Transition to chaos in a driven pendulum with nonlinear dissipation

The Melnikov-Holmes method is used to study the onset of chaos in a driven pendulum with nonlinear dissipation. Detailed numerical studies reveal many interesting features like a chaotic attractor at low frequencies, band formation near escape from the potential well and a sequence of subharmonic bifurcations inside the band that accumulates at the homoclinic bifurcation point.