Experimental investigation of colored noise in stochastic resonance of a bistable beam

• We present an experimental study of a bistable beam excited by colored noise.
• Analytical methods for underdamped systems are compared with experimental results.
• Analytical methods are adapted to take into account the modal mass of the system.
• An alternative approach is proposed to adjust analytical methods for colored noise.

This paper describes an experimental investigation of stochastic resonance in a bistable, composite beam excited by colored noise. Experimental results for average up-crossing period, spectral power amplification (SPA), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are compared with analytical methods for underdamped systems. These analytical methods include expressions developed from Kramers, Melnikov, and two-state theory. The effect of a modal mass on the analytical expressions is explored. Finally, an alternative approach for calculating the effect of a colored noise spectrum on the SPA and SNR of underdamped systems is proposed.