Dynamics of Mechanical Systems – Prof.

Stefano Bruni

Non-linear vibrations

1 Introduction
Aim of this lesson is to study the motion of a non-linear mechanical system, considering the effect
of the non-linear terms in the equation of motion. The example treated is a 1-degree of freedom
(d.o.f.) vibrating system with a cubic non-linearity, i.e. a positional force proportional to the third
power of the system’s independent coordinate.
The specific tasks of the lesson are:
i) to show an example of a technique suitable for finding an approximated solution for non-
linear equations of motion, known under the name of the perturbation method;
ii) describe some typical features in the behaviour of a non-linear system. In more detail, it will
be shown that, for a non-linear vibrating system:
a. the free motion is periodic but not harmonic, with fundamental frequency depending
on the amplitude of oscillation;
b. the stationary response of the system to a harmonic forcing effect having cirvular
frequency  is a periodic but not harmonic motion showing one harmonic
component synchronous with the forcing effect (i.e. having circular frequency )
plus some super-harmonics (i.e. terms having circular frequency n with n an
integer number);
c. again considering the stationary response of the system to harmonic excitation, the
amplitude of the synchronous component of the system’s response may happen with
more than one possible amplitude and may show the jump phenomenon, i.e. a large
variation of amplitude produced by a small change in the frequency of the exciting
force.

2 Non-linear equation of motion.

We consider an un-damped 1-d.o.f. system subject to a force depending on the third power of the
system’s independent coordinate x:

mx  kx  bx 3  F ( t ) (2.1)
an example of a system whose motion is governed by an equation in the form (2.1) is a slider with
mass connected to a non-linear spring generating a force F which is related with the spring
deformation  by the following relationship:

F  k  b 3 (2.2)

we note here that in many cases elastic bodies show a non-linear relationship between deformation
and the elastic force: this is of then due to geometric effects, i.e. for sufficiently large displacements
the deformed configuration of the body differs from the un-deformed configuration, resulting in a
non-linear dependence of the force on deformation. As an example, if we consider a coil spring
being subjected to an elongation, the pitch of the helicoid will be increasing for increasing
deformation and the spring will become progressively stiffer. It is clear, however, that a non-linear
force-deformation relationship, i.e. in the form (2.2), can be approximated by a linearized one I the
form:
F  k  (2.3)
provided that the amplitude of the deformation applied is sufficiently small.
In Eq. (2.2), the force generated by the spring is larger than the linear component only when b>0, in
this case the cubic non-linearity is said to be of the hardening type. If otherwise b<0 the force

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Dynamics of Mechanical Systems – Prof. Stefano Bruni

generated by the non-linear spring is lower than the linear component only and the cubic non-
linearity is said to be of the softening type.
Figure 2-1 shows the force-deformation relationship for a hardening non-linear spring (blue solid
line), a softening non-linear spring (blue solid line) and for a linear spring (dashed line).

4000
F

3000

2000

1000

l
-1000

-2000

-3000

-4000
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10

Figure 2-1: Force-deformation relationship for a non-linear hardening, non-linear softening and for a linear spring.

We also note that equation (2.1) can also be considered as a non-linear approximation of the
equation of motion for the simple pendulum:
m 2 x  mg sin  x   F (t ) (2.4)
using the third order power expansion of the sine function around x=0:
sin  x   x  1
3!
x3 (2.5)

3 Solution for the free motion.

We first aim at finding a solution for the free motion of the system, i.e. the case when F=0:

mx  kx  bx 3  0 (3.1)
First, we rewrite Eq. (3.1.) as follows:

x   02 x  x 3  0 (3.2)
with:
k b
 02  ;   (3.3)
m m
We note that parameter  0 is the un-damped circular frequency of the linear system described by
equation (3.1) in the case b=0. The solution of Eq. (3.2) depends on the independent variable time t
and on parameter  representing the cubic non-linearity:
x  x t ,  (3.4)

