Resonant frequency calculations using a hybrid perturbation-Galerkin technique

A two-step hybrid perturbation Galerkin technique is applied to the problem of determining the resonant frequencies of one or several degree of freedom nonlinear systems involving a parameter. In one step, the Lindstedt-Poincare method is used to determine perturbation solutions which are formally valid about one or more special values of the parameter (e.g., for large or small values of the parameter). In step two, a subset of the perturbation coordinate functions determined in step one is used in Galerkin type approximation. The technique is illustrated for several one degree of freedom systems, including the Duffing and van der Pol oscillators, as well as for the compound pendulum. For all of the examples considered, it is shown that the frequencies obtained by the hybrid technique using only a few terms from the perturbation solutions are significantly more accurate than the perturbation results on which they are based, and they compare very well with frequencies obtained by purely numerical methods.