Exact Solutions of Nonlinear Second-Order Autonomous Ordinary Differential Equations: Application to Mechanical Systems

Abstract

Many physical processes can be described via nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations and so, exact solutions to these equations are of interest as, aside from their accuracy, they may reveal beforehand key properties of the system’s response. This work presents a method for computing exact solutions of second-order nonlinear autonomous undamped ordinary differential equations. The solutions are divided into nine cases, each depending on the initial conditions and the system’s first integral. The exact solutions are constructed via a suitable parametrization of the unknown function into a class of functions capable of representing its behavior. The solution is shown to exist and be well-defined in all cases for a general nonlinear form of the differential equation. Practical properties of the solution, such as its period, time to reach an extreme value or long-term behavior, are obtained without the need of computing the solution in advance. Illustrative examples considering different types of nonlinearity present in classical physical systems are used to further validate the obtained exact solutions.