Experimental Study on Free Vibratory Behavior of Nonlinear Structure

The basic behavior of free vibratory nonlinear system is investigated in this work. The main approach was to reveal the order of fitting necessary to properly approximate the actual behavior of a nonlinear mechanical system. Tests were performed in an experimental setup subjected to geometric hardening nonlinearities. The investigation showed that, it is essential to approximate the nonlinearity correctly. Low order approximation can result in large errors in the predicted amplitudes. The nonlinear static stiffness characteristics was measured and fit with polynomial describing function. The free vibratory response was deviated from the one calculated by cubic fitting. The presented higher order approximation of the amplitude-frequency parametric relation is revealed so that, in this particular example, seventh degree approximation is sufficiently closer to the experienced behavior. The analytical solution including the first and second order internal resonances were checked and compared with continuation results of the backbone curve