Transition from soliton to chaotic motion during impact of a nonlinear elastic structure (Q1322139)

Nonlinear effects in structures exhibiting a lattice periodicity and subject to deformations (spaceship, aircraft) lead to the dynamics which is very sensitive to initial conditions. Thus, the prediction of failure modes in the structure might be difficult if not impossible to assess. The paper reports a genuine experiment of the nine-oscillator system coupled with buckling sensitive elastica, and next a computer simulation of the modified Toda lattice model of the deformed nonlinear structure. The wave-like deformation patterns (of soliton type) with localized energy density travel through the structure, but their emergence shows an extreme sensitivity to small variations of initial impact parameters. Solitary waves can sometimes evolve into a complex spatial pattern with chaotic-looking dynamics and a possibility to re-emerge at a later time as energy intensive wave.