Nonlinear normal modes of structural systems via asymptotic approach

Non-linear normal modes and their bifurcation of a two DOF system with quadratic and cubic non-linearity

A complex-variable invariant-manifold approach is used to construct the normal modes of weakly nonlinear discrete systems with cubic geometric nonlinearities and either a one-to-one or a three-to-one internal resonance. The nonlinear mode shapes are assumed to be slightly curved four-dimensional manifolds tangent to the linear eigenspaces of the two modes involved in the internal resonance at the equilibrium position. The dynamics on these manifolds is governed by three first-order autonomous equations. In contrast with the case of no internal resonance, the number of nonlinear normal modes may be more than the number of linear normal modes. Bifurcations of the calculated nonlinear normal modes are investigated.

This work concerns the nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) of a 2 degree-of-freedom autonomous conservative spring–mass–pendulum system, a system that exhibits inertial coupling between the two generalized coordinates and quadratic (even) nonlinearities. Several general methods introduced in the literature to calculate the NNMs of conservative systems are reviewed, and then applied to the spring–mass–pendulum system. These include the invariant manifold method, the multiple scales method, the asymptotic perturbation method and the method of harmonic balance. Then, an efficient numerical methodology is developed to calculate the exact NNMs, and this method is further used to analyze and follow the bifurcations of the NNMs as a function of linear frequency ratio p and total energy h. The bifurcations in NNMs, when near 1:2 and 1:1 resonances arise in the two linear modes, is investigated by perturbation techniques and the results are compared with those predicted by the exact numerical solutions. By using the method of multiple time scales (MTS), not only the bifurcation diagrams but also the low energy global dynamics of the system is obtained. The numerical method gives reliable results for the high-energy case. These bifurcation analyses provide a significant glimpse into the complex dynamics of the system. It is shown that when the total energy is sufficiently high, varying p, the ratio of the spring and the pendulum linear frequencies, results in the system undergoing an order–chaos–order sequence. This phenomenon is also presented and discussed.

Nonlinear normal modes of a fixed-fixed buckled beam about its first post-buckling configuration are investigated. The cases of three-to-one and one-to-one internal resonances are analyzed. Approximate solutions for the nonlinear normal modes are computed by applying the method of multiple scales directly to the governing integral-partial-differential equation and associated boundary conditions. Curves displaying variation of the amplitude of one of the modes with the internal-resonance-detuning parameter are generated. It is shown that, for a three-to-one internal resonance between the first and third modes, the beam may possess one stable uncoupled mode (high-frequency mode) and either (a) one stable coupled mode, (b) three stable coupled modes, or (c) two stable and one unstable coupled modes. For the same resonance, the beam possesses one degenerate mode (with a multiplicity of two) and two stable and one unstable coupled modes. On the other hand, for a one-to-one internal resonance between the first and second modes, the beam possesses (a) two stable uncoupled modes and two stable and two unstable coupled modes; (b) one stable and one unstable uncoupled modes and two stable and two unstable coupled modes; and (c) two stable uncoupled and two unstable coupled modes (with a multiplicity of two). For a one-to-one internal resonance between the third and fourth modes, the beam possesses (a) two stable uncoupled modes and four stable coupled modes; (b) one stable and one unstable uncoupled modes and four stable coupled modes; (c) two unstable uncoupled modes and four stable coupled modes; and (d) two stable uncoupled modes and two stable coupled modes (each with a multiplicity of two).

The nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) of an elastically constrained (EC) shallow arch in the case of two-to-one internal resonance are constructed, and the effects of the vertical and rotational elastic boundary constraints are studied. The multiple scales method is directly applied to obtain the second-order uniform-expansion solution and the modulation equations from the dimensionless integral–partial–differential equation of motion. The elastic constraints have a corresponding relationship with the coefficients of modulation equations and influence the natural frequencies and modes, as demonstrated by solving the algebraic eigenvalue equation. The stability of the uncoupled single-mode and coupled-mode motions for the nonlinear system is investigated. Then the shape functions, activation conditions and space–time evolutions accounting for the two-to-one internally resonant NNMs for vertical and rotational elastic constraints are examined. The results show that the vertical and rotational elastic constraints play a fundamental role in the nonlinear dynamic phenomena of the EC shallow arch.

