GibbsAppell Equations of Motion:

History and Perspective

Ulrike Zwiers, Bochum University of Applied Sciences

The so-called GibbsAppell equations of motion, independently discovered

and developed by the American physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs (18391903)
and the French mathematician Paul mile Appell (18551930) in the late 19th
century, represent presumably the simplest and most versatile formulation of
analytical mechanics discovered so far. Based on Gauss principle of least constraints and the use of quasi-coordinates, the approach is applicable to both
holonomic and nonholonomic systems, including variable mass systems and systems subject to high-order nonholonomic constraints.
Despite their elegance and wide field of applicability, many textbooks on
engineering mechanics present the Gibbs-Appell equations only as contents of
secondary importance, provided that they are covered at all. The contribution
at hand discusses the advantages but also the disadvantages associated with
the Gibbs-Appell approach by means of illustrative examples and in view of its
historical development and recent advances.