This thesis has been motivated by the idea of harvesting the energy from ambient vibrations via nonlinear dynamics of the parametric pendulum. It aims to cover those aspects of the pendulum dynamics, which are relevant for energy extraction purposes and have not been addressed in previous studies. A simple system like parametric pendulum can experience variety of responses. One of them is rotary motion, which is characterised by significantly higher kinetic energy than oscillations and thus has a potential of delivering more energy, when subjected to the parametric excitation. Initially, a preliminary study on the dynamics of parametric pendulum has been conducted. This involved comparison of oscillatory and rotary responses with a view to application in energy harvesting, numerical continuation of rotary solutions and developing a control method for initiating and maintaining the desired response. As a next step, different forcing configurations have been considered, including pendulum excited along a tilted axis and a combined excitation, where pendulum additionally performs rocking action. The influence of the forcing arrangement on the lower limit of stability of rotary motion has been examined. The vibrations which can be observed in the environment are rarely perfectly harmonic. To provide more realistic results, the response of the pendulum under noisy excitation has been studied. Different types of noise have been considered and their influence on the pendulum rotation examined. One of the major energy sources, which could be utilised are the oscillating ocean surfaces. Therefore, a stochastic model of the sea wave has been constructed and the response of the pendulum system studied under parametric excitation by a wave profile. Finally, taking into account the imbalanced forces which rotating pendulum exerts on the supporting base, the model has been extended to a system of two pendulums. Synchronization in such a system was studied. The influence of the synchronization mode on the rotation of the pendulums and on the stability of supporting structure was considered. All of the numerical results presented in this thesis have been verified experimentally to ensure good correspondence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:582719 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Najdecka, Anna |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=201961 |
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