An experimental nonlinear oscillator subject to two-frequency excitation

This paper describes some interesting nonlinear behavior in the response of an experimental mechanical oscillator. The focusis on the characterization of nonlinear response (subharmonic, quasiperiodic and chaotic) of a discrete mechanical oscillator subject to two-frequency excitation. A variety of analysis tools are illustrated, including power spectra, time-lag embedding, dimension,and Poincaré sectioning. A key element in this study is whether the frequencies are commensurate or not. An excellent agreement is shown between experimental data and the output from numerical simulation.