Motion periodicity and bifurcation of a wave excited hopping ball

Abstract

We consider the problem of a hopping ball excited by a travelling harmonic wave on an elastic surface. The ball, considered as a particle, is assumed to interact with the surface through inelastic collisions. The surface motion due to the wave induces a horizontal drift in the ball. The problem is treated analytically under certain approximations. The phase space of the hopping motion is captured by constructing a phase-velocity return map. The fixed points of the return map and its compositions represent periodic hopping solutions. The linear stability of the obtained periodic solution is studied in detail. The minimum frequency for the onset of periodic hops, and the subsequent loss of stability at the bifurcation frequency, have been determined analytically. Interestingly, for small values of wave amplitude, the analytical solutions reveal striking similarities with the results of the classical bouncing ball problem.