Characterizing the nonlinear behavior of a pseudoelastic oscillator via the wavelet transform

Abstract

The nonlinear dynamics of a shape memory oscillator (SMO) subjected to an ideal or nonideal excitation is studied. The restoring force of the oscillator is provided by a shape memory device (SMD), described by a thermomechanical model capable of reproducing the hysteretic behavior via the evolution of a suitable internal variable. Due to nonlinearities in the model, the SMO can exhibit periodic or non-periodic behaviors. The effects of the external sources on the response of SMO are studied through the scalogram analysis of continuous wavelet transform by using a new measure, called the Scale index (Benitez R, Bolos VJ and Ramirez ME. A wavelet-based tool for studying non-periodicity. Comput Math Appl 2010; 60: 634–641). Numerical results show that the Scale index can successfully detect the behavior of the system when the signal is periodic or nonperiodic, and distinguish between them in a way consistent with the indications provided by the alternative 0-1 test.