The response of nonlinear systems to modulated high-frequency input

We study the response of a single-degree-of-freedom system with cubic nonlinearities to an amplitude-modulated excitation whose carrier frequency is much higher than the natural frequency of the system. The only restriction on the amplitude modulation is that it contain frequencies much lower than the carrier frequency of the excitation. We apply the theory to different types of amplitude modulation and find that resonant excitation of the system may occur under some conditions.     

Cargo Pendulation Reduction of Ship-Mounted Cranes

Ship-mounted cranes are used to transfer cargo from large container ships to smaller lighters when deep-water ports are not available. The wave-induced motion of the crane ship can produce large pendulations of the cargo being hoisted and cause operations to be suspended. In this work, we show that it is possible to reduce these pendulations significantly by controlling the slew and luff angles of the boom. Such a control can be achieved with the heavy equipment that is already part of the crane so that retrofitting existing cranes would require a small effort. Moreover, the control is superimposed on the commands of the operator transparently. The successful control strategy is based on delayed feedback of the angles of the cargo-hoisting cable in and out of the plane of the boom and crane tower. Its effectiveness is demonstrated in a fully nonlinear three-dimensional computer simulation and in an experiment with a 1/24th-scale model of a T-ACS (The Auxiliary Crane Ship) crane mounted on a platform moving with three degrees of freedom. The results demonstrate that the pendulations can be significantly reduced, and therefore the range of sea conditions in which cargo-transfer operations can take place can be greatly expanded.     

Nonlinear response of a parametrically excited buckled beam

A nonlinear analysis of the response of a simply-supported buckled beam to a harmonic axial load is presented. The method of multiple scales is used to determine to second order the amplitude- and phase-modulation equations. Floquet theory is used to analyze the stability of periodic responses. The perturbation results are verified by integrating the governing equation using both digital and analog computers. For small excitation amplitudes, the analytical results are in good agreement with the numerical solutions. The large-amplitude responses are investigated by using a digital computer and are compared with those obtained via an analog-computer simulation. The complicated dynamic behaviors that were found include period-multiplying and period-demultiplying bifurcations, period-three and period-six motions, jump phenomena, and chaos. In some cases, multiple periodic attractors coexist, and a chaotic attractor coexists with a periodic attractor. Phase portraits, spectra of the responses, and a bifurcation set of the many solutions are presented.     

On the Discretization of Distributed-Parameter Systems with Quadratic and Cubic Nonlinearities

Approximate methods for analyzing the vibrations of an Euler--Bernoulli beam resting on a nonlinear elastic foundation are discussed. The cases of primary resonance ( _n ) and subharmonic resonance of order one-half ( 2 _n ), where is the excitation frequency and _n is the natural frequency of the nth mode of the beam, are investigated. Approximate solutions based on discretization via the Galerkin method are contrasted with direct application of the method of multiple scales to the governing partial-differential equation and boundary conditions. The amplitude and phase modulation equations show that single-mode discretization leads to erroneous qualitative as well as quantitative predictions. Regions of softening (hardening) behavior of the system, the spatial dependence of the response drift, and frequency-response curves are numerically evaluated and compared using both approaches.     

Steady-State dynamics of a linear structure weakly coupled to an essentially nonlinear oscillator

We present a theoretical study of the dynamics of the coupled system of Jiang, McFarland, Bergman, and Vakakis. It comprises a harmonically excited linear subsystem weakly coupled to an essentially nonlinear oscillator. We explored the rich dynamics exhibited by this coupled system by determining its periodic responses and their bifurcations. Not surprisingly, we found a lot of interesting dynamics over a broad frequency range: cyclic-fold, Hopf, symmetry-breaking, and period-doubling bifurcations; phase-locked motions; regions with multiple coexisting solutions; hysteresis; and chaos. We did not find any occurrence of energy transfer via modulation (also known as zero-to-one internal resonance); theoretically, the possibility of its occurrence was ruled out for systems with weak nonlinearity and damping. Finally, we investigated the ef fectiveness of the so-called nonlinear energy sink (NES) in vibration attenuation of forced linear structures. We found that the NES results in an increase in the vibration amplitude of the linear subsystem, especially when the damping is low, contrary to the claim made by Jiang et al. Also, we did not find any indication of nonlinear energy pumping or localization of energy in the NES, away from the directly forced linear subsystem, indicating that the NES is not ef fective for controlling the vibrations of forced linear structures.     

