  The Lidov-Kozai (LK) mechanism plays an important role in the secular
evolution of many hierarchical triple systems. The standard LK mechanism
consists of large-amplitude oscillations in eccentricity and inclination of a
binary subject to the quadrupole potential from an outer perturber. Recent work
has shown that when the octupole terms are included in the potential, the inner
binary can reach more extreme eccentricities as well as undergo orientation
flips. It is known that pericenter precessions due to short-range effects, such
as General Relativity and tidal and rotational distortions, can limit the
growth of eccentricity and even suppress standard (quadrupolar) LK
oscillations, but their effect on the octupole-level LK mechanism has not been
fully explored. In this paper, we systematically study how these short-range
forces affect the extreme orbital behaviour found in octupole LK cycles. In
general, the influence of the octupole potential is confined to a range of
initial mutual inclinations Itot centered around 90deg (when the inner binary
mass ratio is <<1), with this range expanding with increasing octupole
strength. We find that, while the short-range forces do not change the width
and location of this "window of influence", they impose a strict upper limit on
the maximum achievable eccentricity. This limiting eccentricity can be
calculated analytically, and its value holds even for strong octupole potential
and for the general case of three comparable masses. Short-range forces also
affect orbital flips, progressively reducing the range of Itot within which
flips are possible as the intensity of these forces increases.

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics