A compound double pendulum with friction

Abstract

We study a version of the two-degree-of-freedom double pendulum in which the two point masses are replaced by rigid bodies of irregular shape and nonconservative forces are permitted. We derive the equations of motion by analysing the forces involved in the framework of screw theory. This distinguishes the work from similar studies in the literature, which typically consider a double pendulum composed with rods and assume equations of motion without derivation. The equations of motion are solved numerically using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method to show that decreasing the friction of the axles can cause the trajectory of one of the pendulums to become aperiodic. The stability of steady state solutions is also analysed.