Zi Qiang Lang

Output frequency response function of nonlinear Volterra systems

An expression for the output frequency response function (OFRF), which defines the explicit analytical relationship between the output spectrum and the system parameters, is derived for nonlinear systems which can be described by a polynomial form differential equation model. An effective algorithm is developed to determine the OFRF directly from system simulation or experimental data. Simulation studies demonstrate the significance of the OFRF concept, and verify the effectiveness of the algorithm which evaluates the OFRF numerically. These new results provide an important basis for the analytical study and design of a wide class of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain.

Polynomial Chirplet Transform With Application to Instantaneous Frequency Estimation

In this paper, a new time-frequency analysis method known as the polynomial chirplet transform (PCT) is developed by extending the conventional chirplet transform (CT). By using a polynomial function instead of the linear chirp kernel in the CT, the PCT can produce a time-frequency distribution with excellent concentration for a wide range of signals with a continuous instantaneous frequency (IF). In addition, an effective IF estimation algorithm is proposed based on the PCT, and the effectiveness of this algorithm is validated by applying it to estimate the IF of a signal with a nonlinear chirp component and seriously contaminated by a Gaussian noise and a vibration signal collected from a rotor test rig.

The parametric characteristic of frequency response functions for nonlinear systems

The characteristic of the frequency response functions of nonlinear systems can be revealed and analyzed by analyzing of the parametric characteristics of these functions. To achieve these objectives, a new operator is defined, and several fundamental and important results about the parametric characteristics of the frequency response functions of nonlinear systems are developed. These theoretical results provide a significant and novel insight into the frequency domain characteristics of nonlinear systems and circumvent a large amount of complicated integral and symbolic calculations which have previously been required to perform nonlinear system frequency domain analysis. Several new results for the analysis and synthesis of nonlinear systems are also developed. Examples are included to illustrate potential applications of the new results.

An investigation into the characteristics of non-linear frequency response functions. Part 1: Understanding the higher dimensional frequency spaces

The characteristics of generalized frequency response functions (GFRFs) of non-linear systems in higher dimensional space are investigated using a combination of graphical and symbolic decomposition techniques. It is shown how a systematic analysis can be achieved for a wide class of non-linear systems in the frequency domain using the proposed methods. The paper is divided into two parts. In Part 1, the concepts of input and output frequency subdomains are introduced to give insight into the relationship between one dimensional and multi-dimensional frequency spaces. The visualization of both magnitude and phase responses of third order generalized frequency response functions is presented for the first time. In Part 2 symbolic expansion techniques are introduced and new methods are developed to analyse the properties of generalized frequency response functions of non-linear systems described by the NARMAX class of models. Case studies are included in Part 2 to illustrate the application of the new methods.

New bound characteristics of NARX model in the frequency domain

New results about the bound characteristics of both the generalized frequency response functions (GFRFs) and the output frequency response for the NARX (Non-linear AutoRegressive model with eXogenous input) model are established. It is shown that the magnitudes of the GFRFs and the system output spectrum can all be bounded by a polynomial function of the magnitude bound of the first order GFRF, and the coefficients of the polynomial are functions of the NARX model parameters. These new bound characteristics of the NARX model provide an important insight into the relationship between the model parameters and the magnitudes of the system frequency response functions, reveal the effect of the model parameters on the stability of the NARX model to a certain extent, and provide a useful technique for the magnitude based analysis of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain, for example, evaluation of the truncation error in a volterra series expression of non-linear systems and the highest order needed in the volterra series approximation. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Nonlinear influence in the frequency domain: Alternating series

The nonlinear influence on system output spectrum is studied for a class of nonlinear systems which have Volterra series expansion. It is shown that under certain conditions the system output spectrum can be expressed in an alternating series with respect to some model parameters which define system nonlinearities. The magnitude of the system output spectrum can therefore be suppressed by exploiting the properties of alternating series. Sufficient (and necessary) conditions in which the output spectrum can be cast into an alternating series are studied. These results reveal a novel frequency-domain insight into the nonlinear influence on a system, and provide a new method for the analysis and design of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain. Examples are given to illustrate the results.

A bound for the Magnitude Characteristics of Nonlinear Output Frequency Response Functions: Part 1: Analysis and Computation

A bound for the magnitude frequency domain characteristics associated with the outputs of a wide class of nonlinear systems is derived as a relatively simple function of the generalized frequency response functions and properties of the system inputs. It is shown how the practical computation of the new bound can be easily performed for nonlinear systems with finite but arbitrary order nonlinearities and worked examples are included. The paper is divided into two parts. In Part 1, an expression for the output magnitude bound is derived, properties of the result are discussed and general procedures for the practical computation of the bound are developed. In Part 2 the practical computations associated with applying the bound to the polynomial nonlinear autoregressive model with exogenous input are discussed.

Mapping from parametric characteristics to generalized frequency response functions of non-linear systems

Based on the parametric characteristic of the nth-order generalized frequency response function (GFRF) for non-linear systems described by a non-linear differential equation (NDE) model, a mapping function from the parametric characteristics to the GFRFs is established, by which the nth-order GFRF can be directly written into a more straightforward and meaningful form in terms of the first order GFRF, i.e., an n-degree polynomial function of the first order GFRF. The new expression has no recursive relationship between different order GFRFs, and demonstrates some new properties of the GFRFs which can explicitly unveil the linear and non-linear factors included in the GFRFs, and reveal clearly the relationship between the nth-order GFRF and its parametric characteristic, as well as the relationship between the nth-order GFRF and the first order GFRF. The new results provide a novel and useful insight into the frequency domain analysis and design of non-linear systems based on the GFRFs. Several examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.

Non-linear output frequency response functions for multi-input non-linear Volterra systems

The concept of non-linear output frequency response functions (NOFRFs) is extended to the non-linear systems that can be described by a multi-input Volterra series model. A new algorithm is also developed to determine the output frequency range of non-linear systems from the frequency range of the inputs. These results allow the concept of NOFRFs to be applied to a wide range of engineering systems. The phenomenon of the energy transfer in a two degree of freedom non-linear system is studied using the new concepts to demonstrate the significance of the new results.

Vibration isolation using nonlinear damping implemented by a feedback-controlled MR damper

The main problem of using a conventional linear damper on a vibration isolation system is that the reduction of the resonant peak in many cases inevitably results in the degradation of the high-frequency transmissibility. Instead of using active control methods which normally depend on the model of the controlled plant and where unmodelled dynamics may induce stability concerns, recent studies have revealed that optimal vibration isolation over a wide frequency range can be achieved by using nonlinear damping. The present study is concerned with the realization of the ideal nonlinear damping characteristic using a feedback-controlled MR damper. Both simulation and experimental studies are conducted to demonstrate the advantages of the simple but effective vibration control strategy. This research work has significant implications for the effective use of MR dampers in the vibration control of a wide range of engineering systems. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)