On non-linear vibration analyses of continuous systems with quadratic and cubic non-linearities

This paper examines the validity of non-linear vibration analyses of continuous systems with quadratic and cubic non-linearities. As an example, we treat a hinged-hinged Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on a non-linear elastic foundation with distributed quadratic and cubic non-linearities, and investigate the primary (Omega approximate to omega(n)) and subharmonic (Omega approximate to 2 omega(n)) resonances, in which Omega and omega(n) are the driving and natural frequencies, respectively. The steady-state responses are found by using two different approaches. In the first approach, the method of multiple scales is applied directly to the governing equation that is a non-linear partial differential equation. In the second approach, we discretize the governing equation by using Galerkin's procedure, and then apply the shooting method to the obtained ordinary differential equations. In order to check the validity of the solutions obtained by the two approaches, they are compared with the solutions obtained numerically by the finite difference method. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.