Chaotic dynamics of fractional viscoelastic PET membranes subjected to combined harmonic and variable axial loads

Abstract

Nonlinear chaotic vibrations of fractional viscoelastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) membranes subjected to combined harmonic and variable axial loads is investigated in this paper. Axial tension variations arise from the machine disturbances of the processing line of roll-to-roll manufacturing. The viscoelasticity of PET membrane is characterized by the fractional Kelvin-Voigt model. Based on the Hamilton principle, the equation of motion of the membrane is established with the consideration of geometric nonlinearity, and the Galerkin procedure is employed to discretize the resulting governing equation. For the solution, the finite difference method is utilized in conjunction with the Caputo-type fractional derivative to reliably estimate the nonlinear response of fractional viscoelastic PET membrane. The reliability of this numerical strategy is proved by the available results of the fractional system and comparison examples. The influence of system parameters on chaotic behaviors is described by the bifurcation diagram and the detailed responses at the set bifurcation parameters. The fractional model together with the analysis provides a fundamental framework for the control of viscoelastic substrates in flexible manufacturing.