Nonlinear dynamics of fractionally damped mechanical systems

Zusammenfassung

In this paper, we introduce a formulation of fractional constitutive equations for finite element analysis using the reformulated infinite state representation of fractional derivatives. Thereby, the fractional constitutive law is approximated by a high-dimensional set of ordinary differential and algebraic equations describing the relation of internal and external system states. The method is deduced for a three-dimensional linear viscoelastic continuum, for which the hydrostatic and deviatoric stress-strain relations are represented by a fractional Zener model. One- and two-dimensional finite elements are considered as benchmark problems with known closed form solutions in order to evaluate the performance of the scheme.

Zusammenfassung

In this paper, we introduce a generalization of Lyapunov’s direct method for dynamical systems with fractional damping. Hereto, we embed such systems within the fundamental theory of functional differential equations with infinite delay and use the associated stability concept and known theorems regarding Lyapunov functionals including a generalized invariance principle. The formulation of Lyapunov functionals in the case of fractional damping is derived from a mechanical interpretation of the fractional derivative in infinite state representation. The method is applied on a single degree-of-freedom oscillator first, and the developed Lyapunov functionals are subsequently generalized for the finite-dimensional case. This opens the way to a stability analysis of nonlinear (controlled) systems with fractional damping. An important result of the paper is the solution of a tracking control problem with fractional and nonlinear damping. For this problem, the classical concepts of convergence and incremental stability are generalized to systems with fractional-order derivatives of state variables. The application of the related method is illustrated on a fractionally damped two degree-of-freedom oscillator with regularized Coulomb friction and non-collocated control.

Zusammenfassung

In this paper, we develop a Lyapunov stability framework for fractionally damped mechanical systems. In particular, we study the asymptotic stability of a linear single degree-of-freedom oscillator with viscous and fractional damping. We prove that the total mechanical energy, including the stored energy in the fractional element, is a Lyapunov functional with which one can prove stability of the equilibrium. Furthermore, we develop a strict Lyapunov functional for asymptotic stability, thereby opening the way to a nonlinear stability analysis beyond an eigenvalue analysis. A key result of the paper is a Lyapunov stability condition for systems having negative viscous damping but a sufficient amount of positive fractional damping. This result forms the stepping stone to the study of Hopf bifurcations in fractionally damped mechanical systems. The theory is demonstrated on a stick-slip oscillator with Stribeck friction law leading to an effective negative viscous damping.

Zusammenfassung

In this paper, we propose a novel approach for the numerical solution of fractional-order ordinary differential equations. The method is based on the infinite state representation of the Caputo fractional differential operator, in which the entire history of the state of the system is considered for correct initialization. The infinite state representation contains an improper integral with respect to frequency, expressing the history dependence of the fractional derivative. The integral generally has a weakly singular kernel, which may lead to problems in numerical computations. A reformulation of the integral generates a kernel that decays to zero at both ends of the integration interval leading to better convergence properties of the related numerical scheme. We compare our method to other schemes by considering several benchmark problems.