The nonlinear dynamics of a system of a compound double pendulum are experimentally analyzed and numerically verified. The experiments are carried out for a combination of initial angles in the range 0 ⩽ θ 0, ϕ 0 ⩽ 180°, with zero initial angular velocity and with an increment of 1°. The motion of the pendula is captured in the video and the individual pendula are tracked using image processing. The energy dissipation in the system is evaluated using the Rayleigh dissipation function to include non-conservative forces as well, as a lumped parameter in the Lagrangian equation. Furthermore, the experimental and the numerical results are brought to agreement by tuning the dissipation factors. The linear, nonlinear and chaotic behavior of the system is classified in the coordinate plane. The behavioral regime represents the dependency of the nature of the system on the total energy and the difference in instantaneous amplitudes of the pendula. Uncertainty in the behavior of the system is observed in the transition region from the nonlinear to the chaotic regime due to the sensitivity of the system to the initial conditions. The dependence of the dissipation factors on the angular displacements is represented as a surface plot, which highlights the dominance of viscosity in the higher amplitude oscillations and the dominance of dry friction in the lower amplitude oscillations. This phenomenon is established by observing the nature of decay in the response plots of the pendula.