Experiments and Simulations in Travelling Wave and Non-Stationary Nonlinear Vibrations of Circular Cylindrical Shells

The nonlinear vibrations of a water-filled circular cylindrical shell subjected to radial harmonic excitation in the spectral neighborhood of the lowest resonances are investigated numerically and experimentally by using a seamless aluminum sample. The experimental boundary conditions are close to a simply supported circular cylindrical shell. Modal analysis reveals the presence of predominantly radial driven and companion modes in the low frequency range, implying the existence of a traveling wave phenomenon in the nonlinear field. Experimental studies previously carried out on cylindrical shells did not permit the complete identification of the characteristic traveling wave response and of its non-stationary nature. The added mass of the internal quiescent, incompressible and inviscid fluid results in an increase of the weakly softening behavior of the shell, as expected. The minimization of the added mass due to the excitation system and the negligible entity of the geometric imperfections of the shell allow the appearance of an exact one-to-one internal resonance between driven and companion modes. This internal resonance gives rise to a travelling wave response around the shell circumference and non-stationary, quasi-periodic vibrations, which are experimentally verified by means of stepped-sine testing with feedback control of the excitation amplitude. The same phenomenon is observed in the nonlinear response obtained numerically. The traveling wave is measured by means of state-of-the-art laser Doppler vibrometry applied to multiple points on the structure simultaneously. Previous studies present in literature did not show if this vibration can be chaotic for relatively small vibration amplitudes. Chaos is here observed in the frequency region where the travelling wave response is present for vibrations amplitudes smaller than the thickness of the shell. The relevant nonlinear reduced order model of the shell is based on the Novozhilov nonlinear shell theory retaining in-plane inertia and on an expansion of the displacements in terms of a properly chosen base of linear modes. An energy approach is used to obtain the nonlinear equations of motion, which are numerically studied (i) by using a code based on arc-length continuation and collocation method that allows bifurcation analysis in case of stationary vibrations, (ii) by a continuation code based on direct integration and Poincaré maps, which also evaluates the maximum Lyapunov exponent in case of non-stationary vibrations. The comparison of experimental and numerical results is particularly satisfactory throughout the various excitation amplitude levels considered. The two methods concur in describing the progressive development of the companion mode into a fully developed traveling wave and the subsequent appearance of quasi-periodic and eventually chaotic vibrations.