Controlling spatiotemporal chaos in chains of dissipative Kapitza pendula

Abstract

The control of chaos (suppression and enhancement) of a damped pendulum subjected to two perpendicular periodic excitations of its pivot (one chaos inducing and the other chaos controlling) is investigated. Analytical (Melnikov analysis) and numerical (Lyapunov exponents) results show that the initial phase difference between the two excitations plays a fundamental role in the control scenario. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in suppressing spatiotemporal chaos of chains of identical chaotic coupled pendula where homogeneous regularization is obtained under localized control on a minimal number of pendula. Additionally, we demonstrate the robustness of the control scenario against changes in the coupling function. In particular, synchronization-induced homogeneous regularization of chaotic chains can be highly enhanced by considering time-varying couplings instead of stationary couplings.