Energy Transfer From High-to Low-Frequency Modes in a Flexible Structure via Modulation

An experimental study of the response of axially-symmetric (i.e., circular cross-section) cantilever beams to planar external excitations is presented. Because of the axial symmetry, one-to-one internal resonances occur at each natural frequency. These resonances cause the planar motions to lose stability and nonplanar (whirling) motions are observed. Under certain conditions, periodically-and chaotically-modulated motions may occur. In addition, when the beam is excited near one of its high natural frequencies, large first-mode responses accompanied by slow modulations of the amplitudes and phases of high-frequency modes are observed. This interaction between high-and low-frequency modes may be extremely dangerous because the amplitudes of the responses of the low-frequency modes can be very large compared with those of the directly excited high-frequency modes.