Nonlinear dynamics of oscillators with bilinear hysteresis and sinusoidal excitation

The transient and steady-state response of an oscillator with hysteretic restoring force and sinusoidal excitation are investigated. Hysteresis is modeled by using the bilinear model of Caughey with a hybrid system formulation. A novel method for obtaining the exact transient and steady-state response of the system is discussed. Stability and bifurcations of periodic orbits are studied using Poincaré maps. Results are compared with asymptotic expansions obtained by Caughey. The bilinear hysteretic element is found to act like a ‘soft spring’. Several sub-harmonic resonances are found in the system, however, no chaotic behavior is observed. Away from the sub-harmonic resonance the asymptotic expansions and the exact steady-state response of the system are seen to match with good accuracy.