The identification of the dynamic characteristics of linear systems is now
widely used and interest in non-linear systems has increased. The objective
of this paper is to demonstrate the performance of the restoring force sur
face method as far as the identification of non-linear systems is concerned
. The vibrations of a clamped beam are investigated for two different kinds
of non-linearity. Firstly, the beam shows a non-linear behaviour character
ized by a piecewise linear stiffness and secondly, the non-linearity comes
from a bilinear stiffness. Both numerical and experimental results are pres
ented. (C) 2001 Academic Press.