Asymptotic solutions for Mathieu instability under random parametric excitation and nonlinear damping

A theoretical analysis is presented of the response of a lightly and nonlinearly damped mass–spring system in which the spring constant contains a small randomly fluctuating component. Damping is represented by a combination of linear and nonlinear power-law damping. System response to some initial disturbance at time zero is described by a sinusoidal wave whose amplitude and phase vary slowly and randomly with time. Leading order formulations for the equations of amplitude and phase are obtained through the application of methods of stochastic averaging of Stratonovich. The equations of amplitude and phase are given in two versions: Fokker–Planck equations for transient probability and Langevin equations for response in the time-domain. Solutions in closed-form of these equations are derived by methods of mathematical and theoretical physics involving higher transcendental functions. They are used to study the behavior of system response for ever increasing time applying asymptotic methods of analysis such as the method of steepest descent or saddle-point method. It is found that system behavior depends on the power density of the parametric excitation at twice the natural frequency and on the magnitude and form of the damping. Depending on these parameters different types of system behavior are found to be possible: response which decays exponentially to zero, response which leads to a stationary state of random behavior, and response which can either grow unboundedly or which approaches zero in a finite time.

► We consider a mass–spring system with combined linear and power-law damping.
► Response to a disturbance at time zero is a sinusoidal wave.
► Amplitude and phase vary randomly and are non-stationary.
► Their evolution is described analytically in probability and time-domain.
► Depending on system parameters unbounded growth, decay and stationary values occur.