An Introduction to Nonlinearity
Mike Brennan (UNESP)
Bin Tang (Dalian University of Technology, China)
Gianluca Gatti (University of Calabria, Italy)
An Introduction to Nonlinearity
• Introduction
• Historical perspective
• Nonlinear stiffness
• Symmetry
• Asymmetry
• Nonlinear damping
• Conclusions
Dynamical System
Inertia force m
+
Damping force c
+
k
Stiffness force
=
Excitation force
Common stiffness nonlinearities
Common damping nonlinearities
Historical Perspective
Historical Perspective
Galileo Galilei, 1564–1642, studied the
pendulum. He noticed that the natural frequency of
oscillation was roughly independent of the amplitude
of oscillation
Christiaan Huygens, 1629–1695, patented the
pendulum clock in 1657. He discovered that wide
swings made the pendulum inaccurate because he
observed that the natural period was dependent on
the amplitude of motion, i.e. it was a nonlinear
system.
Historical Perspective
Robert Hooke, 1635–1703, is famous for
his law which gives the linear relationship
between the applied force and resulting
displacement of a linear spring.
Isaac Newton, 1643–1727, is of course,
famous for his three laws of motion.
Historical Perspective
John Bernoulli, 1667–1748, studied a
string in tension loaded with weights. He
determined that the natural frequency of a
system is equal to the square root of its
stiffness divided by its mass, n k m
Leonhard Euler, 1707–1783, was the first
person to write down the equation of motion of a
harmonically forced, undamped oscillator,
my ky F sin t . He was also the first person
to discover the phenomenon of resonance
Historical Perspective
Robert Hooke, 1678 F ky
9 years
Isaac Newton, 1687 F my
63 years
Leonhard Euler, 1750 my ky F sin t
Historical Perspective
Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1821–1894, was
the first person to include nonlinearity into the
equation of motion for a harmonically forced
undamped single degree-of-freedom oscillator. He
postulated that the eardrum behaved as an
asymmetric oscillator, such that the restoring force
was f k1 y k2 y which gave rise to additional
2
harmonics in the response for a tonal input.
John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh,
1842–1919, considered the free vibration of a
nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom in which the
force-deflection characteristic was symmetrical,
given by f k1 y k3 y 3
The Duffing Equation
my cy k1y k3 y 3 F cos t
Georg Duffing 1861-1944
The Duffing Equation:
Nonlinear Oscillators and their Behaviour
Editors:
Ivana Kovacic and Michael J. Brennan
Published in 2011
Nonlinear stiffness
Nonlinear Spring
k f
f stiffness
x
hardening
spring
x
linear
force
f softening
For a linear system spring
f kx
displacement
x
Symmetric Nonlinear Spring
Force-deflection
Fs k1 y k3 y 3
Non-dimensional
Fs y y 3
Fs Fs k1l y y d0 k d k1
2
3 0
d0 =original length of spring
Symmetric Nonlinear Spring
Fs y y 3
Fs y
Fs y y 3
Note symmetry
Asymmetric Nonlinear Spring
Force-deflection
Fs k1 y k2 y k3 y
2 3
Non-dimensional
Fs y y y
2 3
k2 d 0 k1
d0 =original length of spring
Asymmetric Nonlinear Spring
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
linear
0
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
Asymmetric Nonlinear Spring
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
linear
0
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
Asymmetric Nonlinear Spring
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
linear
0
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
Asymmetric Nonlinear Spring
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
linear
0
Note Asymmetry
Fs y y 2 y 3 Fs y y 2 y 3
Pendulum – softening stiffness
Stiffness Moment
d 2
ml 2 2 mgl sin M cos t
dt
3 5
sin ....
3! 5!
