Abstract

The thermo-mechanical nonlinear vibrations and stability of a hinged-hinged axially moving beam, additionally supported by a nonlinear spring-mass support are examined via two numerical techniques. The system is subjected to a transverse harmonic excitation force as well as a thermal loading. Hamilton's principle is employed to derive the equations of motion; it is discretized into a multi-degree-freedom system by means of the Galerkin method. The steady state resonant response of the system for both cases with and without an internal resonance between the first two modes is examined via the pseudo-arclength continuation technique. In the second method, direct time integration is employed to construct bifurcation diagrams of Poincaré maps of the system.