Non-Linear vibrations and chaos in harmonically excited rectangular plates with one-to-one internal resonance

Abstract

Nonlinear flexural vibrations of a rectangular plate with uniform stretching are studied for the case when it is harmonically excited with forces acting normal to the midplane of the plate. The physical phenomena of interest here arise when the plate has two distinct linear modes of vibration with nearly the same natural frequency. It is shown that, depending on the spatial distribution of the external forces, the plate can undergo harmonic motions either in one of the two individual modes or in a mixed-mode. Stable single-mode and mixed-mode solutions can also coexist over a wide range in the amplitudes and frequency of excitation. For low damping levels, the presence of Hopf bifurcations in the mixed-mode response leads to complicated amplitude-modulated dynamics including period doubling bifurcations, chaos, coexistence of multiple chaotic motions, and crisis, whereby the chaotic attractors suddenly disappear and the plate resumes small amplitude harmonic motions in a single-mode. Numerical results are presented specifically for 1 : 1 resonance in the (1, 2) and (3, 1) plate modes.