- Author
- Cook, G. R. | Simiu, E.
- Title
- Periodic and Chaotic Oscillations of Modified Stoker Column.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
- Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 117, No. 9, 2049-2064, September 1991
- Keywords
- Stoker column | periodic motion | periodic snap-through motion | chaotic motion | equations
- Abstract
- Records are presented of typical measured motions of a modified forced Stoker column, including periodic motion around a stable fixed point of the unforced column; periodic snap-through motion around the unstable fixed point; and chaotic motion. Characterizations of the recorded chaotic motion include the autocorrelation function; the spectral density plot; capacity dimensions; and the Lyapounov exponent. Numerical simulations were performed in which spring stiffnesses measured under static conditions and dissipative forces based on the viscous damping model were used. The experimental device was represented as a multidegree-of-freedom system that approximated the distributed mass and stiffness of the springs. The simulations yielded chaotic motions comparble qualitatively to, though different quantitatively from, those recorded in the laboratory. As evidenced by the estimated fractal dimension, the influence of the spring mass distribution was not sufficiently strong to affect the dimension of the embedding phase space for the attractor of the chaotic motion.