Analysis of the pendular and pitch motions of a driven three-dimensional pendulum

摘要

A three-dimensional pendulum, modelled after the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory's suspended optics, was constructed to investigate the pendulum's dynamics due to suspension point motion. In particular, we were interested in studying the pendular - pitch energy coupling. Determination of the pendular's Q value ( the quality factor in amplitude) was made from frequency domain analysis of the experimental data. However, the pitch's Q value had to be calculated using a numerical simulation.