Analysis of free non-linear vibrations of a viscoelastic plate under the conditions of different internal resonances

Non-linear free damped vibrations of a rectangular plate described by three non-linear differential equations are considered when the plate is being under the conditions of the internal resonance one-to-one, and the internal additive or difference combinational resonances. Viscous properties of the system are described by the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative of the order smaller than unit. The functions of the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements are determined in terms of eigenfunctions of linear vibrations with the further utilization of the method of multiple scales, in so doing the amplitude functions are expanded into power series in terms of the small parameter and depend on different time scales, but the fractional derivative is represented as a fractional power of the differentiation operator. It is assumed that the order of the damping coefficient depends on the character of the vibratory process and takes on the magnitude of the amplitudes’ order. The time-dependence of the amplitudes in the form of incomplete integrals of the first kind is obtained. Using the constructed solutions, the influence of viscosity on the energy exchange mechanism is analyzed which is intrinsic to free vibrations of different structures being under the conditions of the internal resonance. It is shown that each mode is characterized by its damping coefficient which is connected with the natural frequency of this mode by the exponential relationship with a negative fractional exponent. It is shown that viscosity may have a twofold effect on the system: a destabilizing influence producing unsteady energy exchange, and a stabilizing influence resulting in damping of the energy exchange mechanism.