Analytical estimates of the effect of nonlinear damping in some nonlinear oscillators

This paper reports on the effect of nonlinear damping on certain nonlinear oscillators, where analytical estimates provided by the Melnikov theory are obtained. We assume general nonlinear damping terms proportional to the power of velocity. General and useful expressions for the nonlinearly damped Duffing oscillator and for the nonlinearly damped simple pendulum are computed. They provide the critical parameters in terms of the damping coefficient and damping exponent, that is, the power of the velocity, for which complicated behavior is expected. We also consider generalized nonlinear damped systems, which may contain several nonlinear damping terms. Using the idea of Melnikov equivalence, we show that the effect of nonlinear dissipation can be equivalent to a linearly damped nonlinear oscillator with a modified damping coefficient.