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Assuming  to be ‘small’ in some sense, we may expand solution (3.4) in a power series of  and
truncate the series to a finite number of terms:

x t ,   x 0  x1   2 x 2   (3.5)
It follows that any function f(x) of the system’s independent coordinate may be approximated as:

 
f  x   f x 0  x1   2 x 2    f  x 0  
df
dx x
 
x1   2 x 2   
1 d2 f
2 dx 2
  2
x1   2 x 2   
0 x0
(3.6)
 
df 2  df 1 d2 f 2
 f x0   x1    x2  x1   
dx x  dx x 2 dx 2 
0
 0 x0 
For the special case of our interest (cubic non-linearity) we have:

df d2 f
f x   x 3 ;  3x 2 ;  6x (3.7)
dx dx 2
It follows that the non-linear term in Eq. (3.2) is approximated by:
 
x 3  x03  3x02 x1   2 3 x02 x 2  3 x0 x12   (3.8)
Replacing (3.5) and (3.8) in (3.2) we get:

x0  x1   2 x2     02 x0   02 x1   2 02 x 2    x03  3 2 x02 x1    0 (3.9)

In order for Eq. (3.9) to be satisfied, the sum of all coefficients of the terms having the same power
of  must be zero. It follows:
x0   02 x 0  0
x1   02 x1   x 03
(3.10)
x2   02 x 2  3 x 02 x1

Equations (3.10) are a set of second-order linear differential equations. These equations can be
solved recursively, i.e. determining first the zero-order component of the solution x0(t) from the first
equation, replacing this solution in the second equation and solving for x1(t) and so on. This
solution technique is known as the perturbation method.
We consider the following initial conditions for our problem:
x t  0   A
(3.11)
x t  0   0
From the theory of linear systems, the solution of the first equation (3.10) is in the form:
x 0  C1 cos  0 t   C 2 sin 0 t  (3.12)
Considering the initial conditions (3.11) the solution becomes:
x 0  A cos  0 t  (3.13)
We now replace (3.13) in the second equation (3.10), to find the second term x1(t) in the solution. In
doing so, we use the following relationship:

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1
cos 3    3 cos    cos 3  (3.14)
4
so the second equation in (3.10) becomes:
3 3 1
x1   02 x1   A cos  0 t   A 3 cos 3 0 t  (3.15)
4 4
We notice this equation features two ‘apparent’ forcing effects, the first one representing a resonant
excitation, i.e. an exciting term with the system’s natural frequency. This term is known as the
secular term in Eq. (3.15). Because the system is not damped, the response to this resonating
excitation would lead to un-bounded increasing amplitude of vibration for the system.
This is however non-physical, as the system is only subject to conservative forces and therefore the
conservation of the total mechanical energy applies, so that at any time the sum of the kinetic and
potential energy of the system must be finite and equal the elastic potential energy conferred to the
system at time t=0 by applying the initial displacement described by (3.11).
Actually, the reason why we ended up with a non-physical solution to our problem is the underlying
assumption that the motion is periodic with circular frequency  0 , which follows from the fact that
all linear equations (3.10) have  0 as the natural frequency.
We therefore remove this assumption and we denote by  the actual fundamental frequency of the
motion. This parameter will also depend on parameter  and can be expanded as follows:

   0  1   2 2   (3.16)
Taking the second power of (3.16) we get:

 
 2   02  2 01   2 12  2 0 2     02   1   2 2 (3.17)

with 1, 2 ... the coefficients in the power series expansion of 2 as a function of  .
We use once more the perturbation technique, considering the actual expression of the fundamental
frequency (3.16) and the resulting expression for 2 (3.17). For the sake of brevity, we will confine
ourselves here to the first order expansion of the solution in power series of  .
From (3.17) truncated to the first order term we have:

