Abstract
Using a mass-spring model, we study a periodically forced dripping faucet as an example of nonfeedback control systems. The model is confirmed to exhibit entrainment from chaotic to periodic motion by adding an external force, which has been observed experimentally. It is found from an analysis of a two-dimensional Poincaré map that a discontinuous change between chaotic and periodic motion occurs via global bifurcations including a homoclinic bifurcation and a homoclinic tangency crisis. A hysteresis of the transition point is also explained. A possible way of suppressing chaos in the dripping faucet system by periodic forcing is suggested from the mass-spring model, which is also supported by a corresponding fluid dynamical simulation.
