Prediction and Elimination of Subharmonic Resonances in Mechanical Systems With Nonlinear Foundations
Abstract In the first part of this work an analysis is presented on the dynamics of a two degree of freedom nonlinear mechanical oscillator. The model consists of a rigid body which rests on a foundation with nonlinear stiffness. This body can exhibit both vertical and rocking motions, which are coupled through the nonlinearities only. In the present study, attention is focused on the response of the system under external harmonic excitation of the vertical translation only, leading to conditions of subharmonic resonance of order three. Also, the model parameters are chosen so that its two linear natural frequencies are almost identical (1:1 internal resonance). For this case, the method of multiple time scales is first applied and a set of four coupled odes is derived, governing the amplitudes and phases of approximate motions of the system. Then, determination of approximate periodic steady state response of the oscillator is reduced to solving a set of four nonlinear algebraic equations. It is shown that besides linear and nonlinear single-mode response, two-mode response is also possible, due to the internal resonance. In addition, the stability of the various single- and two-mode periodic responses of the system is analyzed. In the last part of the work, the analytical findings are verified and complemented by numerical results. The main interest lies on identifying the effect of system parameters on the existence and stability of the predicted motions. The results of this study reveal patterns of appearance of these motions, which provide valuable help in the efforts to eliminate them. Finally, direct integration of the original equations of motion reveals the existence of other more complex motions, which coexist with the analytically predicted motions within the frequency ranges of interest.