Crises in Mechanical Systems

Summary

In mechanical systems nonlinear effects due to stick slip and backlash are often observed. If such systems are harmonically driven, then besides well known bifurcation phenomena also sudden changes of the chaotic dynamics occur. These types of qualitative change of system’s behavior, the so-called crises, result from a collision between an unstable periodic orbit and a chaotic attractor. Different crises phenomena are discussed and it is demonstrated how the occurrence of crises can be determined numerically.