A perspective on conditional spectrum-based determination of response statistics of nonlinear systems

This work focuses on determining the stochastic response properties, in the frequency domain, of a general class of nonlinear systems with polynomial nonlinearities. Specifically, the results are presented in terms of the stationary power spectral densities of the system's displacement and velocity. This is pursued by revisiting the conditional power spectrum concept, with the assumption that the response process is both ergodic and pseudo-harmonic and characterized by an amplitude, and a phase. A theoretical elucidation of an existing formula for the conditional spectrum is attempted. In particular, this concept is interpreted in conjunction with the time averaging approximation made in the definition of the stationary probability density function of a response amplitude quantity, associated with the original nonlinear system. It is shown that a proper definition of the stationary probability density of the response amplitude, along with a reasonable treatment of the distribution over the frequency domain of the amplitude contribution, lead to an improved approximation of the stationary response power spectral density. The treatment involves the averaging of a population of surrogate spectral densities of stationary random responses conforming with the system responses associated with individual values of the amplitudes of the responses. The semi-analytical results have been quite favourably juxtaposed with a large suite of à propos Monte Carlo simulations, both in terms of the shape and of the range of the involved germane frequencies, even for strongly nonlinear systems.