skip to main content


Title: Analysis and Evaluation of Piecewise Linear Systems With Coulomb Friction Using a Hybrid Symbolic-Numeric Computational Method
A general formulation of piecewise linear systems with discontinuous force elements is provided in this paper. It has been demonstrated that this class of nonlinear systems is of great importance due to their ability to accurately model numerous scientific and engineering phenomena. Additionally, it is shown that this class of nonlinear systems can demonstrate a wide spectrum of nonlinear motions and in fact, the phenomenon of weak chaos is observed in a mechanical assembly for the first time.

Despite such importance, efficient methods for fast and accurate evaluation of piecewise linear systems’ responses are lacking and the methods of the literature are either incompatible, very slow, very inaccurate, or bear a combination of the aforementioned deficiencies. To overcome this shortcoming, a novel symbolic-numeric method is presented in this paper that is able to obtain the analytical response of piecewise linear systems with discontinuous elements in an efficient manner. Contrary to other efficient methods that are based on stationary steady state dynamics, this method will not experience failure upon the occurrence of complex motion and is able to capture the entirety of the dynamics.  more » « less

Award ID(s):
1902408
NSF-PAR ID:
10319036
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ASME 2021 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract In this paper, a new technique is presented for parametrically studying the steady-state dynamics of piecewise-linear nonsmooth oscillators. This new method can be used as an efficient computational tool for analyzing the nonlinear behavior of dynamic systems with piecewise-linear nonlinearity. The new technique modifies and generalizes the bilinear amplitude approximation method, which was created for analyzing proportionally damped structural systems, to more general systems governed by state-space models; thus, the applicability of the method is expanded to many engineering disciplines. The new method utilizes the analytical solutions of the linear subsystems of the nonsmooth oscillators and uses a numerical optimization tool to construct the nonlinear periodic response of the oscillators. The method is validated both numerically and experimentally in this work. The proposed computational framework is demonstrated on a mechanical oscillator with contacting elements and an analog circuit with nonlinear resistance to show its broad applicability. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Coulomb friction has an influence on the behavior of numerous mechanical systems. Coulomb friction systems or dry friction systems are nonlinear in nature. This nonlinear behavior requires complex and time-demanding analysis tools to capture the dynamics of these systems. Recently, efforts have been made to develop efficient analysis tools able to approximate the forced response of systems with dry friction. The objective of this paper is to introduce a methodology that assists in these efforts. In this method, the piecewise linear nonlinear response is separated into individual linear responses that are coupled together through compatibility equations. The new method is demonstrated on a number of systems of varying complexity. The results obtained by the new method are validated through the comparison with results obtained by time integration. The computational savings of the new method are also discussed. 
    more » « less
  3. In this paper, we study the optimal error estimates of the classical discontinuous Galerkin method for time-dependent 2-D hyperbolic equations using P k elements on uniform Cartesian meshes, and prove that the error in the L 2 norm achieves optimal ( k  + 1)th order convergence when upwind fluxes are used. For the linear constant coefficient case, the results hold true for arbitrary piecewise polynomials of degree k  ≥ 0. For variable coefficient and nonlinear cases, we give the proof for piecewise polynomials of degree k  = 0, 1, 2, 3 and k  = 2, 3, respectively, under the condition that the wind direction does not change. The theoretical results are verified by numerical examples. 
    more » « less
  4. null (Ed.)
    We investigate, both analytically and numerically, dispersive fractalisation and quantisation of solutions to periodic linear and nonlinear Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou systems. When subject to periodic boundary conditions and discontinuous initial conditions, e.g., a step function, both the linearised and nonlinear continuum models for FPUT exhibit fractal solution profiles at irrational times (as determined by the coefficients and the length of the interval) and quantised profiles (piecewise constant or perturbations thereof) at rational times. We observe a similar effect in the linearised FPUT chain at times t where these models have validity, namely t = O( h −2 ), where h is proportional to the intermass spacing or, equivalently, the reciprocal of the number of masses. For nonlinear periodic FPUT systems, our numerical results suggest a somewhat similar behaviour in the presence of small nonlinearities, which disappears as the nonlinear force increases in magnitude. However, these phenomena are manifested on very long time intervals, posing a severe challenge for numerical integration as the number of masses increases. Even with the high-order splitting methods used here, our numerical investigations are limited to nonlinear FPUT chains with a smaller number of masses than would be needed to resolve this question unambiguously. 
    more » « less
  5. In this paper, we discuss the stability and error estimates of the fully discrete schemes for linear conservation laws, which consists of an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian discontinuous Galerkin method in space and explicit total variation diminishing Runge–Kutta (TVD-RK) methods up to third order accuracy in time. The scaling arguments and the standard energy analysis are the key techniques used in our work. We present a rigorous proof to obtain stability for the three fully discrete schemes under suitable CFL conditions. With the help of the reference cell, the error equations are easy to establish and we derive the quasi-optimal error estimates in space and optimal convergence rates in time. For the Euler-forward scheme with piecewise constant elements, the second order TVD-RK method with piecewise linear elements and the third order TVD-RK scheme with polynomials of any order, the usual CFL condition is required, while for other cases, stronger time step restrictions are needed for the results to hold true. More precisely, the Euler-forward scheme needs τ ≤ ρh 2 and the second order TVD-RK scheme needs $ \tau \le \rho {h}^{\frac{4}{3}}$ for higher order polynomials in space, where τ and h are the time and maximum space step, respectively, and ρ is a positive constant independent of τ and h . 
    more » « less