Quantifying chaotic responses of mechanical systems with backlash component

This paper presents a detailed numerical and experimental study of a mechanical system comprising a backlash element that shows chaotic behaviour in a certain excitation range. It aims to quantify the chaotic behaviour of the responses and correlate the quantification parameters to the parameters of the (non-linear) system, in particular the backlash size. The motivation for this investigation is to be able ultimately to identify the parameters of non-linear systems without necessarily being able to ensure periodic behaviour. Application of surrogate data tests is utilised to prove the presence of the chaotic behaviour in the response. The Simple Non-linear Noise Reduction is applied to the resulting data to have a better interpretation of the chaotic in the response. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe