First integrals for elastic curves: twisting instabilities of helices

Abstract

We put forward a variational framework suitable for the study of curves whose energies depend on their bend and twist degrees of freedom. By employing the material curvatures to describe such elastic deformation modes, we derive the equilibrium equations representing the balance of forces and torques on the curve. The conservation laws of the force and torque on the curve, stemming from the Euclidean invariance of the energy, allow us to obtain first integrals of the equilibrium equations. To illustrate this framework, we apply it to determine the first integrals for isotropic and anisotropic Kirchhoff elastic rods, whose energies are quadratic in the material curvatures. We use them to analyze perturbatively the deformations of helices resulting from their twisting. We examine three kinds of twisting instabilities on unstretchable helices, characterized by their wavenumbers, depending on whether their boundaries are fixed, displaced along the radial direction or orthogonally to it. We also analyze perturbatively the effect of the bending anisotropy on the deformed states, which introduces a coupling between deformation modes with different wavenumbers.