A new method for detecting non-linear damping and restoring forces in non-linear oscillation systems from transient data

The purpose of this study is to recover the functional form of both non-linear damping and non-linear restoring forces in the non-linear oscillatory motions of an autonomous system. Using two sets of measured motion response data of the system, an inverse problem is formulated for recovering (or identification): the differential equation of motion is transformed into an equivalent integral equation of motion. The identification, which is non-linear, is shown to be one-to-one. However, the inverse problem formulated herein is concerned with the Volterra-type of non-linear integral equation of the first kind. This leads to numerical instability: solutions of the inverse problem lack stability properties. In order to overcome the difficulty, a regularization method is applied to the identification process. In addition, an L-curve criterion, combined with regularization, is introduced to find an optimal choice for the regularization parameter (i.e., the number of iterations), in the presence of noisy data. The workability of the identification is investigated for simultaneously recovering the functional form of the non-linear damping and the non-linear restoring forces through a numerical experiment.     

A New Testing Machine for the Dynamic Characterization of High Strength Low Damping Fiber Materials

This work describes a novel method for measuring the damping, the elastic modulus and the non-linear behavior of high strength low damping fiber materials such as para-aramids, silicon carbide (SiC) and carbon. The method is based on resonant response characterization of a spring-mass system excited by a sine-wave forcing term which is applied as a vertical force to the suspended mass. The damping is obtained from the measured resonance quality factor Q, the elasticity modulus is calculated from the resonance frequency, and the non-linear coefficient is obtained with the backbone approach from resonance profile variations as a function of the forcing term amplitude. It is argued that the method is very sensitive, to the point that a maximum excitation amplitude of the order of a few percent of resistance is sufficient to obtain an estimate of the non-linear coefficient. This claim is supported by experimental results. A testing machine is also discussed, which provides the necessary sensitivity at such small excitation amplitudes and the capability of evaluating very small damping values, as expected in high strength low damping fiber materials. The sensitivity is guaranteed by an optical position sensor with sub-micron resolution. To evaluate small damping values, particular care has been taken to ensure that energy dispersions in the generator are much smaller than energy dispersions in the fibers themselves. Examples of dynamic characterization are shown for para-aramid, silicon carbide, and carbon fibers.     

Effects of excitation probability distribution on system responses

For a system subjected to a random excitation, the probability distribution of the excitation may affect behaviors of the system responses. Such effects are investigated for a variety of dynamical systems, including a linear oscillator, an oscillator of cubic non-linearity in both damping and stiffness, and a non-linear oscillator of the van der Pol type. The random excitations are assumed to be stationary stochastic processes, sharing the same spectral density, but with different probability distributions. Each excitation process is generated by passing a Brownian motion process through a non-linear filter, which is governed by an Ito stochastic differential equation. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to obtain the transient and stationary properties of the system response in each case. It is shown that, under different excitations, the transient behaviors of the system response can be markedly different. The differences tend to reduce, however, as time of exposure to the excitations increases and the system reaches the stationary state.     

Identification of Nonlinear Oscillator with Parametric White Noise Excitation

An identification technique is proposed for a nonlinear oscillator excited by response-dependent white noise. Stiffness, damping and excitation are estimated from records of the stationary stochastic response. The estimation of the stiffness is based on a nonparametric procedure in which the potential energy at the displacement extremes is obtained from the kinetic energy at the previous mean-level-crossing. A nonparametric estimate is obtained by an iterative averaging, in which the increased knowledge of the potential energy in each step is used to avoid bias. The second step in the procedure is to estimate the stationary probability potential in a nonparametric form from a histogram of the kinetic energy at mean-level-crossings. The damping is also estimated in a nonparametric way from approximate expressions of the covariance functions of a set of modified phase plane variables at a given energy level. Finally, the excitation is estimated from a relation between the stationary probability potential, the damping and the excitation. The separation of damping and excitation requires a parametric representation. The system identification technique is investigated by application to response records obtained by stochastic simulation. The stiffness estimation generally gives excellent results, while the damping and excitation estimation tend to be slightly biased for systems with strongly nonlinear stiffness.     

