A fast continuation scheme for accurate tracing of nonlinear oscillator frequency response functions

A new algorithm is proposed to combine the split-frequency harmonic balance method (SF-HBM) with arc-length continuation (ALC) for accurate tracing of the frequency response of oscillators with non-expansible nonlinearities. ALC is incorporated into the SF-HBM in a two-stage procedure: Stage I involves finding a reasonably accurate response frequency and solution using a relatively large number of low-frequency harmonics. This step is achieved using the SF-HBM in conjunction with ALC. Stage II uses the SF-HBM to obtain a very accurate solution at the frequency obtained in Stage I. To guarantee rapid path tracing, the frequency axis is appropriately subdivided. This gives high chance of success in finding a globally optimum set of harmonic coefficients. When approaching a turning point however, arc-lengths are adaptively reduced to obtain a very accurate solution. The combined procedure is tested on three hardening stiffness examples: a Duffing model; an oscillator with non-expansible stiffness and single harmonic forcing; and an oscillator with non-expansible stiffness and multiple-harmonic forcing. The results show that for non-expansible nonlinearities and multiple-harmonic forcing, the proposed algorithm is capable of tracing-out frequency response functions with high accuracy and efficiency.