ALBERT

Notes: Abstract An analytical and experimental investigation into the response of a nonlinear continuous system with widely separated natural frequencies is presented. The system investigated is a thin, slightly curved, isotropic, flexible cantilever beam mounted vertically. In the experiments, for certain vertical harmonic base excitations, we observed that the response consisted of the first, third, and fourth modes. In these cases, the modulation frequency of the amplitudes and phases of the third and fourth modes was equal to the response frequency of the first mode. Subsequently, we developed an analytical model to explain the interactions between the widely separated modes observed in the experiments. We used a three-mode Galerkin projection of the partial-differential equation governing a thin, isotropic, inextensional beam and obtained a sixth-order nonautonomous system of equations by using an unconventional coordinate transformation. In the analytical model, we used experimentally determined damping coefficients. From this nonautonomous system, we obtained a first approximation of the response by using the method of averaging. The analytically predicted responses and bifurcation diagrams show good qualitative agreement with the experimental observations. The current study brings to light a new type of nonlinear motion not reported before in the literature and should be of relevance to many structural and mechanical systems. In this motion, a static response of a low-frequency mode interacts with the dynamic response of two high-frequency modes. This motion loses stability, resulting in oscillations of the low-frequency mode accompanied by a modulation of the amplitudes and phases of the high-frequency modes.

Notes: Abstract We experimentally investigated nonlinear combination resonances in two graphite-epoxy cantilever plates having the configurations (90/30/-30/-30/30/90)s and (-75/75/75/-75/75/-75)s. As a first step, we compared the natural frequencies and modes shapes obtained from the finite-element and experimental-modal analyses. The largest difference in the obtained frequencies for both plates was 6%. Then, we transversely excited the plates and obtained force-response and frequency-response curves, which were used to characterize the plate dynamics. We acquired time-domain data for specific input conditions using an A/D card and used them to generate time traces, power spectra, pseudo-state portraits, and Poincaré maps. The data were obtained with an accelerometer monitoring the excitation and a laser vibrometer monitoring the plate response. We observed the external combination resonance % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaaiabfM6axjabgIKi7kabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaaIYaaabeaakiab% gUcaRiabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaaI3aaabeaaaaa!45C9!\[\Omega \approx \omega _2 + \omega _7 \] in the quasi-isotropic plate and the external combination resonance % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaaiabfM6axjabgIKi7kaacIcacaaIXaGaai4laiaaikdacaGGPaGa% aiikaiabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaaIYaaabeaakiabgUcaRiabeM8a3n% aaBaaaleaacaaI1aaabeaakiaacMcaaaa!4AAD!\[\Omega \approx (1/2)(\omega _2 + \omega _5 )\] and the internal combination resonance % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaaiabfM6axjabgIKi7kabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaaI4aaabeaakiab% gIKi7kaacIcacaaIXaGaai4laiaaikdacaGGPaGaaiikaiabeM8a3n% aaBaaaleaacaaIYaaabeaakiabgUcaRiabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaaI% XaGaaG4maaqabaGccaGGPaaaaa!4FDC!\[\Omega \approx \omega _8 \approx (1/2)(\omega _2 + \omega _{13} )\] in the ±75 plate, where the % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaaiabeM8a3naaBaaaleaacaWGPbaabeaaaaa!3F16!\[\omega _i \] are the natural frequencies of the plate and Ω is the excitation frequency. The results show that a low-amplitude high-frequency excitation can produce a high-amplitude low-frequency motion.

Notes: Abstract A novel approach for implementing an active nonlinear vibration absorber is presented. The absorber, which is built in electronic circuitry, takes advantage of the saturation phenomenon that occurs when two natural frequencies of a system with quadratic nonlinearities are in the ratio of two-to-one. When the system is excited at a frequency near the higher natural frequency, there is a small ceiling for the system response at the higher frequency and the rest of the input energy is channeled to the low-frequency mode. A working model of using saturation to suppress the vibrations of a rigid beam connected to a DC motor has been built. An electronic oscillator is built, and its frequency is set at one-half the frequency of the beam. The output from a sensor on the beam is multiplied by the output from the electronic oscillator and a suitable gain, and the result is used as the forcing term for the oscillator. At the same time, the output from the oscillator is squared and multiplied by a suitable gain, and that result is used as the input to the motor. The oscillator/actuator and the beam act as the two modes of a two-degree-of-freedom quadratically coupled system with a 2:1 autoparametric resonance. When the beam is excited by a harmonic force, its motion quickly becomes saturated, and most of the energy imparted to the beam by the harmonic force is transferred to the electronic circuit and from there to the actuator. Thus, the harmonic force is made to work against itself. As a result, the motion of the beam always remains small.

Notes: Abstract The nonlinear, single-mode responses of a fixed-fixed, buckled beam are investigated under the case of a uniform, transverse, harmonic excitation. In order to avoid axial slipping and to obtain meaningful data, a clamping apparatus was designed to maximize the clamping force applied to the beam. To fully characterize the single-mode responses, data were obtained at various levels of buckling up to 3.3 times the thickness of the beam. The data demonstrate that at a low level of buckling, supercritical period doubling occurs during an amplitude sweep in which the first mode is directly excited. However, as the buckling level increases, the period-doubling bifurcation becomes subcritical during such amplitude sweeps. In addition, a period-five motion, broadband responses, and responses with an unexplained sideband structure were observed.

Notes: Abstract An experimental validation of the suitability of reduction methods for studying nonlinear vibrations of distributed-parameter systems is attempted. Nonlinear planar vibrations of a clamped-clamped buckled beam about its first post-buckling configuration are analyzed. The case of primary resonance of the nth mode of the beam, when no internal resonances involving this mode are active, is investigated. Approximate solutions are obtained by applying the method of multiple scales to a single-mode model discretized via the Galerkin procedure and by directly attacking the governing integro-partial-differential equation and boundary conditions with the method of multiple scales. Frequency-response curves for the case of primary resonance of the first mode are generated using both approaches for several buckling levels and are contrasted with experimentally obtained frequency-response curves for two test beams. For high buckling levels above the first crossover point of the beam, the computed frequency-response curves are qualitatively as well as quantitatively different. The experimentally obtained frequency-response curves for the directly excited first mode are in agreement with those obtained with the direct approach and in disagreement with those obtained with the single-mode discretization approach.