Rotation of the Body with Movable Internal Masses Around the Center of Mass on a Rough Plane

We consider the motion of a system consisting of a rigid body and internal movable masses on a rough surface. The possibility of rotation of the system around its center of mass due to the motion of internal movable masses is investigated. To describe the friction between the body and the reference surface, a local Amontons–Coulomb law is selected. To determine the normal stress distribution in the contact area between the body and the surface, a linear dynamically consistent model is used. As examples we consider two configurations of internal masses: a hard horizontal disk and two material points, which move parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body symmetry in the opposite way. Motions of the system are analyzed for selected configurations.