Chaotic motion of a symmetric gyro subjected to a harmonic base excitation is investigated in this note. The Melnikov method is applied to show that the system possesses a Smale horse when it is subjected to small excitation. The transition from regular motion to chaotic motion is investigated through numerical integration in conjunction with Poincare´ map. It is shown that as the spin velocity increases, the chaotic motion turns into a regular motion.

Issue Section:
Brief Notes
Keywords:
gyroscopes, chaos, angular velocity, nonlinear dynamical systems
Topics:
Excitation, Spin (Aerodynamics)
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