Author(s)

B.C. Winfield, J.H. Butler & M. Twigg

Abstract

Usually it is difficult if not impossible to measure the inertia dyadic of an unsymmetric object. A mathematical model that investigated the effect that damping has on a rotating object was derived. It was shown that an object that is set into motion having a constant angular velocity component about a fixed axis and is allowed to rotate freely about the other two mutually perpendicular axes will align its major principal axis of inertia with that fixed axis of constant angular velocity. A simple experimental way to approximate the conditions of the mathematical model was developed and shown to be accurate in locating the orientation of the maximum principal axis of inertia for small objects. 1. Introduction Measuring or calculating

Keywords