Mechanical Engineering Faculty Profile:
Dr. Balakumar Balachandran
Department Chair
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
2181 Glenn L. Martin Hall, Building 088
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301.405.4747
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 nearly seventy 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 as an Associate Editor of Meccanica. He recently completed his term as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics. He is a Fellow of ASME and AIAA, a senior member of IEEE, and a member of ASA, AAM, 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 the Chair of the ASME Design Engineering Division Technical Committee on Multibody Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics from 2009 to 2011. In the Department, he has served as the Leader of the Mechanics and Materials Division from 1999 to 2006, as the Director of Graduate Studies from July 2006 to July 2010, and as the Associate Chair from July 2006 to August 2010.
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.
- Nguyen, V., Schultz, G., and Balachandran, B., "Lateral Load Transfer Effects on Bifurcation Behavior of Four-Wheel Vehicle System," ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 4, 2009, pp. 041007-1-041007-12.
- Dick, A., Balachandran, B., and Mote Jr., C. D., "Localization in Micro-Resonator Arrays: Influence of Natural Frequency Tuning," ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 5, 2010, pp. 011002-1-011002-11.
- Lin, G., Balachandran, B., and Abed, E., "Absolute Stability of Second-Order Systems with Asymmetric Sector Boundaries," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 55(No. 2), 2010, pp. 458-462.
- Kalmar-Nagy, T. and Balachandran, B., "Forced Harmonic Vibration of the Duffing Oscillator With Linear Viscous Damping," Duffing’s Equation: Non-linear Oscillators and Their Behaviour, edited by I. Kovacic and M. Brennan, Wiley, Chapter 5, 2011.
- Chakraborty, I. and Balachandran, B., "Off-Resonance Cantilever Dynamics in the Presence of Attractive and Repulsive Tip Interaction Forces," International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, Vol. 11, 2011, pp. 1-18.
- Liao, C. -M., Balachandran, B., Karkoub, M., and Abdel-Magid, Y., "Drill-String Dynamics: Reduced-Order Models and ExperimentalStudies," ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, Vol. 133, 2011, pp. 41008-1-41008-8.
- Nguyen, V. and Balachandran, B., "Supercavitating Vehicles With Noncylindrical, Nonsymmetric Cavities: Dynamics and Instabilities,"ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 6, 2011, pp. 41001-1--041001-11.
- Fitzgerald, T., Valdez, M., Vanella, M., Balaras, E., and Balachandran, B., "Flexible Flapping Systems: Computational Investigations into Fluid-Structure Interactions," The Aeronautical
Journal, Vol. 115, 2011.
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
Faculty member of group recognized by the American HelicopterSociety's Grover E. Bell Award (2002), for work on smart structures conducted by the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Research Center. Invention of the Year Award, Physical Sciences Category, University of Maryland (2002); Purple Camshaft Teaching Award, Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society (2003); US Patents: 6,901,176 (2005); 7,224,465 (2007);
7,428,064 (2009); 7,856, 866 (2010); ASME Fellow (2003); AIAA Fellow (2010).
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