Summary
The presented paper deals with experimental studies of a bistable shell to identify its basic nonlinear properties and define guidelines for a derivation of a reduced model of the shell. Based on measured time series of free vibrations and resonance characteristics basic parameters of the studied system are determined. Analysis of experimental data allowed for identification of natural frequencies, damping level, offset trend of the vibration center, softening and snap-through effects, etc. These information allowed to propose a description of a stiffness curve and a reduced model with piecewise linear stiffness and hysteresis loop, so that the mapping of free vibrations and resonance characteristics are as good as possible. As a result, a new reduced model of bistable shell will be proposed.
