Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Advisor(s)
Eva M. Strawbridge
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study a straight rod, held at both ends, with a known twist and tension or compression. We study the stability of this steady state when the system is dominated either by inertia or drag. In order to do this, we first replicate the work of Goriely and Tabor to look at the case with inertia, without drag. After conducting the analysis for that case, we then apply their framework to perform a linear stability analysis of a model that is without inertia, but with hydrodynamic drag. Our motivation is the study of locomotion of C. elegans and other long, slender organisms such as bacterial flagella, cilia, and DNA.
Recommended Citation
Kelley, Victoria, "Nonlinear dynamics of filaments in free space and fluids" (2016). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 152.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/152
