Constructive Role of Noise in Oscillator Networks

he constructive role of temporal disorder (random noise) in facilitating 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 and energy harvester systems. It is discussed how noise 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 synchronization.

Speaker: Prof. B. Balachandran

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 Thomas Caughey Dynamics Medal, the Den Hartog Award, & the Lyapunov Award, the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Robert Scanlan Medal, and the AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award. He served as the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland from May 2011 to December 2023 and ASME Applied Mechanics Division from 2018 to 2019.