November 17, 9:15am - 10:00am
B. Balachandran
University of Maryland
Caughey Medal Award Winner
Presenting in Track 8: Dynamics, Vibration & Control
Presentation Title: Can Random Interventions Enable Order?
Abstract: The constructive role of temporal disorder (random noise) in facilitating desired responses of nonlinear systems will be explored in this talk, through a combination of experimental and numerical investigations. In particular, nonlinear oscillators and nonlinear oscillator arrays will be considered. These oscillator systems represent models of micro-scale and macro-scale systems. It is discussed how random interventions can be used to transition from one dynamic to another, including transition from a chaotic state to a periodic state, influence energy localization, and realize full synchronization.
Biography: Dr. Balachandran received his B. Tech (Naval Architecture) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, M.S. (Aerospace Engineering) from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA and Ph.D. (Engineering Mechanics) from Virginia Tech. Currently, he is a Distinguished University Professor and a Minta Martin Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has been since 1993. His research interests include applied physics, applied mechanics, applied mathematics, nonlinear phenomena, dynamics and vibrations, and control. The publications that he has authored/co-authored include a Wiley textbook entitled Applied Nonlinear Dynamics: Analytical, Computational, and Experimental Methods (1995, 2004), a Thomson/Cengage textbook (2004, 2009) and a Cambridge University Press textbook (2019) entitled Vibrations, and a co-edited Springer book entitled Delay Differential Equations: Recent Advances and New Directions (2009). He holds four U.S. patents and one Japan patent, three related to fiber optic sensors and two related to atomic force microscopy. He has served as the Editor of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, a Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, and a Deputy Editor of the AIAA Journal. He is an ASME Fellow, an AIAA Fellow, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, an ASA full member, and an IEEE Senior Member. He is a recipient of the ASME Melville Medal, the Den Hartog Award, & the Lyapunov Award, the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Robert Scanlan Medal, and the AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award.