A new frequency domain representation and analysis for subharmonic oscillation

For a weakly nonlinear oscillator, the frequency domain Volterra kernels, often called the generalised frequency response functions, can provide accurate analysis of the response in terms of amplitudes and frequencies, in a transparent algebraic way. However a Volterra series representation based analysis will become void for nonlinear oscillators that exhibit subharmonics, and the problem of finding a solution in this situation has been mainly treated by the traditional analytical approximation methods. In this paper a novel method is developed, by extending the frequency domain Volterra representation to the subharmonic situation, to allow the advantages and the benefits associated with the traditional generalised frequency response functions to be applied to severely nonlinear systems that exhibit subharmonic behaviour.