Some properties of multi-degree-of-freedom potential systems and application to statistical equivalent non-linearization

This paper presents some properties of two restricted classes of multi-degree-of-freedom potential systems subjected to Gaussian white-noise excitations. Specifically, potential systems which exhibit damping terms with energy-dependent polynomial form are referred to. In this context, first systems with coupled stiffness terms and damping terms depending on the total energy are investigated. Then, systems with uncoupled stiffness terms and damping terms depending on the total energy in each degree-of-freedom are considered. For these two classes, it is found that algebraic relations among the stationary statistical moments of the energy functions can be derived by applying standard tools of Itô calculus. Further, it is noted that these relations are very useful within the framework of an equivalent statistical non-linearization technique to build approximate solutions for arbitrary non-linear systems.