Parametric instability of two coupled nonlinear oscillators

Abstract

One of the two normal modes of a system of two coupled nonlinear oscillators is subject to an instability. Several demonstration apparatus of weakly coupled oscillators that exhibit the instability are described. The effect is due to one normal mode parametrically driving the other, and occurs for the broad range of systems where the nonlinearity has a cubic contribution to the restoring force of each oscillator, which includes pendulums. The instability has an amplitude threshold that increases as the coupling is increased. A naive physical approach predicts that the mode opposite to that observed should be unstable. This is resolved by a weakly nonlinear analysis which reveals that the nonlinearity causes the linear frequency of a normal mode to depend upon the finite amplitude of the other mode. Numerical simulations confirm the theory, and extend the existence of the instability and the accuracy of the theoretical amplitude threshold beyond the regime of weak nonlinearity and weak coupling.