Chaos in a mapping describing elastoplastic oscillations

We study the local and global dynamical behavior of a two dimensional piecewise linear map which describes the asymptotic motions of a single degree of freedom, parametrically excited, elastoplastic oscillator after it has settled down to purely elastic oscillations. We give existence and stability conditions for periodic orbits and prove that chaos, in the form of a Smale horseshoe, exists at specific, but representative, parameter values. We interpret simulations of the elastoplastic oscillator itself in the light of these results.Partially supported by NSF grant number MSS-9016626.Partially supported by AFOSR 91-0329.