# Simulations of wobble damping in viscoelastic rotators

## TL;DR

This paper uses numerical simulations to study wobble damping in viscoelastic ellipsoids, comparing results with analytical models and exploring how internal material properties influence energy dissipation and tumbling lifetimes.

## Contribution

It introduces a damped mass-spring simulation approach for wobble damping and validates analytical models against numerical results, highlighting core material influence.

## Key findings

- Energy dissipation rates depend on shape, spin, and material properties.
- Analytical models match simulations after rheology modifications.
- Core properties significantly affect wobble damping sensitivity.

## Abstract

Using a damped mass-spring model, we simulate wobble of spinning homogeneous viscoelastic ellipsoids undergoing non-principal axis rotation. Energy damping rates are measured for oblate and prolate bodies with different spin rates, spin states, viscoelastic relaxation timescales, axis ratios, and strengths. Analytical models using a quality factor by Breiter et al. (2012) and for the Maxwell rheology by Frouard & Efroimsky (2018) match our numerical measurements of the energy dissipation rate after we modify their predictions for the numerically simulated Kelvin-Voigt rheology. Simulations of nearly spherical but wobbling bodies with hard and soft cores show that the energy dissipation rate is more sensitive to the material properties in the core than near the surface. The sensitivity to viscoelastic model implies that inferred statistics of tumbling lifetimes in asteroids might be interpreted in terms of differences in their material properties.