Non linear vibrations of stepped beam systems using artificial neural networks

In this study, the nonlinear vibrations of stepped beams having different boundary conditions were investigated. The equations of motions were obtained by using Hamilton's principle and made non dimensional. The stretching effect induced non-linear terms to the equations. Natural frequencies are calculated for different boundary conditions, stepped ratios and stepped locations by Newton-Raphson Method. The corresponding nonlinear correction coefficients are also calculated for the fundamental mode. At the second part, an alternative method is produced for the analysis. The calculated natural frequencies and nonlinear corrections are used for training an artificial neural network (ANN) program which has a inulti-layer, feed-forward, back-propagation algorithm. The results of the algorithm produce errors less than 2.5% for linear case and 10.12% for nonlinear case. The errors are much lower for most cases except clamped-clamped end condition. By employing the ANN algorithm, the natural frequencies and nonlinear corrections are easily calculated by little errors, and the computational time is drastically reduced compared with the conventional numerical techniques.