Improved harmonic balance approach to periodic solutions of non-linear jerk equations

An analytical approximate approach for determining periodic solutions of non-linear jerk equations involving third-order time-derivative is presented. This approach incorporates salient features of both Newton's method and the method of harmonic balance. By appropriately imposing the method of harmonic balance to the linearized equation, the approach requires only one or two iterations to predict very accurate analytical approximate solutions for a large range of initial velocity amplitude. One typical example is used to verify and illustrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed approach