Onset of chaotic motion in a gyroscopic system

We study forced vibrations of a gimbal gyro occurring if the inner ring is subjected to a perturbing torque that is the sum of the viscous friction torque and a periodic small-amplitude torque. In the absence of the perturbing torque, there exist two steady-state motions of the gimbal gyro, in which the gimbal rings are either orthogonal or coincide. These motions are respectively stable and unstable. We obtain an equation for the unperturbed system, whose separatrix passes through hyperbolic points. The distance between these points (the Melnikov distance) is calculated to find a condition for the intersection of the separatrices of the perturbed system. We find a domain in the parameter space where the distance changes sign, which indicates the onset of chaotic motion.