3
stiffness moment mgl
6
Softening
Pendulum – softening stiffness
1
0.8
k 2
1
0.6
klin 2
k
klin 0.4
k 2 4
1
0.2 klin 2 24
0
0 20 40 60 80 90
angle (degrees)
Pendulum – softening stiffness
30 60 120 170
Geometrically nonlinear spring
Force-deflection
d0
Fs 2ky 1
2
y d
2
Non-dimensional
d
Fs y 1 ,
y 1
2
Fs Fs 2kd yy d d do d
d 0 =original length of spring
Geometrically nonlinear spring
d0
Fs 2ky 1
y 2 d 2
which approximates to
Fs k1 y k3 y 3
k1 2k 1 d0 d k3 k d0 d 3
Geometrically nonlinear spring
– non-dimensional
d
Fs y 1 ,
y 2 1
which approximates to
Fs y y 3
1 d d 2
Geometrically nonlinear spring
– non-dimensional
approximation
actual
Geometrically nonlinear spring
– snap through
Fs
Geometrically nonlinear spring
– snap through
V V 2kd 2
Potential Energy
1
1 4
V 1 d y dy ,
2
2
V
Example of a snap-through system
.
Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Device
– snap through
.
Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Device
Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Device
– snap through
Positive Stiffness Negative Stiffness
Beam Magnets
Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Device
– snap through
2
Stiff vertical spring
1.8 Optimal vertical spring
Soft vertical spring
1.6
1.4
1.2
Force
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Deflection
Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Device
– snap through
5
4
3
potential energy 2
1
0
-1
-2
1.05
1
0.5
0.95
0
0.9
-0.5
0.85
d displacment
Vibration Isolation
fe
xt
m
kv c
xe
ft
Vibration Isolation
fe
kh kh xt
m
l
kv c
xe
ft
An Achievable Stiffness Characteristic
0.3
0.2
Normalised stiffness force
0.1
-0.1
-0.2
Low stiffness
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalised displacement
Bubble Mount
Very low stiffness
Static equilibrium
(natural position
frequency)
Large Deflection of Beams
Large deflection of beams
2w
M EI x 2 ,
3
w 2 2
1
x
Causes nonlinear effect
Softening
4w s 2 w 3 2 w 2 2 w
EI 4 A EI 2 2
f x, t
x x t 2
2 x x x
Large deflection of beams
-in-plane stiffness
w
2
w4 EA w 2 w
l 2
A 2 EI 4 Ts
t x dx 2 f ( x, t )
2l 0 x x
Causes nonlinear effect
Hardening
Large deflection of beams
-in-plane stiffness
w2
w 4
EA w 2 w
l 2
A 2 EI 4 Ts
t x dx 2 f ( x, t )
2l 0 x x
Assume simple supports and first mode only
x
x sin w x, t x q(t ) f x, t F x l 2 cos t
l
2
d q
so m 2 k1q k3q F cos t
3
dt
k1 = 1 Tsl 2
EI EI 2l
4 2 3
k3 EA 8l
4 3
Asymmetrical Systems
Bubble Mount
Bubble Mount
Asymmetry
stiffness k1 3k3 x 2
stiffness
5
4.5
3.5
softening hardening
3
2.5
1.5
1
0 0.2
hardening
0.4 0.6 0.8 1
hardening
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
displacement
Asymmetry
10
Symmetric system
Fs k1 y k3 y 3 5
Fs 0
-5
-10
-2 -1 0 1y 2
Asymmetry
10
Asymmetric system
5
Fs F0 k1 y k3 y 3
Fs
0
-5
-10
-2 -1 0 1 y 2
Asymmetry
10
Asymmetric system
5
Fs F0 k1 y k3 y 3
Fs
0
Fs kˆ1 z kˆ2 z 2 kˆ3 z 3 -5
-10
-2 -1 0 1 y 2
Asymmetric System - Cable
Mode shapes
Increasing tension
d 2q
m 2 k1q k2 q 2 k3q 3 F cos t
dx
Due to asymmetry
-softening effect
Nonlinear damping
Nonlinear damping
Nonlinear damping
Nonlinear damping
(a)
fe
Damping force
ch x 2
m
fd x
O a2 x2
c1
ch x
k For x / a 0.2
2
x
f d ch 2 x
a y a
ft
Damping coefficient is dependent
on the square of the amplitude
Summary
• Historical perspective
• Nonlinear stiffness
• Symmetry
• Asymmetry
• Nonlinear damping
