Abstract
This study presents nonlinear vibration of a cantilever beam subjected to electromagnetic forces. The dynamic responses of the beam show various nonlinear phenomena with the variation of the system parameters, such as the jump phenomenon, multiple solutions, and the movement of the natural frequency. In this study the nonlinear stiffness due to electromagnetic forces which depends on air gap size is measured experimentally, and the system is modeled by a single degree of freedom nonlinear dynamic system and solutions are solved numerically. The numerical results show good agreements with the experimental results, which demonstrate the nonlinearity of electromagnetic force. Finally the occurrences of the jump phenomenon and the first, second and fourth harmonic components are confirmed in using the method of multiple scales.