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Experimental continuation encompasses a set of methods that combine control and continuation to obtain the full bifurcation diagram of a nonlinear system experimentally, including responses that would be unstable in the system without feedback control. Such control-based methods thus allow the experimenter to directly and exhaustively explore the dynamics of the system without the need for a good mathematical model. The objective of this paper is twofold, namely (i) to review and present the state-of-the-art methods in a unified manner and (ii) to introduce a novel experimental derivative-free arclength continuation procedure, termed arclength control-based continuation. These methods are also demonstrated and compared on an electronic Duffing oscillator and a clamped thin plate featuring geometrical nonlinearity. Finally, the current state of the art is reflected upon, and the challenges lying ahead for this growing field are discussed.

One unique feature of nonlinear dynamical systems is the existence of superharmonic and subharmonic resonances in addition to primary resonances. In this study, an effective vibration testing methodology is introduced for the experimental identification of these secondary resonances. The proposed method relies on phase-locked loop control combined with adaptive filters for online Fourier decomposition. To this end, the concept of a resonant phase lag is exploited to define the target phase lag to be followed during the experimental continuation process. The method is demonstrated using two systems featuring cubic nonlinearities, namely a numerical Duffing oscillator and a physical experiment comprising a clamped-clamped thin beam. The obtained results highlight that the control scheme can accurately characterize secondary resonances as well as track their backbone curves. A particularly salient feature of the developed algorithm is that, starting from the rest position, it facilitates an automatic and smooth dynamic state transfer toward one point of a subharmonic isolated branch, hence, inducing branch switching., Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures

The ultimate goal of this research proposal is the creation of a micro-optomechanical intelligence. The proposal centers on the development and investigation of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) arrays of coupled M/NEMS devices as platforms for the experimental study of nonlinear dynamics of high-dimensional systems. The potential of VLSI M/NEMS arrays to function as advanced sensors will be demonstrated through the novel idea of a MEMS EYE, an electronics-free platform that combines imaging and pattern recognition functionality.

An acoustic black hole (ABH) consists of a tapered structure whose thickness follows a power-law profile. When attached to a host structure, an ABH localizes and traps the vibrational energy, which can then be dissipated through, e.g., a damping layer. However, effective vibration mitigation is known to occur only above a cut-on frequency which is inversely proportional to the length of the tapered structure. In this context, the main thrust of this paper is to replace a mechanical ABH by a digital controller so as to create a so-called virtual acoustic black hole (VABH), thus, freeing the ABH from possible mechanical constraints (e.g., compactness, manufacturing and fatigue issues). The proposed VABH is first detailed theoretically. The salient features and performance of the VABH are then demonstrated both numerically and experimentally using a cantilever beam as a host structure. Eventually, it is shown that the VABH significantly enlarges the applicability of the concept of an ABH.

This paper revisits the resonant behavior of a harmonically-forced Duffing oscillator with a specific attention to phase resonance and to its relation with amplitude resonance. To this end, the different families of resonances, namely primary (1:1), superharmonic (k:1), subharmonic (1:{\nu}) and ultra-subharmonic (k:{\nu}) resonances are carefully studied using first and higher-order averaging. When the phase lag is calculated between the k-th harmonic of the displacement and the harmonic forcing, this study evidences that phase resonance occurs when the phase lag is equal to either {\pi}/2 (phase quadrature) or 3{\pi}/4{\nu}., Comment: 16 Pages, 8 figures

The stability of a piezoelectric structure controlled by a digital vibration absorber emulating a shunt circuit is investigated in this work. The formalism of feedback control theory is used to demonstrate that systems with a low electromechanical coupling are prone to delay-induced instabilities entailed by the sampling procedure of the digital unit. An explicit relation is derived between the effective electromechanical coupling factor and the maximum sampling period guaranteeing a stable controlled system. Since this sampling period may be impractically small, a simple modification procedure of the emulated admittance of the shunt circuit is proposed in order to counteract the effect of delays by anticipation. The theoretical developments are experimentally validated on a clamped-free piezoelectric beam.