Non-linear Damping and Frequency Identification in a Progressively Damaged R.C. Element

This paper describes the non-linear identification of a progressively damaged reinforced concrete beam-column node. The aims are the detection and identification of the different sources of damping and their dependence from the damage level. To this end a specially formulated non-linear identification method is proposed, based on a time-varying polynomial approximation of the system dynamics, suitable for use in the presence of excitations of any form. A minimum condition imposed to the identified dissipated energy leads to the distinction of the linear viscous component from the other damping mechanisms. The estimated values obtained from the experimental tests show a significant influence of the damage level on the linear viscous damping coefficient. This suggests that, in a non-linear dynamic time-history analysis, the use of Rayleigh damping model with proportionality to the initial stiffness is basically in contrast with experimental evidence and more refined viscous damping models are needed for prediction purposes.     

Bifurcation and chaos analysis of multistage planetary gear train

A nonlinear time-varying dynamic model for a multistage planetary gear train, considering time-varying meshing stiffness, nonlinear error excitation, and piece-wise backlash nonlinearities, is formulated. Varying dynamic motions are obtained by solving the dimensionless equations of motion in general coordinates by using the varying-step Gill numerical integration method. The influences of damping coefficient, excitation frequency, and backlash on bifurcation and chaos properties of the system are analyzed through dynamic bifurcation diagram, time history, phase trajectory, Poincaré map, and power spectrum. It shows that the multi-stage planetary gear train system has various inner nonlinear dynamic behaviors because of the coupling of gear backlash and time-varying meshing stiffness. As the damping coefficient increases, the dynamic behavior of the system transits to an increasingly stable periodic motion, which demonstrates that a higher damping coefficient can suppress a nonperiodic motion and thereby improve its dynamic response. The motion state of the system changes into chaos in different ways of period doubling bifurcation, and Hopf bifurcation.     

A robust online parametric identification method for non-deteriorating and deteriorating distributed element models with viscous damping

The online parametric identification of deteriorating and non-deteriorating distributed element models (DEMs) with viscous damping is studied using a generalization of Masing model to provide the proper framework for identification. The approach renders the hysteretic response of the DEM into a time-independent single-valued mapping from equivalent displacement values into equivalent force values, while considering the effect of damping as a parallel element. This approach allows for parametric identification of this non-linear rate-dependent hysteretic behavior to be performed using non-linear optimization techniques. A changing objective function, defined as a norm of force estimation error over a shifting window of recent data, is employed so that classic non-linear optimization techniques can be used for the online identification problem. A variation of the steepest descent method is used with significant modifications. Special measures are taken to guarantee robustness of the results in presence of noise. The results show that the proposed identification method exhibits a very good performance in identifying the correct values of the parameters in real time, and is robust in dealing with noise. The proposed method can be applied to many other types of hysteretic behavior as well.     

Identification of Nonlinear and Viscoelastic Properties of Flexible Polyurethane Foam

Analysis of the steady-state response of a polyurethane foam and masssystem to harmonic excitation is presented. The foam's uni-directionaldynamic behavior is modeled by using nonlinear stiffness, linearviscoelastic and velocity proportional damping components. Therelaxation kernel for the viscoelastic model is assumed to be a sum ofexponentials. The harmonic balance method is used to develop one- andtwo-term approximations to periodic solutions, and the equationsdeveloped are utilized for system identification. The identificationprocess is based on least-squares minimization of a sub-optimal costfunction that uses response data at various excitation frequencies andamplitudes. The effects of frequency range, spacing and amplitudes ofthe harmonic input on the results of the model parameter estimation arediscussed. The identification procedure is applied to measurements ofthe steady-state response of a base-excited foam-mass system. Estimatesof the system parameters at different levels of compression and inputamplitudes are thus determined. The choice of model-order and thefeasibility of describing the system behavior at several inputamplitudes with a single set of parameters are also addressed.     

