"A study of the chaotic behaviour of the elastic-plastic Euler arch."

This paper deals with the dynamics of a truss structure, the Euler arch. The bars are made of elastic-plastic material, and the structure can exhibit large displacements. The aim of this paper is to give evidence of the possible chaotic behavior of this structure, even in the presence of a hardening plastic branch. The tools used are the diagrams of bifurcation, the measure of the dimension of the attractor, the Kolmogorov entropy, and the maximum Lyapunov exponent. This study emphasizes the sensitivity to the initial conditions by means of generalized basins of attraction.