EN
In this work, we study parametric excitations in an elongated cigar-shaped BEC in a combined harmonic trap and a time dependent optical lattice by using numerical techniques. We show that there exists a relative competition between the harmonic trap which tries to spatially localize the BEC and the time varying optical lattice which tries to delocalize the BEC. This competition gives rise to parametric excitations (oscillations of the BEC width). Regular oscillations disappear when one of the competing factors, i.e. the strength of harmonic trap or the strength of optical lattice, dominates. Parametric instabilities (chaotic dynamics) arise for large variations in the strength of the optical lattice.