The present investigation deals with the dynamics of a two-degrees-of-freedom
system which consists of a main linear oscillator and a strongly nonlinear
absorber with small mass. The nonlinear oscillator has a softening hysteretic
characteristic represented by a Bouc-Wen model. The periodic solutions of this
system are studied and their calcu- lation is performed through an averaging
procedure. The study of nonlinear modes and their stability shows, under
specific conditions, the existence of localization which is responsible for a
passive irreversible energy transfer from the linear oscillator to the
nonlinear one. The dissipative effect of the nonlinearity appears to play an
important role in the energy transfer phenomenon and some design criteria can
be drawn regarding this parameter among others to optimize this energy
transfer. The free transient response is investigated and it is shown that the
energy transfer appears when the energy input is sufficient in accordance with
the predictions from the nonlinear modes. Finally, the steady-state forced
response of the system is investigated. When the input of energy is sufficient,
the resonant response (close to nonlinear modes) experiences localization of
the vibrations in the nonlinear absorber and jump phenomena