Coupled Oscillator: Double Pendulum

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By Jimmy Apablaza By Jimmy Apablaza

This problem is described in Page 321-322, Section 7.6 of the A first Course in Differential Equations textbook, 8ED (ISBN 0-534-41878-3).

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Figure 1. Coupled Pendulum.‎

Problem Statement

Consider the double-pendulum system consisting of a pendulum attached to another pendulum shown in Figure 1.

Assumptions:

  • the system oscillates vertically under the influence of gravity.
  • the mass of both rod are neligible
  • no dumpung forces act on the system
  • positive direction to the right.

The system of differential equations describing the motion is nonlinear

(m1+m2)l12θ1+m2l1l2θ2cos(θ1θ2)+m2l1l2(θ2)2sin(θ1θ2)+(m1+m2)l1gsinθ1=0
m2l12θ2+m2l1l2θ1cos(θ1θ2)m2l1l2(θ1)2sin(θ1θ2)+m2l2gsinθ2=0

In order to linearize these equations, we assume that the displacements θ1 and θ2 are small enough so that cos(θ1θ2)1 and sin(θ1θ2)0. Thus,

(m1+m2)l12θ1+m2l1l2θ2+(m1+m2)l1gθ1=0
m2l12θ2+m2l1l2θ1+m2l2gθ2=0