Coupled cantilever array with tunable on-site nonlinearity and observation of localized oscillations

A macro-mechanical cantilever array is newly proposed for experimental investigations of intrinsic localized mode (ILM). There has never reported such a macro-system which show ILMs mechanically. The array consists of cantilevers, electromagnets faced on the cantilevers, elastic rods for coupling between cantilevers, and a voice coil motor for external excitation. Nonlinearity appears in the magnetic interaction, that is, the restoring force of cantilever. Therefore it is tunable. In the array, ILMs are experimentally generated by the sinusoidal forced excitation. Observed ILMs are also identified in the model equation for the array.