Abstract:

The trivial equilibrium of a two-degree-of-freedom autonomous system may become unstable via a Hopf bifurcation of multiplicity two and give rise to oscillatory bifurcating solutions, due to presence of a time delay in the linear and nonlinear terms. The effect of external excitations on the dynamic behaviour of the corresponding non-autonomous system, after the Hopf bifurcation, is investigated based on the behaviour of solutions to the four-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations. The interaction between the Hopf bifurcating solutions and the high level excitations may induce a non-resonant or secondary resonance response, depending on the ratio of the frequency of bifurcating periodic motion to the frequency of external excitation. The first-order approximate periodic solutions for the non-resonant and super-harmonic resonance response are found to be in good agreement with those obtained by direct numerical integration of the delay differential equation. It is found that the nonresonant response may be either periodic or quasi-periodic. It is shown that the super-harmonic resonance response may exhibit periodic and quasi-periodic motions as well as a co-existence of two or three stable motions.