Calculation of Nonlinear Systems Under Narrow Band Excitation Using Equivalent Linearization and Path Continuation

Abstract

Turbomachines experience a wide range of different types of excitation during operation. On the structural mechanics side, periodic or even harmonic excitations are usually assumed. For this type of excitation there are a variety of methods, both for linear and nonlinear systems. Stochastic excitation, whether in the form of Gaussian white noise or narrow band excitation, is rarely considered. As in the deterministic case, the calculations of the vibrational behavior due to stochastic excitations are even more complicated by nonlinearities, which can either be unintentionally present in the system or can be used intentionally for vibration mitigation. Regardless the origin of the nonlinearity, there are some methods in the literature, which are suitable for the calculation of the vibration response of nonlinear systems under random excitation. In this paper, the method of equivalent linearization is used to determine a linear equivalent system, whose response can be calculated instead of the one of the nonlinear system. The method is applied to different multi-degree of freedom nonlinear systems that experience narrow band random excitation, including an academic turbine blade model. In order to identify multiple and possibly ambiguous solutions, an efficient procedure is shown to integrate the mentioned method into a path continuation scheme. With this approach, it is possible to track jump phenomena or the influence of parameter variations even in case of narrow band excitation. The results of the performed calculations are the stochastic moments, i.e. mean value and variance.