Vibrations of rod–rigid element systems with a local non-linearity

The paper deals with vibrations of systems consisting of non-coaxial rods connected by rigid bodies and of a local non-linearity. The motion of the rods is described by classical wave equation and the solution of the d’Alembert type is applied in the study. This leads to solving ordinary differential equations with a retarded argument. The local non-linearity is described through irrational functions and in a special case it includes the polynomial of the third degree. Detailed considerations are given for a system consisting of three rods and two rigid bodies. In numerical analysis non-linear effects are discussed. The results concerning harmonic vibrations are presented for the local non-linearities having characteristics of a soft type as well as of a hard type.