Noise Path Synthesis with Nonlinear Joints

An efficient synthesis approach is developed which permits thecalculation of the steady-state frequency response of an assembly whichis comprised of linear components and nonlinear joints. Receptancematrices are used to characterize the linear components, which permitscondensation of the system to just the joint degrees-of-freedom.Furthermore, the calculated nonlinear joint forces are then used tostudy the power flow in the assembly, as well as detailed dynamicbehavior within the components. Integrated into the technique is acontinuation scheme which permits efficient parametric studies.