Nonlinear Normal Mode backbone estimation with near-resonant steady state inputs

On the Proper Orthogonal Modes and Normal Modes of Continuous Vibration Systems

The dynamics of an oscillatory dissipative system consisting of two connected pendulums in a magnetic field is considered. The connection of these pendulums is realized by some elastic element. The inertial components of pendulums vary widely, and the mass ratio is chosen in analytical investigation as a small parameter. For approximate calculations of magnetic forces, the Padé approximation which best satisfies the experimental data, is used. Such approximation permits to describe the magnetic excitation with good accuracy. The presence of external influences in the form of magnetic forces and various types of other loads that exist in many engineering systems leads to a significant complication in the analysis of vibration modes of nonlinear systems. Nonlinear normal modes (NNM) are analysed in the system where one mode is connected and the other is localized. These modes are constructed by the multiple scales method. It is studied as the regular, as well the complex behaviour when changing system parameters, including the pendulums mass ratio, the coupling coefficient, the magnetic impact intensity coefficient, and the distance between the axis of rotation and the center of gravity. The influence of these parameters is studied at both small and not small initial angles of the pendulums. The analytical solution is compared with results of numerical simulation which is based on the Runge–Kutta method of the fourth order, where initial values of variables defined in the analytical solution are used. Numerical simulation, which includes construction of phase diagrams and trajectories in the configuration space, permits to estimate the system dynamics which can be as regular, as well irregular one. The mode stability is studied by the numerical-analytical test which is a numerical realization of the Lyapunov stability criterion. Here the mode stability is determined by analysis of orthogonal deviations from the mode trajectory in the system configuration space. Keywords: connected pendulums, magnetic forces, nonlinear normal modes, multiple scales method.

The sensitivity of the nonlinear dynamic response to damage is investigated in simply supported beams by computing the nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) and exploiting the rich information they unfold about the nonlinear system behavior. Damage is introduced as a reduction of the flexural stiffness within a small segment of the beam span. The problem is formulated in a piece-wise fashion and analytically tackled by using the method of multiple scales to compute the NNMs and the backbone curves. The latter describe the frequency versus free oscillation amplitude for each mode and as such they represent the skeleton of the nonlinear frequency response around each beam modal frequency. The bending of the backbones is regulated by the so-called effective nonlinearity coefficients associated with each mode. The comparison between the damaged and undamaged beams shows a sensitivity of the effective nonlinearity coefficients higher than the sensitivity of the linear natural frequencies. Moreover, the nonlinear frequency trends unfold an interesting dependence of the nonlinear free response on the stiffness reduction at the damage site. Such dependence yields useful information about the damage position. An effective identification strategy for the damage position is proposed by computing the damage-induced discontinuities in the second derivative of the NNMs (i.e., first order estimate of the bending curvature), without resorting to a baseline model of the undamaged beam. This goal is achieved by computing a high order derivative of the Nadaraya–Watson kernel estimator, which is evaluated from a finite set of sampled beam deflections associated with each individual NNM. The results show that the second derivatives of higher NNMs are more sensitive to damage-induced discontinuities than the linear modal curvatures. The robustness against noise of the damage identification process is also discussed.

A new scheme based on the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is developed for calculating the nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) of multi degrees-of-freedom (MDOF) oscillatory systems with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. The NNMs in the presence of internal resonances can also be computed by the proposed method. The method starts by approximating the solution at the zeroth-order, using some few harmonics, and proceeds to higher orders to improve the approximation by automatically including higher harmonics. The capabilities and limitations of the method are thoroughly investigated by applying them to three nonlinear systems with different nonlinear behaviors. These include a two degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) system with cubic nonlinearities and one-to-three internal resonance that occurs on nonlinear frequencies at high amplitudes, a 2DOF system with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities having one-to-two internal resonance, and the discretized equations of motion of a cylindrical shell. The later one has internal resonance of one-to-one. Moreover, it has the symmetry property and its DOFs may oscillate with phase difference of 90 deg, leading to the traveling wave mode. In most cases, the estimated backbone curves are compared by the numerical solutions obtained by continuation of periodic orbits. The method is found to be accurate for reasonably high amplitude vibration especially when only cubic nonlinearities are present.

