Vibration control for the primary resonance of the van der Pol oscillator by a time delay state feedback

Abstract We investigate the primary resonance of an externally excited van der Pol oscillator under state feedback control with a time delay. By means of the asymptotic perturbation method, two slow-flow equations on the amplitude and phase of the oscillator are obtained and external excitation–response and frequency–response curves are shown. We discuss how vibration control and high amplitude response suppression can be performed with appropriate time delay and feedback gains. Moreover, energy considerations are used in order to investigate existence and characteristics of limit cycles of the slow-flow equations. A limit cycle corresponds to a two-period modulated motion for the van der Pol oscillator. We demonstrate that appropriate choices for the feedback gains and the time delay can exclude the possibility of modulated motion and reduce the amplitude peak of the primary resonance. Analytical results are verified with numerical simulations.