Under certain conditions, an oscillator can enter a stable regime when submitted to an external harmonic force whose frequency is far from the natural frequency of the oscillator. This may happen when the external force acts on the oscillator in a way which depends on the oscillator's spatial position. This phenomenon is called “argumental oscillation”. In this paper, six argumental oscillators are described and modeled, and experimental results are given and compared to numerical simulations based on the models. A polar Van der Pol representation, with embedded time indications, is used to allow a precise comparison. The pendulums are modeled as Duffing oscillators. The six models are based on various pendulums excited by spatially localized magnetic-field sources consisting of wire coils. Each pendulum receives the excitation via a steel element, or a permanent magnet, fitted at the tip of the pendulum's rod. The spatial localization induces another nonlinearity besides the Duffing nonlinearity. A control system allowing a real-time Van der Pol representation of the motion is presented. Attractors are brought out from experimental results.
