Nonlinear dynamics of two harmonically excited elastic structures with impact interaction

• The dynamics of two elastic structures with impact interaction is investigated.
• Discontinuity map is introduced to analyze the stability of period solution.
• Experiment is set up to explore the phenomena and verify the numerical results.

In this paper, non-smooth dynamics of two elastic beams excited by harmonic force with impact interaction is studied through analyses, simulations, and experiments. A two degree-of-freedom vibro-impact model is improved by applying the Galerkin approach and Newton's impact law for the two cantilever beams with impact interaction. Numerical analysis is taken to investigate the vibro-impact motions of cantilever beams excited by harmonic force. The l-adding periodic motions and k=1/1, k=2/2, k=3/4, and k=4/4 type of stable periodic motions of the impacted cantilever beam are presented. Poincaré map is established and the Floquet multipliers of the periodic motions are obtained through semi-analytical method to determine the stability of the motions near the bifurcation point. Through associated experiments, typical bifurcations and chaos of the non-smooth system are examined, which are in good agreement with numerical results.