Bifurcation and chaos in friction-induced vibration

Friction-induced vibration is a phenomenon that has received extensive study by the dynamics community. This is because of the important industrial relevance and the ever-evolving development of new friction models. In this paper, we report the result of bifurcation study of a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical oscillator sliding over a surface. The friction model we use is that developed by Canudas de Wit et al., a model that is receiving increasing acceptance from the mechanics community. Using this model, we find a stable limit cycle at intermediate sliding speed for a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical oscillator. Moreover, the mechanical oscillator can exhibit chaotic motions. For certain parameters, numerical simulation suggests the existence of a Silnikov homoclinic orbit. This is not expected in a single-degree-of-freedom system. The occurrence of chaos becomes possible because the friction model contains one internal variable. This demonstrates a unique characteristic of the friction model. Unlike most friction models, the present model is capable of simultaneously modeling self-excitation and predicting stick–slip at very low sliding speed as well.