 02   2   1 (3.18)
Replacing (3.18) and (3.5) in (3.2) we get:

   
x0  x1   2  1 x0    2  1 x1  x03  3 2 x02 x1  0 (3.19)

and, neglecting second order terms in  :

x0  x1   2 x0  1 x0   2 x1  x03  0 (3.20)

Finally, by separately equating to zero the 0-order and first-order terms in  we get:
x0   2 x 0  0
(3.21)
x1   2 x1   1 x 0  x 03

Considering the initial conditions (3.11), the solution of the first equation (3.21) is:
x 0  A cos  t  (3.22)
Replacing (3.22) in the second equation (3.21) and considering (3.14) we get:

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3 3 1
x1   2 x1   1 A cos  t   A cos  t   A 3 cos 3 t  (3.23)
4 4
that can be rewritten as:
 3  1
x1   2 x1    1 A  A 3  cos t   A 3 cos 3t  (3.24)
 4  4
In (3.24), the first term at the right end side of the equation is the secular term. As already
discussed, the secular term leads to an expansive vibration which is not consistent with the
conservative nature of the vibration studied here. Therefore, we set to zero this term by prescribing:
3 3
1 A  A 0 (3.25)
4
Under the above condition, the solution of Eq.(3.24) is:
1
x1  x1g  x1 p  C1 cos t   C 2 sint   A 3 cos 3t  (3.26)
32 2

Because the initial conditions (3.1) are already satisfied by the zero-order tem (3.22), we consider
the following initial conditions to specify the solution (3.26):
x1 t  0   0
(3.27)
x1 t  0   0
Hence, we get:
1
C1   A3 ; C2  0 (3.28)
32 2

Replacing (3.28) in (3.26) we get:

1 1
x1   A 3 cos t   A 3 cos 3t  (3.29)
32 2
32 2

Finally, based on (3.5), (3.22) and (3.29) we obtain the following approximated solution ofr the free
motion of the non-linear system:
 1  1
x( t )  x 0  x1  A1   A 2  cos t    A 3 cos 3t  (3.30)
 32 2
 32 2

Comment 3.1:
Eq. (3.30) shows that the free motion of the non-linear system is periodic but not harmonic, as
happens for a 1-d.o.f. linear system.
Comment 3.2:
From (3.25) we have:
3 2
1  A (3.31)
4
replacing (3.31) in (3.18) we get:
3 2
 2   02   1   02   A (3.32)
4
this result shows that the fundamental circular frequency  of the periodic motion depends on the
amplitude of oscillation A. For a system exhibiting a hardening-type non-linearity, this circular

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frequency increases for increasing amplitude of vibration, whereas for a system exhibiting a
softening-type non-linearity the opposite happens.

4 Motion of the system subjected to a harmonic force

We now consider the motion of the system in presence of a harmonic force having circular
frequency . Eq. (2.1) can be written as:
F
x   02 x  x 3  0 cos t  (4.1)
m
We look for a solution of (4.1) under the following assumptions:
1. The circular frequency  of the force applied on the system is close to the natural circular
frequency of the linearized system  0 , so that the following power series expansion is
possible:

   0  1   2 2  
 
(4.2)
 2
  02  2 01   2 12  2 0 2     02   1   2 2  
F0
2. The ratio is small, so that it can be written as:
m
F0
 f 0 (4.3)
m
Under these assumptions (4.1) becomes:

x   02 x  x 3  f 0 cos t  (4.4)

Using again the perturbation technique, and only considering first order term we get::
x  x 0  x1
x 3  x 03  3x 02 x1 (4.5)
 2   02   1
Replacing (4.5) in (4.4) we get:

   
x0  x1   2  1 x0    2  1 x1  x03  3 2 x02 x1  f 0 cos t  (4.6)

and, after re-arranging and neglecting terms proportional to the second power of  :

x0  x1   2 x0  1 x0   2 x1  x03  f 0 cos t  (4.7)

