ON MINIMUM SAFE IMPULSIVE VELOCITY IN THE DRIVEN ESCAPE OSCILLATOR

The phenomenon of escape from cubic potential well in a driven oscilla tor is studied in connection with the question of minimum safe impulsi ve velocity. It is shown that an interaction of steady-state forced os cillations and transient free motion induced by a sudden perturbation may considerably reduce the critical value of the impulsive velocity. The study reveals that effects of the interaction are related to the i nitial phase angle between the two components of motion. Effect of var iation of the initial phase angle on the value of the critical perturb ation is studied by computer simulation and the related concept of the optimal phase angle and the minimum safe impulsive velocity is discus sed. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.