Suppression of hysteresis in a forced van der Pol-Duffing oscillator

This paper examines the suppression of hysteresis in a forced nonlinear self-sustained oscillator near the fundamental resonance. The suppression is studied by applying a rapid forcing on the oscillator. Analytical treatment based on perturbation analysis is performed to capture the entrainment zone, the quasiperiodic modulation domain and the hysteresis area as well. The analysis leads to a strategy for the suppression of hysteresis occurring between 1:1 frequency-locked motion and quasiperiodic response. This hysteresis suppression causes the disappearance of nonlinear effects leading to a smooth transition between the quasiperiodic and the frequency-locked responses. Specifically, it appears that a rapid forcing introduces additional apparent nonlinear stiffness which can effectively suppress hysteresis in a certain range of the rapid excitation frequency. This work was motivated by the important issue of controlling and eliminating hysteresis often undesirable in mechanical systems, in general, and in application to microscale devices, especially. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.