Advanced Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Tools: Using Reduced Order Models to Identify Normal Modes of Vibration and Slow Invariant Manifolds in the Dynamics of Planar Nonlinear Rods

Reduced order models for the dynamics of geometrically exact planar rods are derived by projecting the nonlinear equations of motion onto a subspace spanned by a set of proper orthogonal modes. These optimal modes are identified by a proper orthogonal decomposition processing of high-resolution finite element dynamics. A three-degree-of-freedom reduced system is derived to study distinct categories of motions dominated by a single POD mode. The modal analysis of the reduced system characterizes in a unique fashion for these motions, since its linear natural frequencies are near to the natural frequencies of the full-order system. For free motions characterized by a single POD mode, the eigen-vector matrix of the derived reduced system coincides with the principal POD-directions. This property reflects the existence of a normal mode of vibration, which appears to be close to a slow invariant manifold. Its shape is captured by that of the dominant POD mode. The modal analysis of the POD-based reduced order system provides a potentially valuable tool to characterize the spatio-temporal complexity of the dynamics in order to elucidate connections between proper orthogonal modes and nonlinear normal modes of vibration.