Routes to escape from an energy well

✍ Scribed by J.A. Gottwald; L.N. Virgin; E.H. Dowell

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 477 KB
• Volume: 187
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1006/jsvi.1995.0506

✦ Synopsis

Dynamical systems characterized by the possibility of escape from a local potential energy well occur in a great many physical problems, including a rigid-arm pendulum passing over its inverted equilibrium position, snap-through buckling in arch and shell structures, and capsizing of ships. This is a thoroughly non-linear problem and has received substantial recent attention, especially using techniques based on numerical simulation. The current paper confirms much of these earlier findings using a mechanical experiment which mimics the behavior of a typical ''escape'' non-linear ordinary differential equation.