Higher accuracy analytical approximations to a nonlinear oscillator with discontinuity by He's homotopy perturbation method

Abstract

He's homotopy perturbation method is used to calculate higher-order approximate periodic solutions of a nonlinear oscillator with discontinuity for which the elastic force term is proportional to sgn(x). We find He's homotopy perturbation method works very well for the whole range of initial amplitudes, and the excellent agreement of the approximate frequencies and periodic solutions with the exact ones has been demonstrated and discussed. Only one iteration leads to high accuracy of the solutions with a maximal relative error for the approximate period of less than 1.56% for all values of oscillation amplitude, while this relative error is 0.30% for the second iteration and as low as 0.057% when the third-order approximation is considered. Comparison of the result obtained using this method with those obtained by different harmonic balance methods reveals that He's homotopy perturbation method is very effective and convenient.