Regular and chaotic dynamics of a simplified fly-ball governor

The dynamics of a simplified model of a fly-ball speed governor undergoing a harmonic variation about its rotational speed is studied in this paper. T his system is a non-linear damped system subjected to parametric excitation . The harmonic balance method is applied to analyse the stability of period attractors and the behaviour of bifurcations. The time evolutions of the r esponse of the non-linear dynamic system are described by time history, pha se portraits and Poincare maps. The regular and chaotic behaviour is observ ed by various numerical techniques such as power spectra, Lyapunov exponent s and Lyapunov dimension. Finally, the domains of attraction of periodic an d stranger attractors of the system are located by applying the interpolate d cell mapping (ICM) method.