Primary pulse transmission in a strongly nonlinear periodic system

The aim of this work is to study the transmission of stress waves in an impulsively forced semi-infinite repetitive system of linear layers which are coupled by means of strongly nonlinear coupling elements. Only primary pulse transmission and reflection at each nonlinear element is considered. This permits the reduction of the problem to an infinite set of first-order strongly nonlinear ordinary differential equations. A subset of these equations is solved both analytically and numerically. For a system possessing clearance nonlinearities it is found that the primary transmitted pulse propagates to only a finite number of layers, and that further transmission of energy to additional layers can occur only through time-delayed secondary pulses or does not occur at all. Hence, clearance nonlinearities in a periodic layered system can lead to energy entrapment in the leading layers. An alternative continuum approximation methodology is also outlined which reduces the problem of primary pulse transmission to the solution of a single strongly nonlinear partial differential equation. The use of the continuum approximation for studying maximum primary pulse penetration in the system with clearance nonlinearities is discussed.     

Steady State Passive Nonlinear Energy Pumping in Coupled Oscillators: Theoretical and Experimental Results

We study theoretically and experimentally the effect that anonlinear energy sink (NES) has on the steady state dynamics of a weaklycoupled system. The NES possesses essentially nonlinear(nonlinearizable) stiffness nonlinearity of the third degree. We findthat, in contrast to the classical linear vibration absorber, the NES iscapable of absorbing steady state vibration energy from the linearoscillator over a relatively broad frequency range. This results inlocalization of the steady state vibration in the NES, away from thedirectly forced subsystem. For a forward frequency sweep the localizedbranch of steady state motions is suddenly eliminated by a jump to alinearized low-amplitude motion, whereas, for a backward frequency sweepa reverse jump occurs. The difference in the frequencies of the twojumps introduces a nonlinear hysteresis loop. This work extends to thesteady state case of earlier transient passive energy pumping results.The notion of passively transferring vibration energy to an a prioridetermined NES, weakly attached to a main structure, is novel. The useof nonlinear energy sinks for passively absorbing energy from a linearmain structure can form the basis of relatively simple and modularvibration and shock isolation designs of mechanical systems.     

Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions of Strongly Nonlinear Periodic Orbits of the Forced Pendulum

We employ nonsmooth transformations of the independent coordinate to analytically construct families of strongly nonlinear periodic solutions of the harmonically forced nonlinear pendulum. Each family is parametrized by the period of oscillation, and the solutions are based on piecewise constant generating solutions. By examining the behavior of the constructed solutions for large periods, we find that the periodic orbits develop sensitive dependence on initial conditions. As a result, for small perturbations of the initial conditions the response of the system can jump from one periodic orbit to another and the dynamics become unpredictable. An analytical procedure is described which permits the study of the generation of periodic orbits as the period increases. The periodic solutions constructed in this work provide insight into the sensitive dependence on initial conditions of chaotic trajectories close to transverse intersections of invariant manifolds of saddle orbits of forced nonlinear oscillators.     

Theoretical and Experimental Study of Multimodal Targeted Energy Transfer in a System of Coupled Oscillators

The purpose of this study is the theoretical and experimental investigation of targeted energy transfers from a two-degree-of-freedom primary structure to a nonlinear energy sink (NES). It is demonstrated that an NES can resonate with and extract energy from both modes of the primary structure. By facilitating these energy transfers, notably through excitation of appropriate periodic and quasi-periodic orbits, one can promote dissipation of a major portion of externally induced energy in the nonlinear attachment.     

Influence of system parameters on dynamic behavior of gear pair with stochastic backlash

The influence of stochastic backlash on nonlinear dynamic behavior of spur gear pair with stochastic assembling backlash is discussed. Bifurcation diagram and maximum Lyapunov exponent diagram of the system are presented to evaluate the influences of load ratio, damping ratio, and backlash on the dynamic behavior of the system. The results show that backlash has great contribution to light-loaded gear pair. Therefore, dynamic behavior with stochastic assembling backlash is analyzed. Two novel indexes are introduced to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the system, dynamic instability exponent and critical variance. In addition, the relationship between the dynamic instability exponent and variance of the backlash, and the relationship between the critical variance and the mean value of the backlash are studied. The results show that it is not the unique way to improve the dynamic behavior of the system by minimizing the assembling backlash, which provide a novel way to determine the machining precision requirements, tolerance for assembling, and etc.     

