Resonant-triad instability of a pre-stressed incompressible elastic plate (Q1910626)

The dynamic stability properties of a pre-stressed incompressible elastic plate are studied with respect to perturbations in the form of one near-neutral mode and two non-neutral modes interacting resonantly. The prestresses are assumed to be an allround pressure. With a novel derivation procedure, the evolution equations governing the scaled amplitudes of the three modes are \(d^2A_1/d \tau^2= c_0A_1-c_1 |A_1 |^2A_1-i\) \(\gamma_1 \overline A_2 \overline A_3\), \(dA_2/d \tau= \gamma_2 \overline A_1 \overline A_3\) and \(dA_3/d \tau= \gamma_3 \overline A_1 \overline A_2\), where a bar denotes complex conjugation, \(\tau\) is a slow time variable, and \(c_0,c_1\), \(\gamma_1, \gamma_2, \gamma_3\) are real constants. These equations are solved exactly for the special case when \(A_2\) and \(A_3\) have constant amplitudes but time-dependent phases. New post-buckling states, which do not exist when the perturbation is monochromatic, are found. It has been shown that two non-neutral modes can interact resonantly to produce a much larger near-neutral mode, and, in particular, two \(O(\varepsilon)\) non-neutral modes may induce a much larger \(O(\varepsilon^{ 2/3})\) oscillation or static post-buckling state. In this sense, resonant-triad interaction is a powerful mechanism in producing high levels of strain and stress in a pre-stressed elastic plate.