- Accepted Paper
Weakly nonlinear dynamics of follower-force-induced oscillations in Cosserat rods
Phys. Rev. E - Accepted 14 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h38f-7zr1
Phys. Rev. E - Accepted 14 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h38f-7zr1
We investigate the weakly nonlinear dynamics of the flutter instability of a planar Cosserat rod in a viscous fluid driven by a terminal follower force. Building on our previous linear stability analysis, we derive Stuart-Landau amplitude equations governing the emergence and saturation of oscillations near the Hopf bifurcation. The Landau coefficients are expressed in terms of the critical eigenmode, its adjoint, and quadratic correction fields arising from the asymptotic expansion. The reduced theory predicts the criticality of the Hopf bifurcations, the saturated oscillation amplitude, and the nonlinear frequency correction, in quantitative agreement with direct numerical simulations for representative material parameter regimes. Applying the theory to both stability boundaries of the finite oscillatory window, we find that the lower Hopf bifurcations are supercritical, whereas the upper restabilization threshold is subcritical. These results provide a normal-form description of follower-force-driven oscillations in geometrically exact Cosserat rods and a reduced framework for studying nonconservative elastohydrodynamic instabilities in soft robotic structures and active filaments.
If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.