Dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver

A mathematical model is developed to study periodic-impact motions and bifurcations in dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver. Dynamics of the small vibro-impact pile driver can be analyzed by means of a three-dimensional map, which describes free flight and sticking solutions of the vibro-impact system, between impacts, supplemented by transition conditions at the instants of impacts. Piecewise property and singularity are found to exist in the Poincaré map. The piecewise property is caused by the transitions of free flight and sticking motions of the driver and the pile immediately after the impact, and the singularity of map is generated via the grazing contact of the driver and the pile immediately before the impact. These properties of the map have been shown to exhibit particular types of sliding and grazing bifurcations of periodic-impact motions under parameter variation. The influence of piecewise property, grazing singularities and parameter variation on the performance of the vibro-impact pile driver is analyzed. The global bifurcation diagrams for the impact velocity of the driver versus the forcing frequency are plotted to predict much of the qualitative behavior of the actual physical system, which enable the practicing engineer to select excitation frequency ranges in which stable period one single-impact response can be expected to occur, and to predict the larger impact velocity and shorter impact period of such response.     

Hopf-flip bifurcations of vibratory systems with impacts

Two vibro-impact systems are considered. The period n single-impact motions and Poincaré maps of the vibro-impact systems are derived analytically. Stability and local bifurcations of single-impact periodic motions are analyzed by using the Poincaré maps. A center manifold theorem technique is applied to reduce the Poincaré map to a three-dimensional one, and the normal form map associated with Hopf-flip bifurcation is obtained. It is found that near the point of codim 2 bifurcation there exists not only Hopf bifurcation of period one single-impact motion, but also Hopf bifurcation of period two double-impact motion. Period doubling bifurcation of period one single-impact motion is commonly existent near the point of codim 2 bifurcation. However, no period doubling cascade emerges due to change of the type of period two fixed points and occurrence of Hopf bifurcation associated with period two fixed points. The results from simulation shows that there exists an interest torus doubling bifurcation occurring near the value of Hopf-flip bifurcation. The torus doubling bifurcation makes the quasi-periodic attractor associated with period one single-impact motion transit to the other quasi-periodic attractor represented by two attracting closed circles. The torus bifurcation is qualitatively different from the typical torus doubling bifurcation occurring in the vibro-impact systems.     

Chaos control by harmonic excitation with proper random phase

Chaos control may have a dual function: to suppress chaos or to generate it. We are interested in a kind of chaos control by exerting a weak harmonic excitation with random phase. The dual function of chaos control in a nonlinear dynamic system, whether a suppressing one or a generating one, can be realized by properly adjusting the level of random phase and determined by the sign of the top Lyapunov exponent of the system response. Two illustrative examples, a Duffing oscillator subject to a harmonic parametric control and a driven Murali-Lakshmanan-Chua (MLC) circuit imposed with a weak harmonic control, are presented here to show that the random phase plays a decisive role for control function. The method for computing the top Lyapunov exponent is based on Khasminskii's formulation for linearized systems. Then, the obtained results are further verified by the Poincare map analysis on dynamical behavior of the system, such as stability, bifurcation and chaos. Both two methods lead to fully consistent results.     

The symmetrization method and limit cycles of vibro-impact systems

Periodic solutions of vibro-impact systems with one degree of freedom are studied. Sufficient conditions for the convergence of impact systems are obtained. Some classical results on the existence of limit cycles for second-order equations are generalized.     

Positive top Lyapunov exponent via invariant cones: Single trajectories

We establish criteria for the positivity of the top Lyapunov exponent of a nonautonomous dynamics in terms of invariant cone families, both for maps and flows. The families of cones are associated with quadratic forms of type (k,p−k)$(k,p-k)$ with k arbitrary. Our work can be seen as a counterpart of results in the context of ergodic theory, where the positivity of the top Lyapunov exponent is obtained for almost all trajectories although saying nothing about each specific trajectory.     

Application of the harmonic balance method to ground moling machines operating in periodic regimes

A new system for ground moling has been patented by the University of Aberdeen and licensed world-wide. This new system is based on vibro-impact dynamics and offers significant advantages over existing systems in terms of penetrative capability and reduced soil disturbance. This paper describes current research into the mathematical modelling of the system. Periodic response is required to achieve the optimal penetrating conditions for the ground moling process, as this results in reduced soil penetration resistance. Therefore, there is a practical need for a robust and efficient methodology to calculate periodic responses for a wide range of operational parameters. Due to the structural complexity of a real vibro-impact moling system, the dynamic response of an idealised impact oscillator has been investigated in the first instance. This paper presents a detailed study of periodic responses of the impact oscillator under harmonic forcing using the alternating frequency-time harmonic balance method. Recommendations of how to effectively adapt the alternating frequency-time harmonic balance method for a stiff impacting system are given.     

Noise and Dissipation on Coadjoint Orbits

We derive and study stochastic dissipative dynamics on coadjoint orbits by incorporating noise and dissipation into mechanical systems arising from the theory of reduction by symmetry, including a semidirect product extension. Random attractors are found for this general class of systems when the Lie algebra is semi-simple, provided the top Lyapunov exponent is positive. We study in details two canonical examples, the free rigid body and the heavy top, whose stochastic integrable reductions are found and numerical simulations of their random attractors are shown.     

Chaos control of a class of parametrically excited Duffing’s system using a random phase

As the analysis of the chaotic dynamical behavior of a parametric Duffing’s system, we show that chaos can be suppressed by addition the Gauss white noise phase and determined by the sign of the top Lyapunov exponent, which is based on the Khasminskii’s formulation and the extension of Wedig’s algorithm for linear stochastic systems. Also Poincaré map analysis is carried out to confirm the obtained results. So random phase can be realized as one of the methods of chaos control.     

Large deviations and stochastic flows of diffeomorphisms

Summary Previous results in the theory of large deviations for additive functionals of a diffusion process on a compact manifold M are extended and then applied to the analysis of the Lyapunov exponents of a stochastic flow of diffeomorphisms of M. An approximation argument relates these results to the behavior near the diagonal Δ in M ² of the associated two point motion. Finally it is shown, under appropriate non-degeneracy conditions, that the two-point motion is ergodic on M ²-Δ if the top Lyapunov exponent is positive. At the period when this research was initiated, both authors where guests of the I.M.A. in Minneapolis. The first author was at Aberdeen University, Scotland when this article was prepared. Throughout the period of this research, the second author has been partially supported by N.S.F. grant DMS-8611487 and ARO grant DAAL03-86-K-171     

Periodic motions and bifurcations of a vibro-impact system

Based on the analysis of a two-degree-of-freedom plastic impact oscillator, we introduce a three-dimensional map with dynamical variables defined at the impact instants. The non-linear dynamics of the vibro-impact system is analyzed by using the Poincaré map, in which piecewise property and singularity are found to exist. The piecewise property is caused by the transitions of free flight and sticking motions of two masses immediately after the impact, and the singularity of map is generated via the grazing contact of two masses and corresponding instability of periodic motions. These properties of the map have been shown to exhibit particular types of sliding and grazing bifurcations of periodic-impact motions under parameter variation. Simulations of the free flight and sticking solutions are carried out, and regions of existence and stability of different impact motions are therefore presented in (δ, ω) plane of dimensionless clearance δ and frequency ω. The influence of non-standard bifurcations on dynamics of the vibro-impact system is elucidated accordingly.