STEP FUNCTION RESPONSE OF NONLINEAR SPRING MASS SYSTEMS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE STATIC DEFLECTION

Abstract

In this paper the effect ofstatic-deflection on the step function respoiise of a non-linear spring mass system is investigated. The maximum displacement of the system is obtained by integrating she equation of motion srraight away. An approximate method of determining the period of oscillation is considered and compared with the exact values, that can be obtained for some special cases of restoring force characteristics. The above analysis reveals that the static deflection has a prefound efect on both the peak displacement and the period of oscillation of the non-linear system.