I had so much fun with the rope problem I posted to start off 2021 (which was subsequently solved by Anthony Attia - see his elegant solution here), that I want to continue to explore this theme. While that problem seemed tough (seeking the steady state profile of a uniform rope pinned at its top end and suspended vertically in a uniform horizontal wind), it turned out to be fairly simple. It was almost disappointing. To remedy the situation, consider an even more intriguing problem...
Imagine a Tarzan rope (bulk density 'p') that you suspend vertically in uniform surface gravity 'g'. You then take the top end of the rope with length 'L' and move it with uniform circular motion in the horizontal plane (radius 'R' and angular frequency 'w'). Ignoring aerodynamic effects (because that would cause a 3D problem and have no clean analytical solution), what profile will the rope assume? That is, if we froze the video at any given instant, what lateral deflection function, y(x), describes the rope's shape? Treat the rope like a string (cannot support shear loads).
I spent some time on the problem, and it turns out to be even more interesting that I expected. I will not give any hints this time. I am curious to see if anyone will post a solution. If you do, please provide a description of how you did it.
I am excited to share my solution, but I will be patient, and see what, if anything, gets submitted here.
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