On Nonlinear Modes of Continuous Systems

We use several methods to study the nonlinear modes of one-dimensional continuous systems with cubic inertia and geometric nonlinearities. Invariant manifold and perturbation methods applied to the discretized system and the method of multiple scales applied to the partial-differential equation and boundary conditions are discussed and their equivalence is demonstrated. The method of multiple scales is then applied directly to the partial-differential equation and boundary conditions governing several nonlinear beam problems.