Experiments on nonlinear dynamic behavior of an oscillator with clearance and periodically time-varying parameters

A number of experiments on a physical system with clearance having combined parametric and external forcing excitation are presented The data demonstrate several nonlinear phenomena that exist in periodically excited oscillators subject to clearance at a contact interface. Jump discontinuities in forced response curves are shown to exist and subharmonic resonances which are formed by period-n (nT) motions with n greater than or equal to 2 are demonstrated. Long-period subharmonic motions with periods as long as nine times the excitation period are reported. Finally, several cases of measured chaotic motions are also illustrated through time-traces, phase portraits, Fourier spectra, and Poincare plots which form strange attractors.