Mechanical Engineering Faculty Profile:

Dr. Balakumar Balachandran
Professor and Associate Chair of Mechanical Engineering
Director of Graduate Studies

2133 Glenn L. Martin Hall, Building 088
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Phone: 301.405.5309
Fax: 301.314.9477
Email: balab@umd.edu
Website

Research Interests

Nonlinear phenomena, dynamics and vibrations, and control.

Vita

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 Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, where has been since 1993. His research interests include nonlinear phenomena, dynamics and vibrations, and control, and his recent efforts have focused on taking advantage of nonlinear phenomena for the benefit of a system.  The publications that he has authored/co-authored include over fifty journal publications, a Wiley textbook entitled "Applied Nonlinear Dynamics: Analytical, Computational, and Experimental Methods" (1995, 2006), a Thomson/Cengage textbook entitled "Vibrations" (2004, 2009), and a co-edited Springer book entitled “Delay Differential Equations: Recent Advances and New Directions” (2009). He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Vibration and Control, is a Deputy Editor of the AIAA Journal, and is an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics. He is a Fellow of ASME, an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and a member of AAM, ASA, Sigma Xi, and SPIE. He served as the Chair of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division Technical Committee on Dynamics and Control of Structures and Systems from 2005 to 2007, and he currently serves as the Chair of the ASME Design Engineering Division Technical Committee on Multi-Body Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics.

Education

Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1990

Select Publications

• Nayfeh, A. H. and Balachandran, B., Applied Nonlinear Dynamics:  Analytical, Computational, and Experimental Methods, Wiley, New York (1995, 2006).
• Balachandran, B., “Dynamics of Elastic Structures Excited by Harmonic and Aharmonic Impactor Motions,” Journal of Vibration and Control, Vol. 9, pp. 265–279 (2003).
• Balachandran, B., and E.B. Magrab, Vibrations, Cengage, Toronto, ON (2004, 2009).
• Balachandran, B. and Gilsinn, D., “Nonlinear Oscillations of   Milling,” Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, Vol. 11, 2005, pp. 273–290.
• Al-Bassyiouni, M. and Balachandran, B., "Control of Enclosed Sound Fields Using Zero Spillover Schemes,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 292, 2006, pp. 645–660.
  
• Dick, A., Balachandran, B., DeVoe, D., and Mote Jr, C. D., “Parametric Identification of Piezoelectric Micro-Scale Resonators,” J. Micromechanics and Microengineering, Vol. 16, 2006, pp. 1593–1601.
• Li, H. and Balachandran, B., "Buckling and Free Oscillations of Composite Microresonators," IEEE Journal of MEMS, Vol. 15 (1), 2006, pp. 42-51.
• Long, X. -H., Balachandran, B., and Mann, B. P., “Dynamics of Milling Processes with Variable Time Delays,” Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 47 (1-3), 2007, pp. 49–63.
• Lin, G., Balachandran, B., and Abed, E., “Nonlinear Dynamics and Bifurcations of a Supercavitating Vehicle,” IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Vol. 32(4), 2007, pp. 753–761.
• Long, X.-H., Lin, G., and Balachandran, B., “Grazing Bifurcations in Elastic Structure Excited by Harmonic Impactor Motions,” Physica D, Vol. 237, 2008, pp. 1129–1138.
• Shaw, S. W. and Balachandran, B., “A Review of Nonlinear Dynamics of Mechanical Systems in Year 2008,” Japanese Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2008, pp.  611–640.
• Vanella, M., Fitzgerald, T., Preidikman, S., Balaras, E., and Balachandran, B., “Influence of Flexibility on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Hovering Wing,” Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 212, 2009, pp. 95–105.
• Balachandran, B., Kalmar-Nagy, T., and Gilsinn, D., Delay Differential Equations: Recent Advances and New Directions, Springer Verlag, 2009.

Scientific and Professional Memberships

Reviewer, AIAA Journal; ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics; ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics; ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control; Journal of Acoustical Society of America; Journal of Sound and Vibration; Journal of Vibration and Control; Nonlinear Dynamics; Smart Material and Structures; Shock and Vibration; International Journal of Nonlinear Mechanics; International Journal of Solids and Structures; Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures; Chaos, Solitons, and Fractals; IEEE Transactions of Automatic Control, IEEE Control Systems; IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering; IEEE Journal of MEMS; Sensors and Actuators; Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering; Philosophical Transaction, European Journal of Mechanics; Physics Letters. Reviewed proposals for NRC (AFOSR Mechanics Program), ARO, NSF, DOD EPSCOR.

Honors and Awards

Invention of the Year Award, Physical Sciences Category, University of Maryland (2002); ASME Fellow (2003); AIAA Associate Fellow (2009).

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