Temperature Effects on Dynamic Properties of Suspended Cables Subjected to Dual Harmonic Excitations

Abstract

The paper aims at studying the influences of temperature on the suspended cables’ dynamical behaviors subjected to dual harmonic excitations in thermal environments. Significantly, the quadratic nonlinearity and the corresponding secondary resonances are considered. By introducing a tension variation factor, the nonlinear vibration equations of motion could be obtained based on the condensation model. By using Galerkin’s procedure, the continuous model of the nonlinear system is reduced to a set of infinite models with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. By using the multiple scales method, the resultant reduced model is solved and the stability analysis is also presented in two simultaneous resonance cases. Nonlinear dynamical behaviors with thermal effects are presented using bifurcation diagrams, time-history curves, phase portraits, frequency spectrums, and Poincaré sections. The numerical results show that thermal effects induce different scenarios. The sensitivities of linear (natural frequency) and nonlinear (quadratic and cubic) coefficients to temperature variations are different. The temperature may increase or decrease the response amplitudes depending on the excitation amplitude and the sag-to-span ratio. The inflection point is shifted and exhibited at a smaller or larger excitation amplitude in thermal environments. The resonant range between two Pitchfork bifurcations seems to be reduced when the temperature is decreasing. The response amplitude is very sensitive to temperature, and even an opposite spring behavior may be exhibited due to warming/cooling conditions. However, the periodic motions seem independent of temperature variations.