Multi-mechanical frequency locking mechanism and robustness analysis of MDOF coupled resonator

Mechanical frequency locking can overcome the dependence of peak frequency on the driving amplitude and improve the frequency stability in nonlinear resonant systems. Most research focuses on the single mechanical frequency locking phenomenon, but few studies focus on multi-mechanical frequency locking phenomenon. In this study, the multi-mechanical frequency locking mechanism and robustness analysis of the peak frequency is proposed through multi-mode coupled vibration. Firstly, a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) coupled resonator consisting of a low-frequency resonant element and multiple high-frequency resonant elements is designed, and the vibration energy of the resonant system can be transferred from the low-frequency resonant element driven by a harmonic excitation to the high-frequency resonant elements via the 1:3 internal resonance. Through perturbation and bifurcation analysis, the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of MDOF coupled resonator are analyzed in detail. It is found that the peak frequency of the low-frequency resonant element can remain stable in multiple drive intervals, leading to multi-mechanical frequency locking phenomenon. Then, a 3-DOF magnetic coupled resonant system is experimentally designed to demonstrate the physical conditions and influencing factors of the double mechanical frequency locking phenomenon. Typically, introducing external disturbances, the frequency locking is experimentally demonstrated to improve the robustness of peak frequency. The experimental results show that when the mechanical frequency locking phenomenon occurs, the influence of small external noise disturbance on the peak frequency can be ignored, which greatly improves the frequency stability of nonlinear resonant systems.