostatic interaction and hard-core repulsion. The governing equations are solved using the generalized immersed-boundary method. We find that after perturbation, a pre-twisted minicircle collapses into a compact supercoiled configuration. The collapse proceeds along a complex trajectory that may pass near several unstable equilibrium configurations, before it settles in a locally stable equilibrium. The dwell time near an unstable equilibrium can be up to several microseconds. Both the final configuration and the transition path are sensitive to the initial excess link, ionic strength of the solvent and the initial perturbation.


Author(s):  
Giuseppina Autuori ◽  
Federico Cluni ◽  
Vittorio Gusella ◽  
Patrizia Pucci

In this paper, we yield with a nonlocal elastic rod problem, widely studied in the last decades. The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of the statistic variability of the fractional operator order s on the displacements u of the rod. The rod is supposed to be subjected to external distributed forces, and the displacement field u is obtained by means of numerical procedure. The attention is particularly focused on the parameter s, which influences the response in a nonlinear fashion. The effects of the uncertainty of s on the response at different locations of the rod are investigated by the Monte Carlo simulations. The results obtained highlight the importance of s in the probabilistic feature of the response. In particular, it is found that for a small coefficient of variation of s, the probability density function of the response has a unique well-identifiable mode. On the other hand, for a high coefficient of variation of s, the probability density function of the response decreases monotonically. Finally, the coefficient of variation and, to a small extent, the mean of the response tend to increase as the coefficient of variation of s increases.


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