Effect of 1:3 resonance on the steady-state dynamics of a forced strongly nonlinear oscillator with a linear light attachment

We study the 1:3 resonant dynamics of a two degree-of-freedom (DOF) dissipative forced strongly nonlinear system by first examining the periodic steady-state solutions of the underlying Hamiltonian system and then the forced and damped configuration. Specifically, we analyze the steady periodic responses of the two DOF system consisting of a grounded strongly nonlinear oscillator with harmonic excitation coupled to a light linear attachment under condition of 1:3 resonance. This system is particularly interesting since it possesses two basic linearized eigenfrequencies in the ratio 3:1, which, under condition of resonance, causes the localization of the fundamental and third-harmonic components of the responses of the grounded nonlinear oscillator and the light linear attachment, respectively. We examine in detail the topological structure of the periodic responses in the frequency–energy domain by computing forced frequency–energy plots (FEPs) in order to deduce the effects of the 1:3 resonance. We perform complexification/averaging analysis and develop analytical approximations for strongly nonlinear steady-state responses, which agree well with direct numerical simulations. In addition, we investigate the effect of the forcing on the 1:3 resonance phenomena and conclude our study with the stability analysis of the steady-state solutions around 1:3 internal resonance, and a discussion of the practical applications of our findings in the area of nonlinear targeted energy transfer.     

Metal/metal-oxide/metal etalon structures grown by pulsed laser deposition

Multilayered metal/metal-oxide/metal structures are fabricated by pulsed laser deposition in alternating non-reactive and reactive oxidising conditions, by using pure metal targets. The variety of metals used includes tantalum, zinc and indium. Further to the well-known interferometric, etalon, optical behaviour the structures feature additional activation properties owing to the nanoscopic nature of the oxide materials incorporated. PACS 81.15.Fg; 78.67.Pt; 42.25.Hz     

Analysis of the non-periodic oscillations of a self-excited friction-damped system with closely spaced modes

Nonlinear Dynamics - It is widely known that dry friction damping can bound the self-excited vibrations induced by negative damping. The vibrations typically take the form of (periodic) limit cycle...     

Dynamics of microcantilever integrated with geometric nonlinearity for stable and broadband nonlinear atomic force microscopy

We explore the use of a nonlinear cantilever system integrating geometric nonlinearity for AFM imaging, in contrast from the traditional linear cantilever system. The intrinsically nonlinear AFM cantilever system exhibits broadband resonance over a bandwidth several times of its linear resonant frequency and possesses an intrinsic stability that virtually eliminates the instability induced by the tip–sample interactions involved in a linear AFM system, thus the artifact of image contrast reversal. The ability to realize broadband operation may extend the application of AFM to spectral analysis of tip–sample interactions across a broad frequency range at the nanoscale.     

Passive Transient Wave Confinement Due to Nonlinear Joints in Coupled Flexible Systems

We numerically study transient wave propagation in linear flexiblewaveguides coupled by means of nonlinear backlash joints. No structuraldisorder is assumed to exist in the repetitive systems underconsideration. Early-time spatial confinement of the wave motion due tothe backlashes is detected for certain values of the systems'parameters. A discussion of the causes of this nonlinear wavelocalization is given. A transient confinement indicator is establishedand employed for the design optimization of the backlash joints foroptimum energy confinement in the directly forced subsystem. Theoptimization study reveals that strong passive motion confinement canoccur, even when strong coupling between subsystems exists,complementing previous studies in the literature where nonlinearlocalization due to weak subsystem coupling was investigated. Thepresent results have applicability to designs of joints for practicallarge-scale repetitive space structures.