Perpetual points in mechanical systems defined recently. Herein are used to seek specific types of solutions of N-degrees of freedom systems, and their significance in mechanics is discussed. In discrete linear mechanical systems, is proven, that the perpetual points are forming the perpetual manifolds and they are associated with rigid body motions, and these systems are called perpetual. The definition of perpetual manifolds herein is extended to the augmented perpetual manifolds. A theorem, defining the conditions of the external forces applied in an N-degrees of freedom system lead to a solution in the exact augmented perpetual manifold of rigid body motions, is proven. In this case, the motion by only one differential equation is described, therefore forms reduced-order modelling of the original equations of motion. Further on, a corollary is proven, that in the augmented perpetual manifolds for external harmonic force the system moves in dual mode as wave-particle. The developed theory is certified in three examples and the analytical solutions are in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations. The outcome of this research is significant in several sciences, in mathematics, in physics and in mechanical engineering. In mathematics, this theory is significant for deriving particular solutions of nonlinear systems of differential equations. In physics/mechanics, the existence of wave-particle motion of flexible mechanical systems is of substantial value. Finally in mechanical engineering, the theory in all mechanical structures can be applied, e.g. cars, aeroplanes, spaceships, boats etc. targeting only the rigid body motions.

This paper carries out modal analysis of a nonlinear periodic structure with cyclic symmetry. The nonlinear normal mode (NNM) theory is briefly described, and a computational algorithm for the NNM computation is presented. The results obtained on a simplified model of a bladed assembly show that this system possesses a very complicated structure of NNMs, including similar and nonsimilar NNMs, nonlocalized and localized NNMs, bifurcating and internally resonant NNMs. Modal interactions that occur without necessarily having commensurate natural frequencies in the underlying linear system are also discussed.

We provide numerical evidence of passive and broadband targeted energy transfer from a linear flexible beam under shock excitation to a local essentially nonlinear lightweight attachment that acts, in essence, as nonlinear energy sink-NES. It is shown that the NES absorbs shock energy in a one-way, irreversible fashion and dissipates this energy locally, without _spreading_ it back to the linear beam. Moreover, we show numerically that an appropriately designed and placed NES can passively absorb and locally dissipate a major portion of the shock energy of the beam, up to an optimal value of 87%. The implementation of the NES concept to the shock isolation of practical engineering structures and to other applications is discussed.2

In the presented paper the equations of motion of a rotating composite Timoshenko beam are derived by utilising the Hamilton principle. The nonclassical effects like material anisotropy, transverse shear and both primary and secondary cross-section warpings are taken into account in the analysis. As an extension of the other papers known to the authors a nonconstant rotating speed and an arbitrary beam's preset (pitch) angle are considered. It is shown that the resulting general equations of motion are coupled together and form a nonlinear system of PDEs. Two cases of an open and closed box-beam cross-section made of symmetric laminate are analysed in details. It is shown that considering different pitch angles there is a strong effect in coupling of flapwise bending with chordwise bending motions due to a centrifugal force. Moreover, a consequence of terms related to nonconstant rotating speed is presented. Therefore it is shown that both the variable rotating speed and nonzero pitch angle have significant impact on systems dynamics and need to be considered in modelling of rotating beams.

Abstract:The use of vibro-impact (VI) attachments as shock absorbers is studied. By considering different configurations of primary linear oscillators with VI attachments, the capacity of these attachments to passively absorb and dissipate significant portions of shock energy applied to the primary systems is investigated. Parametric studies are performed to determine the dependence of energy dissipation by the VI attachment in terms of its parameters. Moreover, non-linear shock spectra are used to demonstrate that appropriately designed VI attachments can significantly reduce the maximum levels of vibration of primary systems over wide frequency ranges. This is in contrast to the classical linear vibration absorber, whose action is narrowband. In addition, it is shown that VI attachments can significantly reduce or even completely eliminate resonances appearing in the linear shock spectra, thus providing strong, robust, and broadband shock protection to the primary structures to which they are attached.