Nonlinear normal modes and their bifurcations for an inertially coupled nonlinear conservative system (Q2499503)

Nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) have been introduced by \textit{R. Rosenberg} and coworkers [see e.g. J. Appl. Mech. 26, 377--385 (1959; Zbl 0087.17502)]. For an undamped discrete or continuous mechanical system NNM can be defined as a synchronous periodic motion in which all material points of the system reach their extreme values and pass through zero simultaneously. Thus, these motions can be viewed as natural extensions of normal modes of vibrations in linear vibration theory, and are a special class of periodic motions. In this paper the authors study the NNMs of a two-degree-of-freedom autonomous conservative spring-mass-pendulum system. The system exhibits inertial coupling between two generalized coordinates and quadratic (even) nonlinearities. Several general methods introduced in the literature to calculate 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, the authors develop an efficient numerical methodology to calculate the exact NNMs. This method is further used to analyze the bificurations of NNMs, when near 1:2 and 1:1 resonances arise in two linear modes. These results are obtained by perturbation techniques and are compared with those predicted by exact numerical solutions. Using the method of multiple time scales, the authors obtain not only the bificuration diagrams but also the low-energy global dynamics of the system. The numerical method gives reliable results for the high-energy case. 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. The paper gives a nice overview of the subject of NNMs.