This work presents a new approach to design an electrical network which, when coupled to a structure through an array of piezoelectric transducers, provides multimodal vibration mitigation. The characteristics of the network are specified in terms of modal properties. On the one hand, the electrical resonance frequencies are chosen to be close to those of the targeted set of structural modes. On the other hand, the electrical mode shapes are selected to maximize the electromechanical coupling between the mechanical and electrical modes while guaranteeing the passivity of the network. The effectiveness of this modal-based synthesis is demonstrated using a free-free beam and a fully clamped plate.

The resonances of forced dynamical systems occur when either the amplitude of the frequency response undergoes a local maximum (amplitude resonance) or phase lag quadrature takes places (phase resonance). This study focuses on the phase resonance of nonlinear mechanical systems subjected to single-point, single-harmonic excitation. In this context, the main contribution of this paper is to develop a computational framework which can predict the mode shapes and oscillation frequencies at phase resonance. The resulting nonlinear modes are termed phase resonance nonlinear modes (PRNMs). A key property of PRNMs is that, besides primary resonances, they can accurately characterize superharmonic, subharmonic and ultra-subharmonic resonances for which, as shall be shown in this paper, phase lags at resonance may be different from pi/2. The proposed developments are demonstrated using one- and two-degree-of-freedom systems featuring a cubic nonlinearity., Comment: 23 pages, 22 figures

In this paper, a new computational method for the purpose of multimodal vibration mitigation using multiple tuned mass dampers is proposed. Classically, the minimization of the maximum amplitude is carried out using direct $H_\infty$ optimization. However, as shall be shown in the paper, this approach is prone to being trapped in local minima, in view of the nonsmooth character of the problem at hand. This is why this paper presents an original alternative to this approach through norm-homotopy optimization. This approach, combined with an efficient technique to compute the structural response, is shown to outperform direct $H_\infty$ optimization in terms of speed and performance. Essentially, the outcome of the algorithm leads to the concept of all-equal-peak design for which all the controlled peaks are equal in amplitude. This unique design is new with respect to the existing body of knowledge., Comment: This is a new version of a preprint previously named "All-equal-peak design of multiple tuned mass dampers using norm-homotopy optimization"

We analyze isolated resonance curves (IRCs) in a single-degree-of-freedom system with nonlinear damping. The adopted procedure exploits singularity theory in conjunction with the harmonic balance method. The analysis unveils a geometrical connection between the topology of the damping force and IRCs. Specifically, we demonstrate that extremas and zeros of the damping force correspond to the appearance and merging of IRCs., Comment: Author preprint version - manuscript under review

In the present paper, a flexible and parsimonious model of the vibrations of nonlinear mechanical systems is introduced in the form of state-space equations. It is shown that the nonlinear model terms can be formed using a limited number of output measurements. A two-step identification procedure is derived for this grey-box model, integrating nonlinear subspace initialisation and maximum likelihood optimisation. The complete procedure is demonstrated on the Silverbox benchmark, which is an electrical mimicry of a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical system with one displacement-dependent nonlinearity., Comment: Presented at the 17th IFAC Symposium on System Identification SYSID 2015 - Beijing, China, 19-21 October 2015

Most studies tackling hysteresis identification in the technical literature follow white-box approaches, i.e. they rely on the assumption that measured data obey a specific hysteretic model. Such an assumption may be a hard requirement to handle in real applications, since hysteresis is a highly individualistic nonlinear behaviour. The present paper adopts a black-box approach based on nonlinear state-space models to identify hysteresis dynamics. This approach is shown to provide a general framework to hysteresis identification, featuring flexibility and parsimony of representation. Nonlinear model terms are constructed as a multivariate polynomial in the state variables, and parameter estimation is performed by minimising weighted least-squares cost functions. Technical issues, including the selection of the model order and the polynomial degree, are discussed, and model validation is achieved in both broadband and sine conditions. The study is carried out numerically by exploiting synthetic data generated via the Bouc-Wen equations.

