Chaotic motion of corrugated circular plates

Large deflection theory of thin anisotropic circular plates was used to analyze the bifurcation behavior and chaotic phenomena of a corrugated thin circular plate with combined transverse periodic excitation and an in-plane static boundary load. The nonlinear dynamic equation for the corrugated plate was derived by employing Galerkin's technique. The critical conditions for occurrence of the homoclinic and subharmonic bifurcations as well as chaos were studied theoretically using the Melnikov function method. The chaotic motion was also simulated numerically using Maple, with the Poincaré map and phase curve used to evaluate when chaotic motion appears. The results indicate some chaotic motion in the corrugated plate. The method is directly applicable to chaotic analysis of an isotropic circular plate.