Some Analytic calculations of the Characteristic Exponents

As is well known, the variational equations of nonlinear dynamic systems are linear time-varying (LTV) by nature. In the modal solutions for these LTV equations, the earlier introduced dynamic eigenvalues play a key role. They are closely related to the Lyapunovand Floquet-exponents of the corresponding nonlinear systems. In this contribution, we present some simple examples for which analytic solutions exist. It is also demonstrated by example how the classical linear time-invariant (LTI) solutions are related to the equilibrium points of the general LTV solutions.