On the role of different nonlinear damping forms in the dynamic behavior of the generalized Beck’s column

Abstract

The influence of internal and external nonlinear damping forms on the dynamics of a generalized Beck’s column, namely a visco-elastic cantilever beam, subjected to conservative and non-conservative loads at its free end, is investigated. A variational principle provides the equations of motion of the system, which are properly recast into an integro-differential form. The linear stability analysis of the system is then carried out and bifurcation points are detected in the space of parameters associated with the conservative and non-conservative loads. Starting from Hopf’s bifurcation points, a post-critical analysis, based on the Method of Multiple Scales is directly performed on the continuous system, avoiding any a-priori discretization. This method provides the bifurcation equations whose analysis reveals the double nature of nonlinear damping, which can be beneficial or detrimental in terms of stable or unstable bifurcated equilibria. It is found that both the internal and external forms of nonlinear damping can turn a supercritical instability of the system into a subcritical one, thus revealing another destabilizing effect of damping, beyond the very well-known one occurring in the linear field. Numerical simulations, grounded on a Galerkin discretization of the original system, confirm the analytical findings.