Stabilization against gravity and self-tuning of an elastic variable-length rod through an oscillating sliding sleeve

An elastic rod, straight in its undeformed state, has a mass attached at one end and a variable length, due to a constraint at the other end by a frictionless sliding sleeve. The constraint is arranged with the sliding direction parallel to a gravity field, in a way that the rod can freely slip inside of the sleeve, when the latter is not moving. In this case, the free fall of the mass continues until the rod is completely injected into the constraint. However, when the sliding sleeve is subject to a harmonic transverse vibration, it is shown that the fall of the mass and the rod injection are hindered by the presence of a configurational force developing at the sliding sleeve and acting oppositely to gravity. During the dynamic motion, such a configurational force is varying in time because it is associated with the variable bending moment at the sleeve entrance. It is (experimentally, analytically, and numerically) demonstrated that, in addition to the states of complete injection or ejection of the elastic rod (for which the mass falls down or is thrown out), a stable sustained oscillation around a finite height can be realized. This 'suspended motion' is the signature of a new attractor, that arises by the constraint oscillation. This behaviour shares similarities with parametric oscillators, as for instance the Kapitza inverted pendulum. However, differently from the classical parametric oscillators, the 'suspended' configuration of the rod violates equilibrium and the stabilization occurs through a transverse mechanical input, instead of a longitudinal one. By varying the sliding sleeve oscillation amplitude and frequency within specific sets of values, the system spontaneously adjusts the sustained motion through a self-tuning of the rod's external length. This self-tuning property opens the way to the design of vibration-based devices with extended frequency range.