Nonlinear Oscillations of a Bistable Composite Shell: Experimental Studies

The dynamics of a cantilever bistable composite shell is investigated in the paper. The shell shape is derived from a region of a cone surface and is composed of eight composite layers. The proposed shell’s geometry and the asymmetric configurations of the layers give rise to the structure with bistability. A prototype of the shell is tested experimentally to detect nonlinear dynamic phenomena in the vicinity of each equilibrium point (in-well dynamics) and to study global (cross-well) oscillations. The experimental campaign shows strong softening resonance characteristics around I-shape and almost linear resonance curves for C-shape. Upon increasing the amplitude of excitation reversible snap-through and nonlinear chaotic oscillations are observed.