Intense energy transfer and superharmonic resonance in a system of two coupled oscillators

Abstract

The paper presents the analytic study of energy exchange in a system of coupled nonlinear oscillators subject to superharmonic resonance. The attention is given to complete irreversible energy transfer that occurs in a system with definite initial conditions corresponding to a so-called limiting phase trajectory (LPT). We show that the energy imparted in the system is partitioned among the principal and superharmonic modes but energy exchange can be due to superharmonic oscillations. Using the LPT concept, we construct approximate analytic solutions describing intense irreversible energy transfer in a harmonically excited Duffing oscillator and a system of two nonlinearly coupled oscillators. Numerical simulations confirm the accuracy of the analytic approximations.