Non-linear resonances in the forced responses of plates. I - Symmetric responses of circular plates
The dynamic analogue of the von Karman equations is used to study the symmetric response of a circular plate to a harmonic excitation when the frequency of the excitation is near one of the natural frequencies. It is shown that, in general, when there is no internal resonance (i.e., the natural frequencies are not commensurable), only the mode having a frequency near that of the excitation is strongly excited (i.e., is needed to represent the response in the first approximation). A clamped, circular plate is used as a numerical example to show that, when there is an internal resonance, more than one of the modes involved in this resonance can be strongly excited; moreover, when more than one mode is strongly excited, the lower modes can dominate the response, even when the frequency of the excitation is near that of the highest mode. This possibility was not revealed by any of the earlier studies which were based on the same governing equations.