Abstract
Experimental and analytical results are presented on chaotic oscillations of a shallow double-curved shell-panel with initial imperfection. At the boundary, the shell-panel is simply supported. The shell-panel is excited by lateral periodic acceleration. Chaotic responses are generated in two specific regions of the exciting frequency. The chaotic responses are examined by the Poincare projections, the Fourier spectra and the maximum Lyapunov exponents. Contribution of modes of vibration to the chaotic responses is analyzed by the principal component analysis. The chaotic oscillations are generated by the sub-harmonic resonances of 2/3 and 1/2 orders. The chaotic oscillations involve the dynamic snap-through transition. From the results of the principal component analysis, it is found that experimental results of the vibration modes that contribute to the chaotic oscillation agree well with the analytical ones.
