Multiple solutions and transient chaos in a nonlinear flexible coupling model

Abstract

AbstractThis paper investigates the nonlinear dynamics of a flexible tyre coupling via computer modelling and simulation. The research mainly focused on identifying basins of attraction of coexisting solutions of the formulated phenomenological coupling model. On the basis of the derived mathematical model, and by assuming ranges of variability of the control parameters, the areas in which chaotic clutch movement takes place are determined. To identify multiple solutions, a new diagram of solutions (DS) was used, illustrating the number of coexisting solutions and their periodicity. The DS diagram was drawn based on the fixed points of the Poincaré section. To verify the proposed method of identifying periodic solutions, the graphic image of the DS was compared to the three-dimensional distribution of the largest Lyapunov exponent and the bifurcation diagram. For selected values of the control parameter ω, coexisting periodic solutions were identified, and basins of attraction were plotted. Basins of attraction were determined in relation to examples of coexistence of periodic solutions and transient chaos. Areas of initial conditions that correspond to the phenomenon of unstable chaos are mixed with the conditions of a stable periodic solution, to which the transient chaos is attracted. In the graphic images of the basins of attraction, the areas corresponding to the transient and periodic chaos are blurred.