Asymptotic behaviour of a rigid body with a cavity filled by a viscous liquid

Karoline Disser

Published 2014-05-23Version 1

We consider the system of equations modeling the free motion of a rigid body with a cavity filled by a viscous (Navier-Stokes) liquid. We give a rigorous proof of Zhukovskiy's Theorem, which states that in the limit of time going to infinity, the relative fluid velocity tends to zero and the rigid velocity of the full structure tends to a steady rotation around one of the principle axes of inertia. The existence of global weak solutions for this system was established previously. In particular, we prove that every weak solution of this type is subject to Zhukovskiy's Theorem. Independently of the geometry and of parameters, this shows that the presence of fluid prevents precession of the body in the limit. In general, we cannot predict which axis will be attained, but we show stability of the largest axis and provide criteria on the initial data which are decisive in special cases.