Leung, Lap Ming; (1991) Predicting incipent instabilities and bifurcations of nonlinear dynamical systems modelling compliant off-shore structures. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College Londno).

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Abstract

For engineers, the two most important aspects of dynamical analysis are high amplitude resonance vibrations and structural stability, i.e. whether a steady state solution is stable under small perturbations. For the former case, a novel and simple method based on Poincare mapping technique has been devised to predict an imminent flip bifurcation. This bifurcation represents the beginning of the second order subharmonic response. For the latter case, we discovered that while classical quantitative analytical techniques work well in establishing the 'local' structural stability of a steady state solution, the global geometric structure of the catchment region can alter dramatically such that even an initial condition close to the steady state can diverge from it rather than being attracted. This phenomenon known as fractal basin boundary occurs when the invariant manifolds of the saddle separating the steady state solution from any remote attractor cross. The critical point in which the invariant manifolds just touch can be accurately predict by the Melinkov's method. Because of the complicated interwoven nature of the invariant manifolds, it is called a tangle. If the invariant manifolds are originated from the same saddle, the crossing is known as a homoclinic tangle, if originated from different saddle, a heteroclinic tangle. The critical point is then known as homoclinic or heteroclinic tangency. Tangles are also intimately related to chaotic behaviour. The creation and destruction of chaotic attractors have been observed through a series of homoclinic and heteroclinic tangency. In fact, after the invariant manifolds of an inverting saddle cross, the unstable manifold becomes the chaotic attractor. This leads us to believe that all chaotic attractors are topologically the same.

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