Homoclinic orbits and chaos in a pair of parametrically driven coupled nonlinear resonators

We study the dynamics of a pair of parametrically driven coupled nonlinear mechanical resonators of the kind that is typically encountered in applications involving microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). We take advantage of the weak damping that characterizes these systems to perform a multiple-scales analysis and obtain amplitude equations, describing the slow dynamics of the system. This picture allows us to expose the existence of homoclinic orbits in the dynamics of the integrable part of the slow equations of motion. Using a version of the high-dimensional Melnikov approach, developed by G. Kovačič and S. Wiggins [Physica DPDNPDT0167-278910.1016/0167-2789(92)90092-2 57, 185 (1992)], we are able to obtain explicit parameter values for which these orbits persist in the full system, consisting of both Hamiltonian and non-Hamiltonian perturbations, to form so-called Šilnikov orbits, indicating a loss of integrability and the existence of chaos. Our analytical calculations of Šilnikov orbits are confirmed numerically.