简介：Globalbifurcationsandmulti-pulsechaoticdynamicsforasimplysupportedrectangularthinplatearestudiedbytheextendedMelnikovmethod.Therectangularthinplateissubjecttotransversalandin-planeexcitation.Atwo-degree-of-freedomnonlinearnonautonomoussystemgoverningequationsofmotionfortherectangularthinplateisderivedbythevonKarmantypeequationandtheGalerkinapproach.Aone-tooneinternalresonanceisconsidered.Anaveragedequationisobtainedwithamulti-scalemethod.Aftertransformingtheaveragedequationintoastandardform,theextendedMelnikovmethodisusedtoshowtheexistenceofmulti-pulsechaoticdynamics,whichcanbeusedtoexplainthemechanismofmodalinteractionsofthinplates.AmethodforcalculatingtheMelnikovfunctionisgivenwithoutanexplicitanalyticalexpressionofhomoclinicorbits.Furthermore,restrictionsonthedamping,excitation,anddetuningparametersareobtained,underwhichthemulti-pulsechaoticdynamicsisexpected.Theresultsofnumericalsimulationsarealsogiventoindicatetheexistenceofsmallamplitudemulti-pulsechaoticresponsesfortherectangularthinplate.