Nonlinear dynamic analysis of a quarter vehicle system with external periodic excitation

In this paper, a nonlinear dynamic model of a quarter vehicle with nonlinear spring and damping is established. The dynamic characteristics of the vehicle system with external periodic excitation are theoretically investigated by the incremental harmonic balance method and Newmark method, and the accuracy of the incremental harmonic balance method is verified by comparing with the result of Newmark method. The influences of the damping coefficient, excitation amplitude and excitation frequency on the dynamic responses are analyzed. The results show that the vibration behaviors of the vehicle system can be control by adjusting appropriately system parameters with the damping coefficient, excitation amplitude and excitation frequency. The multi-valued properties, spur-harmonic response and hardening type nonlinear behavior are revealed in the presented amplitude-frequency curves. With the changing parameters, the transformation of chaotic motion, quasi-periodic motion and periodic motion is also observed. The conclusions can provide some available evidences for the design and improvement of the vehicle system.     

参数激励下非线性受控系统的动力学和稳定性

研究两自由度参数激励系统的非线性动力学与控制问题．利用Lagrange方程建立含反馈控制的参激捅及其驱动机构组成的系统动力学方程，以多尺度方法获得一阶近似控制方程．然后，对系统受一阶摸态参激主共振与一、二阶模态间3：1内共振联合作用下的幅额响应及其稳定性，以及反馈参数对系统稳态行为的影响作了详细分析．结果表明，响应的稳定域位置和大小取决于位移反馈，位移立方反馈改变了系统的非线性程度，速度反馈类似于阻尼，可使系统呈现自激振动特性．     

An approach to the problem of closure in non-linear stochastic mechanics

An approach combining the method of moment equations and the statistical linearization technique is proposed for analysis of the response of non-linear mechanical systems to random excitation. The adaptive statistical linearization procedure is developed for obtaining a more accurate mean square of responses. For these, a Duffing oscillator and an oscillator with cubic non-linear damping subject to white noise excitation are considered. It is shown that the adaptive statistical linearization proposed yields good accurate results for both weak and strong non-linear stochastic systems.Presented at the First European Solid Mechanics Conference, September 9–13, 1991. Munich, Germany     

Pressure pulsations in piping system excited by a centrifugal turbomachinery taking the damping characteristics into consideration

Pressure pulsations excited by a centrifugal turbomachinery such as compressor, fan or pump at the blade passing frequency may cause severe noise and vibrations in piping system. Therefore, the practical evaluation method of pressure pulsations is strongly recommended. In particular, the maximum pressure amplitude under the resonant conditions should be appropriately evaluated. In this study, a one-dimensional excitation source model for a compressor or pump is introduced based on the equation of motion, so as to incorporate the non-linear damping proportional to velocity squared in the total piping system including the compressor or pump. The damping characteristics of the compressor or pump are investigated by using the semi-empirical model. It is shown that the resistance coefficient of the compressor or pump depends on the Reynolds number that is defined using the equivalent velocity of the pulsating flow. The frequency response of the pressure amplitude and the pressure distribution in the piping system can be evaluated by introducing the equivalent resistance of the compressor or pump and that of piping system. In particular, the relation of the maximum pressure amplitude in piping system to the location of the excitation source under resonant conditions can be evaluated. Finally, the reduction of the pressure pulsations by use of an orifice plate is discussed in terms of the pulsation energy loss.     

On non-linear dynamics of a coupled electro-mechanical system

Electro-mechanical devices are an example of coupled multi-disciplinary weakly non-linear systems. Dynamics of such systems is described in this paper by means of two mutually coupled differential equations. The first one, describing an electrical system, is of the first order and the second one, for mechanical system, is of the second order. The governing equations are coupled via linear and weakly non-linear terms. A classical perturbation method, a method of multiple scales, is used to find a steady-state response of the electro-mechanical system exposed to a harmonic close-resonance mechanical excitation. The results are verified using a numerical model created in MATLAB Simulink environment. Effect of non-linear terms on dynamical response of the coupled system is investigated; the backbone and envelope curves are analyzed. The two phenomena, which exist in the electro-mechanical system: (a)?detuning (i.e. a natural frequency variation) and (b)?damping (i.e. a decay in the amplitude of vibration), are analyzed further. An applicability range of the mathematical model is assessed.     

