Dynamics of a system of coupled inverted pendula with vertical forcing

Abstract

Dynamical stabilization of an inverted pendulum through vertical movement of the pivot is a well-known counter intuitive phenomenon in classical mechanics. This system is also known as Kapitza pendulum and the stability can be explained with the aid of effective potential. We explore the effect of many body interaction for such a system. Our numerical analysis shows that interaction between pendula generally degrades the dynamical stability of each pendulum. This effect is more pronounced in nearest neighbour coupling than all-to-all coupling and stability improves with the increase of the system size. We report development of beats and clustering in network of coupled pendula.