Experimental and numerical study of a symmetrically piecewise linear oscillator

The paper gives a short account on the experimental and numerical study of a piecewise based excited symmetrical linear oscillator undergoing non-linear vibrations. The details of the adopted design and the state-of-the-art experimental setup are explained in a great detail. The regions of chaotic motion predicted theoretically were confirmed by the experimental results arranged into bifurcation diagrams, which were obtained by numerical and experimental means. Clearance and amplitude of the external force were used as branching parameters. The discussion of the system's dynamics is based on bifurcation diagrams, Lissajous curves and power spectrums. The investigated system tended to be periodic for large clearances and chaotic small ones. This is picture is reversed for the amplitude of the forcing, where periodic motion occurred for its small values and chaos dominated for larger forcing.