Is it really chaos? The complexity of transient dynamics of double pendula

Abstract

In this paper, we re-examine the dynamics of double pendulum in numerical simulations and experimental observations. Typical types of behaviors of the parametrically excited double pendula are presented, including chaos, rotations and periodic oscillations, and the bifurcation analysis is performed, exhibiting complex transitions from one type of motion into another. The character of the observed dynamics is analyzed using Lyapunov exponents, which confirms the hyperchaotic nature of the system. Particular attention is paid to the transient behaviors, showing that the length of the irregular motion can be extremely sensitive to both parameters and initial conditions. Apart from the single double pendulum, we consider also the case of two coupled double pendula, connected by a typical linear scheme. Our results show that depending on the network’s parameters, one can observe the phenomenon of a transient chaotic synchronization, during which the units spontaneously synchronize and desynchronize. The loss of coherence is strictly related to the motion of the pendula around the unstable equilibrium of the system, which has been confirmed in the scenario of pure chaotic oscillations. We determine the regions of the occurrence of transient synchronization in the coupling parameters’ plane, as well as study the statistical properties of the observed patterns. We show that the problem of determining the final dynamical attractor of the system is not straightforward.