A Generalized Ritz Method and Its Application to Certain Nonlinear System Problems

Using the Ritz method (or Principle of Harmonic Balance), equations relating amplitude and phase to system parameters and driving function parameters are developed for an equation of the form x + 2wcoog(i) + w4f(x) = A cos wt, where g and f are monotonically increasing. The object of the development is to show the analogy to the linear case, and hence to extend the students´ intuition for linear second-order systems to the above-mentioned class of nonlinear second-order systems.