On the Nonlinear Mode-Coupling in Ultra Precision Manufacturing Machines: Experimental and Analytical Analyses

Recent studies in passively-isolated systems have shown that mode coupling is desirable for best vibration suppression, thus refuting the long-standing rule of mode decoupling. However, these studies have ignored the non-linearities in the isolators. In this work, we consider stiffness nonlinearity from pneumatic isolators and study the nonlinear free undamped vibrations of a passively-isolated ultra-precision manufacturing (UPM) machine. Experimental analysis is conducted to guide the mathematical formulation. The system comprises linearly and nonlinearly coupled in-plane horizontal and rotational motion of the UPM machine with quadratic nonlinear stiffness from the isolators. We present closed-form expressions using the method of multiple scales for two cases viz. the non-resonant case and the bounded internal resonance case. We validate our theoretical findings through direct numerical simulations. For the non-resonant case, we show that the system behaves similar to a linear system. However, for the nearly internal resonance case, we demonstrate strong energy exchange between the modes stemming from nonlinear mode coupling. We further study the effect of nonlinear mode coupling on the vibration isolation performance and demonstrate that mode coupling is not always desirable.