Next, we separately equate to zero the zero-order and first-order terms in  :

x0   2 x 0  0
(4.8)
x1   2 x1   1 x 0  x 03  f 0 cos t 

Considering the usual initial conditions(3.11) the solution of the first equation (4.8) is:
x 0  A cos t  (4.9)
Replacing (4.9) in the second equation (4.8) and considering (3.14) we get:

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 3  1
x1   2 x1    1 A  A 3  f 0  cos t   A 3 cos 3t  (4.10)
 4  4
In this equation, the first term at the right hand side is the secular term, already discussed in the
study of the free motion of the system. In order to eliminate this term we set:
3 3
1 A  A  f0  0 (4.11)
4
After removal of the secular term, considering the initial conditions (3.27), the solution of (4.10) is:
1 1
x1   A 3 cos t   A 3 cos 3t  (4.12)
32 2
32 2

Finally, based on (4.5), (4.9) e (4.12) we obtain the following approximated solution for the motion
of the system:
 1  1
x( t )  x 0  x1  A1   A 2  cos t    A 3 cos 3t  (4.13)
 32 2
 32 2

Comment 4.1:
A linear system excited by a harmonic force having circular frequency  shows a stationary
response consisting of a harmonic motion with the same circular frequency as the forcing effect.
Based on (4.13) we note that otherwise the response of a non-linear system to a harmonic force
includes, besides a harmonic term synchronous with the forcing effect , other harmonic motion
components occurring at circular frequencies that are integer multiples of . These terms are called
super-harmonics. For the non-linear system considered here, on account of the non-linearity being
related to an odd power of the system’s independent coordinate x, the super-harmonics occurring in
the motion of the system correspond to odd multiples of the forcing frequency . Actually, in
(4.13) we only see the first super-harmonic (3xbecause of the truncation of all power series
expansions to the first order terms. By considering higher order terms, other super-harmonic terms
corresponding to odd multiples of  would be found.

We now aim at investigating the relationship between the amplitude A of the oscillation and the
circular frequency  of the forcing effect. From (4.11) we get:
3 2 f0
1  A  (4.14)
4 A
and, replacing (4.14) in the third equation (4.5):
3 2 f
 2   02   1   02   A  0 (4.15)
4 A
We study (4.15) considering three different cases:

Case 1: f0=0 =0

This case represents the free motion (f0=0) of a linear oscillator (=0). In this case, (4.15) reduces
to:
  0 (4.16)
and the motion of the system becomes:

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x t   A cos  0 t  (4.17)
which is the standard harmonic motion of the linear, un-damped oscillator. Equation (4.17) shows
that the circular frequency of the motion in this case is  0 regardless the amplitude of motion.

Cas3 2: f0=0 ≠0

This case represents the free motion (f0=0) for the non-linear system (≠0). In this case, (4.15)
reduces to:
3 2
 2   02   A (4.18)
4
which is the same as (3.32) and defines the relationship between amplitude and frequency of motion
for the free motion of the non-linear system.

Case 3: f0≠0 ≠0

This case considers the forced motion of the non-linear system. Equation (4.15) can be rewritten as:

 
A  2   02  f 0  
3 3
4
A (4.19)

For this equation, we can find solutions using a graphic procedure by searching the points of
intersection of the cubic curve representing the right hand side of the equation with the line
 
representing the left hand side for different values of the angular coefficient  2  02 .
Figure 4-1 shows the solutions obtained for some values of the forcing frequency :
- for  <  0 the angular coefficient of the line is negative, and we get one single solution,
denoted by 1. This solution is reported with the same label in the  -A diagram shown in
Figure 4-2;
- for  =  0 the angular coefficient of the line is zero; again, we get one single solution,
denoted by 2 and also shown in Figure 4-2;
- for  >  0 we may have three possible cases:
o if the angular coefficient of the line is ‘weakly positive0, we still have one single
solution, denoted as 3 in Figure 4-1 and;
o for increasing forcing frequency , we get to a point when the line in Figure 4-1
becomes tangent to the cubic line in the third quadrant. In this case, we have three
solutions, one for positive amplitude denoted as 4 and two coinciding solutions for
negative amplitude denoted as 4’;
o increasing further the forcing frequency  we obtain three distinct solutions, one
with positive amplitude denoted as 5, a secondo ne with small negative amplitude
denoted as 5’ and one with larger (in absolute value) negative amplitude, denoted as
5”.