A study of the Nonlinear Normal Modes (NNMs) of a two degrees of freedom mechanical system with a bilateral elastic stop for one of them is considered. The issue related to the non-smoothness of the impact force is handled through a regularization technique. The Harmonic Balance Method (HBM) with a large number of harmonics, combined with the Asymptotic Numerical Method (ANM), is used to solve the regularized problem. The results are validated from periodic orbits obtained analytically in the time domain by direct integration of the non-regular problem. The first NNM shows an elaborate dynamics with the occurrence of multiple impacts per period, internal resonance and instabilities. On the other hand, the second NNM presents a more simple, almost linear, dynamics. The two NNMs converge asymptotically (for an infinite energy) toward two other Linear Normal Modes, corresponding to the system with a gap equal to zero.

Non linear normal modes offer a rigorous framework, both mathematical and physical, for theoretical and experimental dynamical analysis. Albeit still in its infancy, the concept of non linear normal modes has the potential of providing to both the academic and the industrial establishment a powerful tool for the analysis of non linear dynamical systems. However, in order to exploit the full potential of this theory (and its associated simulation capability), there is need to integrate it with other branches of non linear structural dynamics: namely, in order for the non linear normal modes of a real—physical—structure to be computed, there is need to identify and quantify its non linearity. In this paper, an identification method based on the measured Frequency Response Function (FRF) is employed to identify and quantify the system’s non linearity before computing the system’s non linear normal modes.

A formulation for computing resonant nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) is developed for discrete and continuous systems. In a canonical framework, internal resonance conditions are immediately recognized by identifying commensurable linearized natural frequencies of these systems. Additionally, a canonical formulation allows for a single (linearized modal) coordinate to parameterize all other coordinates during a resonant NNM response. Energy-based NNM methodologies are applied to a canonical set of equations and asymptotic solutions are sought. In order to account for the resonant modal interactions, it will be shown that high-order terms in the O(1) solutions must be considered (in the absence of internal resonances, a linear expansion at O(1) is sufficient). Two applications (‘3:1’ resonances in a two-degree-of-freedom system and ‘3:1’ resonance in a hinged-clamped beam) are then considered by which to demonstrate the resonant NNM methodology. It is shown that for some responses, nonlinear modal relations do not exist in the context of physical coordinates and thus a transformation to a canonical framework is necessary in order to appropriately define NNM relations.

Nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) are widely used as a tool for understanding the forced responses of nonlinear systems. However, the contemporary definition of an NNM also encompasses a large number of dynamic behaviours which are not observed when a system is forced and damped. As such, only a few NNMs are required to understand the forced dynamics. This paper firstly demonstrates the complexity that may arise from the NNMs of a simple nonlinear system—highlighting the need for a method for identifying the significance of NNMs. An analytical investigation is used, alongside energy arguments, to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that relate the NNMs to the forced responses. This provides insight into which NNMs are pertinent to understanding the forced dynamics, and which may be disregarded. The NNMs are compared with simulated forced responses to verify these findings.

Flexible beams are becoming ubiquitous in several industrial applications, as new projects often aim for lighter and longer structures. This fact is directly related to the new challenging demands on structural performances, or it is a simple consequence of the engagement of industries in cost reduction programs (usage of less material). Flexible beams are usually modeled under the assumption of large displacements, finite rotations, but with small strains. Such hypotheses allow the equation of motion to be built using co-rotational finite elements. The co-rotational formulation decomposes the total motion of a flexible structure into two parts: a rigid body displacement and an elastic (small) deformation. This way, the geometric nonlinearity caused by the large displacements and rotations of the beam's cross sections can be efficiently computed. One of the novelties of this thesis is the direct usage of the equation of motion generated by a co-rotational finite element formulation in the computation of nonlinear normal modes (NNM). So far, most of the dynamic analyses with co-rotation finite element models were restricted to numerical integrations of the equation of motion. The knowledge of NNMs can be beneficial in the analysis of any nonlinear structure since it allows a thoroughly understanding of the vibratory response in the nonlinear regime. They can be used, for example, to predict a hardening/softening behavior, a localization of the responses, the interactions between modes, the existence of isolas, etc. The Rosenberg's definition of NNM as periodic solutions (non-necessarily synchronous motion) is adopted here. The Harmonic Balance method and the Shooting methods are presented and used to compute periodic solutions of nonlinear systems. A numerical path continuation scheme is implemented to efficiently compute NNMs at different energy levels. Numerical examples show the capability of the proposed method when applied to co-rotational beam elements.