Abstract:
We report the first experimental evidence of a strange nonchaotic attractor (SNA)
in the natural dynamics of a self-excited laboratory-scale system. In the previous experimental
studies, the birth of a SNA was observed in quasiperiodically forced systems; however, such
evidence of a SNA in an autonomous laboratory system is yet to be reported. We discover the
presence of a SNA between the attractors of quasiperiodicity and chaos through a fractalization
route in a laboratory thermoacoustic system. The observed dynamical transitions from order to
chaos via a SNA is confirmed through various nonlinear characterization methods prescribed for
the detection of a SNA