This paper develops a principle of similarity for the design of a nonlinear absorber, the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber (NLTVA), attached to a nonlinear primary system. Specifically, for effective vibration mitigation, we show that the NLTVA should feature a nonlinearity possessing the same mathematical form as that of the primary system. A compact analytical formula for the nonlinear coefficient of the absorber is then derived. The formula, valid for any polynomial nonlinearity in the primary system, is found to depend only on the mass ratio and on the nonlinear coefficient of the primary system. When the primary system comprises several polynomial nonlinearities, we demonstrate that the NLTVA obeys a principle of additivity, i.e., each nonlinear coefficient can be calculated independently of the other nonlinear coefficients using the proposed formula.

The harmonic balance (HB) method is widely used in the literature for analyzing the periodic solutions of nonlinear mechanical systems. The objective of this paper is to exploit the method for bifurcation analysis, i.e., for the detection and tracking of bifurcations of nonlinear systems. To this end, an algorithm that combines the computation of the Floquet exponents with bordering techniques is developed. A new procedure for the tracking of Neimark-Sacker bifurcations that exploits the properties of eigenvalue derivatives is also proposed. The HB method is demonstrated using numerical experiments of a spacecraft structure that possesses a nonlinear vibration isolation device., Comment: Journal paper

The objective of the present study is to explore the connection between the nonlinear normal modes of an undamped and unforced nonlinear system and the isolated resonance curves that may appear in the damped response of the forced system. To this end, an energy balancing technique is used to predict the amplitude of the harmonic forcing that is necessary to excite a specific nonlinear normal mode. A cantilever beam with a nonlinear spring at its tip serves to illustrate the developments. The practical implications of isolated resonance curves are also discussed by computing the beam response to sine sweep excitations of increasing amplitudes., Comment: Journal paper

The nonlinear tuned vibration absorber (NLTVA) is a recently-developed nonlinear absorber which generalizes Den Hartog's equal peak method to nonlinear systems. If the purposeful introduction of nonlinearity can enhance system performance, it can also give rise to adverse dynamical phenomena, including detached resonance curves and quasiperiodic regimes of motion. Through the combination of numerical continuation of periodic solutions, bifurcation detection and tracking, and global analysis, the present study identifies boundaries in the NLTVA parameter space delimiting safe, unsafe and unacceptable operations. The sensitivity of these boundaries to uncertainty in the NLTVA parameters is also investigated., Comment: Journal paper

The objective of the present study is to mitigate, or even completely eliminate, the limit cycle oscillations in mechanical systems using a passive nonlinear absorber, termed the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber (NLTVA). An unconventional aspect of the NLTVA is that the mathematical form of its restoring force is not imposed a priori, as it is the case for most existing nonlinear absorbers. The NLTVA parameters are determined analytically using stability and bifurcation analyses, and the resulting design is validated using numerical continuation. The proposed developments are illustrated using a Van der Pol-Duffing primary system.

This study addresses the mitigation of a nonlinear resonance of a mechanical system. In view of the narrow bandwidth of the classical linear tuned vibration absorber, a nonlinear absorber, termed the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber (NLTVA), is introduced in this paper. An unconventional aspect of the NLTVA is that the mathematical form of its restoring force is tailored according to the nonlinear restoring force of the primary system. The NLTVA parameters are then determined using a nonlinear generalization of Den Hartog's equal-peak method. The mitigation of the resonant vibrations of a Duffing oscillator is considered to illustrate the proposed developments.

This paper explores the relationship that exists between nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) defined as invariant manifolds in phase space and the spectral expansion of the Koopman operator. Specifically, we demonstrate that NNMs correspond to zero level sets of specific eigenfunctions of the Koopman operator. Thanks to this direct connection, a new, global parametrization of the invariant manifolds is established. Unlike the classical parametrization using a pair of state-space variables, this parametrization remains valid whenever the invariant manifold undergoes folding, which extends the computation of NNMs to regimes of greater energy. The proposed ideas are illustrated using a two-degree-of-freedom system with cubic nonlinearity., Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures