Dynamic bifurcation and sensitivity analysis of non-linear non-planar vibrations of geometrically imperfect cantilevered beams

The non-linear non-planar dynamic responses of a near-square cantilevered (a special case of inextensional beams) geometrically imperfect (i.e., slightly curved) and perfect beam under harmonic primary resonant base excitation with a one-to-one internal resonance is investigated. The sensitivity of limit-cycles predicted by the perfect beam model to small geometric imperfections is analyzed and the importance of taking into account the small geometric imperfections is investigated. This was carried out by assuming two different geometric imperfection shapes, fixing the corresponding frequency detuning parameters and continuation of sample limit-cycles versus the imperfection parameter. The branches of periodic responses for perfect and imperfect (i.e. small geometric imperfection) beams are determined and compared. It is shown that branches of periodic solutions associated with similar limit-cycles of the imperfect and perfect beams have a frequency shift with respect to each other and may undergo different bifurcations which results in different dynamic responses. Furthermore, the imperfect beam model predicts more dynamic attractors than the perfect one. Also, it is shown that depending on the magnitude of geometric imperfection, some of the attractors predicted by the perfect beam model may collapse. Ignoring the small geometric imperfections and applying the perfect beam model is shown to contribute to erroneous results.