An experimental and analytical study of autoparametric resonance in a 3DOF model of cable-stayed-beam

Autoparametric interaction and the associated phenomenon of amplitude saturation are experimentally observed in a physical model of cable-and-beam structure. In this system, the horizontal beam is fixed at one end and supported at the other end by an inclined taut cable. The longitudinal axes of beam and cable are in a vertical plane. Three natural frequencies of the system are approximately of the ratio 1:1:2. This is a combination of two conditions that are very likely to occur in relatively long-span, multi-stay-cable bridges, namely, 1:1 tuning and 1:2 superharmonic tuning. While the beam is vertically excited with sufficiently large force near a primary resonance, the cable vibrates horizontally at half of excitation frequency. The beam also vibrates horizontally at half-frequency, as well as vertically. As the vertical excitation on the bean is further increased in amplitude, the vertical vibration amplitude gets saturated instead of increasing proportionately. A 3DOF analytical model of the structure is also derived, where the finite motion of the cable introduces geometric nonlinearities in quadratic and cubic forms. The system parameters having been carefully measured from the experimental model, steady-state solutions of the coupled nonlinear equations of motion are obtained, by the perturbation method of multiple time scales. Agreement between experimental observation and analytical prediction is very good, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Very good agreement is found also in the case of horizontal excitation of the beam, where effects of linear and nonlinear interaction are apparent.