On the Dynamics of Large Systems With Localized Nonlinearities

Abstract

In this paper, a certain class of dynamical systems is discussed, which can be decomposed into a large linear subsystem and one or more nonlinear subsystems. For this class of nonlinear systems the dynamic behavior is represented in the time domain by means of an integral equation. A simple numerical procedure for the solution of this integral equation is given. It is also shown how the decomposition of the system can be used in measuring the frequency response of the large linear subsystem, without actually separating it from the nonlinear subsystems. An elastostatic analogy is used to illustrate the ideas and a numerical example is given for a dynamic system.