The whole set of solutions corresponding to continuously increasing the forcing frequency  is then
represented by two curve branches: the first one connecting points 1-2-3-4-5, the second one
connecting points 5’-4’-5”. Note that the solutions of (3.32) / (4.18), i.e. the A -  couples
representing the free motion of the non-linear system are represented in Figure 4-2 by the dashed
line. This line is called the spine of the resonance diagram for the non-linear system. As already
mentioned, for a system exhibiting a hardening non-linearity the spine bends to the right, whereas
for a system exhibiting a softening-type non-linearity the spine bends to the left.
An alternative representation of the amplitude-frequency relationship is provided in Figure 4-3,
where the absolute value of the amplitude |A| is shown instead of the amplitude with its sign.

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Comment 3.2:
The diagram in Figure 4-3 looks similar to the Bode diagram of the modulus of the FRF for a linear
system, with the important difference that for a linear un-damped system a vertical asymptote is
obtained at the resonance frequency  0 , whereas for a non-linear system this is replaced by a
curved spine bending on the left or on the right, depending on the type of non-linearity considered.
It shall be pointed out, however, that for a linear system the principle of superposition applies, and
therefore the FRF diagram can be used to define the response of the system to a forcing effect
having any arbitrary amplitude. For the non-linear system, instead, the diagram shown in Figure 4-3
is univocally defined for a given amplitude of the forcing effect.

Comment 4.3:
Figure 4-3 shows that in a range of forcing frequency , three distinct values of the amplitude of
vibration may take place. It is actually possible to show that the branch of the diagram
corresponding to the intermediate amplitude is an unstable solution, so that if the motion of the
system is initialised at that amplitude level, following any small perturbation the motion of the
system will be ‘attracted’ either by the solution with larger amplitude or by the solution with
smaller amplitude.

Comment 4.4:
If we consider the system to be lightly damped, instead of the diagram in Figure 4-3 we obtain a
diagram of the type show in Figure 4-4. In that figure, the intermediate branch is plotted in dashed
line to remind this corresponds to an unstable solution.
Due to the presence of damping, the upper branch of the curve becomes limited to a well specified
frequency range, up to the point labelled as B in the diagram. If we assume the system is excited by
a harmonic force with slowly increasing frequency starting at a value   0 , the amplitude of
vibration will be increasing while increasing the forcing frequency, following the upper branch of
the curve till point B is reached. For a further slight increase of the forcing frequency, the amplitude
of vibration will be suddenly decreased and the solution will move discontinuously to point C in the
lower branch. A further increase of the forcing frequency will move the solution along the lower
branch, cf. point D.
The phenomenon of abrupt change of amplitude occurring for a small change of frequency from
point B to point C is called a jump, and is typical of non-linear systems.
We finally consider the case when the system is initially excited with a forcing frequency for which
only the lower branch of the diagram exists, say point D in the figure. By slowly decreasing the
forcing frequency, the solution moves along the lower branch until point E is reached. Since the
lower branch does not exist at lower frequency, a further slight decrease in the forcing frequency
produces a jump from point E to point F. When point F is reached, a further decrease of the forcing
frequency will move the solution down along the upper branch, cf. point A.

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4’ 5’

5”

Figure 4-1: Graphic solution of Equation (4.19).

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Figure 4-2: A=A() diagram representing the solutions of Equation (4.19).

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Dynamics of Mechanical Systems – Prof. Stefano Bruni

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Figure 4-3: |A|=|A| () diagram representing the solutions of Equation (4.19).

Figure 4-4: |A|=|A| ()diagram for a lightly damped system

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