Nonlinear Vibration of Parametrically Excited, Viscoelastic, Axially Moving Strings

The dynamic response of parametrically excited, axially moving viscoelastic belts is investigated in this paper. Results are compared to previous work in which the partial, not material, time derivative was used in the viscoelastic constitutive relation. It is found that this added “steady state” dissipation greatly affects both the existence and amplitudes of nontrivial limit cycles. The discrepancy increases with increasing translation speed. To limit the comparison to the additional physics included in the model, the solution procedure of Zhang and Zu [1,2], who applied the method of multiple scales to the governing equations prior to discretization, is retained. The excitation here is provided by physically stretching the belt. In this case, viscoelastic behavior and excitation frequency also affects the amplitude of the tension fluctuations.