Dynamics of circular oscillator arrays subjected to noise

Energy localization, which are spatially confined response patterns, have been observed in turbomachinery applications, micro-electromechanical systems, and atomic crystals. While confined energy can reduce a device’s life-span, in sensing and energy harvesting applications, it can be beneficial to steer a system’s response into a localized mode. Building on earlier studies, in this article, the authors extend the research on localization by considering an array of coupled Duffing oscillators arranged in a circle. The system is composed of multiple nonlinear oscillators each connected to two neighboring oscillators via springs. Due to the periodic boundary conditions waves can propagate through the boundaries. These oscillators are hardening in most of the considered cases, and softening in the others. In the studied parameter range, the system is characterized by multi-stable behavior and a localized mode as well as a unison-low-amplitude motion coexist. The possibility that white noise can drive the system response from the localized mode to the low amplitude mode and thus suppresses energy localization is investigated. For different noise levels, the duration needed to stop energy localization as well as the probability to suppress localization within a certain time is numerically studied. In addition, the effects of linear coupling and nonlinear coupling between the oscillators on the strength of localization and the minimum noise addition needed to suppress energy localization are examined in depth. Moreover, modeling of large array dynamics with smaller subsystems is explored and dynamics with non-Gaussian noise is also considered.