Abstract:Since the discovery of SD oscillator in 2006, which allows the transition from smooth to discontinuous dynamics of strongly geometric nonlinearity, a variety of significant phenomena have been explored through theoretical research. However, there has no report in literature about the experimental research due to the barrier of large displacement associated with bistability. Here in this paper, we propose an experimental rig of SD oscillator, which is smooth at the first stage, to investigate the nonlinear dynamic responses experimentally under the harmonic excitation with different excitation frequencies and amplitudes. Vibration parameters existed in the rig are measurable and adjustable. Vibration signals are collected by a high speed camera to overcome the conventional barrier. The experimental results presented in this paper showed the excellent agreement with the analytical results, periodic vibration, period-5 solution and chaotic phenomena under the chosen certain parameters.