On the interaction of the responses at the resonance frequencies of a nonlinear two degrees-of-freedom system

This paper describes the dynamic behaviour of a coupled system which includes a nonlinear hardening system driven harmonically by a shaker. The shaker is modelled as a linear single degree-of-freedom system and the nonlinear system under test is modelled as a hardening Duffing oscillator. The mass of the nonlinear system is much less than the moving mass of the shaker and thus the nonlinear system has little effect on the shaker dynamics. The nonlinearity is due to the geometric configuration consisting of a mass suspended on four springs, which incline as they are extended. Following experimental validation, the model is used to explore the dynamic behaviour of the system under a range of different conditions. Of particular interest is the situation when the linear natural frequency of the nonlinear system is less than the natural frequency of the shaker such that the frequency response curve of the nonlinear system bends to higher frequencies and thus interacts with the resonance frequency of the shaker. It is found that for some values of the system parameters a complicated frequency response curve for the nonlinear system can occur; closed detached curves can appear as a part of the overall amplitude-frequency response. These detached curves can lie outside or inside the main resonance curve, and a physical explanation for their occurrence is given.