MODELING CHAOTIC MOTIONS OF A STRING FROM EXPERIMENTAL-DATA

Experimental measurements of nonlinear vibrations of a string are anal yzed using new techniques of nonlinear modeling. Previous theoretical and numerical work suggested that the motions of a string can be chaot ic and a Shil'nikov mechanism is responsible. We show that the experim ental data is consistent with a Shil'nikov mechanism. We also reveal a period doubling cascade with a period three window which is not immed iately observable because there is sufficient noise, probably of a dyn amical origin, to mask the period-doubling bifurcation and the period three window.