Analytical solutions of a generalized Duffing-harmonic oscillator by a nonlinear time transformation method

The analytical solutions of nonlinear oscillators obtained from most perturbation or approximate methods usually have poor accuracy near homoclinic/heteroclinic (HH) orbits. In this Letter, we propose a nonlinear time transformation method to overcome such difficulty. In particular, we apply such method with Padé approximation to find analytical solutions of a generalized Duffing-harmonic oscillator having a rational form for the potential energy. For some parametric ranges, HH orbits exist in such an oscillator. For analytical approximation of periodic solution obtained from the present method, it is shown that the relative error of period with respect to the exact period tends to zero when the amplitude of periodic solution tends to either zero or infinity. The relative error is still very small even near to HH orbits. Furthermore, analytical approximate of HH orbits can also be obtained. From the illustrative examples, the phase portraits are in excellent agreement with the exact HH orbits. The results from the present method are compared with the exact solutions and that from the cubication method. -- Highlights: ► A nonlinear transformation is proposed for a generalized Duffing-harmonic oscillator. ► The relative error of period with respect to the exact one is always very small. ► Approximate solution of homoclinic/heteroclinic orbits can be obtained. ► Phase portraits are in excellent agreement even at homoclinic/heteroclinic orbits.