Nonlinear Nonplanar Dynamics of Parametrically Excited Cantilever Beams

The nonlinear nonplanar response of cantilever inextensional metallic beams to a principal parametric excitation of two of its flexural modes, one in each plane, is investigated. The lowest torsional frequencies of the beams considered are much larger than the frequencies of the excited modes so that the torsional inertia can be neglected. Using this condition as well as the inextensionality condition, we develop a Lagrangian whose variation leads to two integro-partial-differential equations governing the motions of the beams. The method of time-averaged Lagrangian is used to derive four first-order nonlinear ordinary-differential equations governing the modulation of the amplitudes and phases of the two interacting modes. These modulation equations exhibit symmetry properties. A pseudo arclength scheme is used to trace the branches of the equilibrium solutions and an investigation of the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix is used to assess their stability. The equilibrium solutions experience pitchfork, saddle-node, Hopf, and codimension-2 bifurcations. A detailed bifurcation analysis of the dynamic solutions of the modulation equations is presented. Five branches of dynamic (periodic and chaotic) solutions were found. Two of these branches emerge from two Hopf bifurcations and the other three are isolated. The limit cycles undergo symmetry-breaking, cyclic-fold, and period-doubling bifurcations, whereas the chaotic attractors undergo attractor-merging and boundary crises.     

Analysis of one-to-one autoparametric resonances in cables—Discretization vs. direct treatment

We discuss solution methods for nonlinear vibrations of cables having small initial sag-to-span ratios. One-to-one internal resonances between the in-plane and out-of-plane modes as well as primary resonances of the in-plane mode are considered. Approximate solutions are obtained by two different approaches. In the first approach, the method of multiple scales is applied directly to the governing partial-differential equations and boundary conditions. In the second approach, the equations are first discretized, and then the method of multiple scales is applied to the resulting ordinary-differential equations. It is shown that treatment of the discretized system is inaccurate compared to direct treatment of the partial-differential system. Discrepancies between the two solutions appear even at the first level of approximation. Stability analyses of the amplitude and phase modulation equations for both methods are also performed.     

The response of one-degree-of-freedom systems with cubic and quartic non-linearities to a harmonic excitation

The method of multiple scales is used to analyze the response of single-degree-of freedom systems with cubic and quartic non-linearities to a harmonic excitation. Two first-order ordinary differential equations describing the evolution of the amplitude and the phase are derived for superharmonic resonances of order two and four, subharmonic resonances of order one-half and one-fourth, and the supersubharmonic resonances of order $\text{3}\text{2}$ and $\text{2}\text{3}$. In all cases, the steady state solutions and their stability are determined and representative numerical results are included.     

Bifurcations in a forced softening duffing oscillator

The response of a damped Duffing oscillator of the softening type to a harmonic excitation is analyzed in a two-parameter space consisting of the frequency and amplitude of the excitation. An approximate procedure is developed for the generation of the bifurcation diagram in the parameter space of interest. It is a combination of second-order perturbation solutions of the system in the neighborhood of its non-linear resonances and Floquet analysis. The results show that the proposed scheme is capable of predicting symmetry-breaking and period-doubling bifurcations as well as Jumps to either bounded or unbounded motions. The results obtained are validated using analogand digital-computer simulations, which show chaos and unbounded motions, among other behaviors.     

Modeling and performance study of a beam microgyroscope

We develop a mathematical model of a microgyroscope whose principal component is a rotating cantilever beam equipped with a proof mass at its end. The microgyroscope undergoes two flexural vibrations that are coupled via base rotation about the microbeam longitudinal axis. The primary vibratory motion is produced in one direction (drive direction) of the microbeam by a pair of DC and AC voltages actuating the proof mass. The microbeam angular rotation induces a secondary vibration in the orthogonal (sense) direction actuated by a second DC voltage. Closed-form solutions are developed for the linearized problem to study the relationship between the base rotation and gyroscopic coupling. The response of the microgyroscope to variations in the DC voltage across the drive and sense electrodes and frequency of excitation are examined and a calibration curve of the gyroscope is obtained analytically.