Trispectrum for the response of a non-linear oscillator

Simulation is used to obtain information about non-Gaussian aspects of the absolute response acceleration of a bi-linear hysteretic oscillator with an excitation which is Gaussian white noise. Attention is focused on the frequency content of the fourth cumulant of the response. This frequency content is studied by consideration of the trispectrum and also by the simplified technique of looking at the coefficient of excess for the response of a narrowband linear system mounted on the non-linear oscillator. Attempts are also made to model the non-Gaussian response of the non-linear oscillator by a filtered delta correlated (FDC) process, but it is shown that no process of this type can exhibit some of the significant characteristics of the non-linear response. In particular, the trispectrum of the non-linear response appears to be more narrowband than the power spectral density, and also it sometimes does not have the same sign at every point in the three-dimensional frequency space, and this behavior is distinctly different from that of any FDC process. Modifications of the FDC model are suggested in order to obtain improved approximations of the non-linear response.     

Probabilistic solution of non-linear random ship roll motion by path integration

This paper investigates the probability density function (PDF) of non-linear random ship roll motion using a previously developed path integration method. The mathematical model of ship rolling motion consists of a linear-plus-cubic damping and a non-linear restoring moment in the form of odd-order polynomials up to fifth-order terms. In the path integration method, the interpolation scheme is based on the Gauss–Legendre quadrature integration rule and the short-time transition probability density function is formulated by short-time Gaussian approximation. The present work extends the path integration method to the case of non-linear random ship roll motion. Different values of non-linearity coefficient and excitation intensity are used to examine the effectiveness of the path integration method. Numerical analysis shows that the results of the path integration method agree well with the simulation results, even in the tail region. The path integration method is effective and it is simply implemented in the examined cases. Due to the presence of non-linear damping terms and non-linear restoring moment terms, the PDFs of roll angle and angular velocity exhibit highly non-Gaussian behaviors.     

Nonstationary probability densities of system response of strongly nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom system subject to modulated white noise excitation

The nonstationary probability densities of system response of a single-degree-of -freedom system with lightly nonlinear damping and strongly nonlinear stiffness subject to modulated white noise excitation are studied.Using the stochastic averaging method based on the generalized harmonic functions,the averaged Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equation governing the nonstationary probability density of the amplitude is derived. The solution of the equation is approximated by the series expansion in terms of a set...     

Non-linear vibration of a single link viscoelastic Cartesian manipulator

In this present work, the non-linear behavior of a single-link flexible visco-elastic Cartesian manipulator is studied. The temporal equation of motion with complex coefficients of the system is obtained by using D’Alembert's principle and generalized Galarkin method. The temporal equation of motion contains non-linear geometric and inertia terms with forced and non-linear parametric excitations. It may also be found that linear and non-linear damping terms originated from the geometry of the large deformation of the system exist in this equation of motion. Method of multiple scales is used to determine the approximate solution of the complex temporal equation of motion and to study the stability and bifurcation of the system. The response obtained using method of multiple scales are compared with those obtained by numerically solving the temporal equation of motion and are found to be in good agreement. The response curves obtained using viscoelastic beams are compared with those obtained from a linear Kelvin-Voigt model and also with an equivalent elastic beam. The effect of the material loss factor, amplitude of base excitation, and mass ratio on the steady state responses for both simple and subharmonic resonance conditions are investigated.     

On statistical quasi-linearization

In carrying out the statistical linearization procedure to a non-linear system subjected to an external random excitation, a Gaussian probability distribution is assumed for the system response. If the random excitation is non-Gaussian, however, the procedure may lead to a large error since the response of bother the original non-linear system and the replacement linear system are not Gaussian distributed. It is found that in some cases such a system can be transformed to one under parametric excitations of Gaussian white noises. Then the quasi-linearization procedure, proposed originally for non-linear systems under both external and parametric excitations of Gaussian white noises, can be applied to these cases. In the procedure, exact statistical moments of the replacing quasi-linear system are used to calculate the linearization parameters. Since the assumption of a Gaussian probability distribution is avoided, the accuracy of the approximation method is improved. The approach is applied to non-linear systems under two types of non-Gaussian excitations: randomized sinusoidal process and polynomials of a filtered process. Numerical examples are investigated, and the calculated results show that the proposed method has higher accuracy than the conventional linearization, as compared with the results obtained from Monte Carlo simulations.