Nonlinear dynamics of higher-dimensional system for an axially accelerating viscoelastic beam with in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations

In this paper, the bifurcations and chaotic motions of higher-dimensional nonlinear systems are investigated for the nonplanar nonlinear vibrations of an axially accelerating moving viscoelastic beam. The Kelvin viscoelastic model is chosen to describe the viscoelastic property of the beam material. Firstly, the nonlinear governing equations of nonplanar motion for an axially accelerating moving viscoelastic beam are established by using the generalized Hamilton’s principle for the first time. Then, based on the Galerkin’s discretization, the governing equations of nonplanar motion are simplified to a six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system and a three-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system with parametric excitation, respectively. At last, numerical simulations, including the Poincare map, phase portrait and Lyapunov exponents are used to analyze the complex nonlinear dynamic behaviors of the axially accelerating moving viscoelastic beam. The bifurcation diagrams for the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements via the mean axial velocity, the amplitude of velocity fluctuation and the frequency of velocity fluctuation are respectively presented when other parameters are fixed. The Lyapunov exponents are calculated to identify the existence of the chaotic motions. From the numerical results, it is indicated that the periodic, quasi-periodic and chaotic motions occur for the nonplanar nonlinear vibrations of the axially accelerating moving viscoelastic beam. Observing the in-plane nonlinear vibrations of the axially accelerating moving viscoelastic beam from the numerical results, it is found that the nonlinear responses of the six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system are much different from that of the three-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system when all parameters are same.