to be done in this area. Face recognition is a problem that scarcely clamoured for attention before the computer age but, having surfaced, has involved a wide range of techniques and has attracted the attention of some fine minds (David Mumford was a Fields Medallist in 1974). This singular application of mathematical modelling to a messy applied problem of obvious utility and importance but with no unique solution is a pretty one to share with students: perhaps, returning to the source of our opening quotation, we may invert Duncan's earlier observation, 'There is an art to find the mind's construction in the face!'.

Linear and nonlinear waves, by G. B. Whitham. Pp.636. £50. 1999. ISBN 0 471 35942 4 (Wiley).

The dynamics and stability of thin liquid films have fascinated scientists over many decades: the observations of regular wave patterns in film flows down a windowpane or along guttering, the patterning of dewetting droplets, and the fingering of viscous flows down a slope are all examples that are familiar in daily life. Thin film flows occur over a wide range of length scales and are central to numerous areas of engineering, geophysics, and biophysics; these include nanofluidics and microfluidics, coating flows, intensive processing, lava flows, dynamics of continental ice sheets, tear-film rupture, and surfactant replacement therapy. These flows have attracted considerable attention in the literature, which have resulted in many significant developments in experimental, analytical, and numerical research in this area. These include advances in understanding dewetting, thermocapillary- and surfactant-driven films, falling films and films flowing over structured, compliant, and rapidly rotating substrates, and evaporating films as well as those manipulated via use of electric fields to produce nanoscale patterns. These developments are reviewed in this paper and open problems and exciting research avenues in this thriving area of fluid mechanics are also highlighted.

Dynamics and stability of thin liquid films

Past, present and future of nonlinear system identification in structural dynamics

We present data for the rheology of suspensions of monodisperse particles of varying aspect ratio, from oblate to prolate, and covering particle volume fractions from dilute to highly concentrated....

The rheology of suspensions of solid particles

http://users.auth.gr/~akonsta/2011_Gradient%20elasticity%20in%20statics%20and%20dynamics.pdf

Gradient elasticity in statics and dynamics: An overview of formulations, length scale identification procedures, finite element implementations and new results

Nonlinear elastic effects play an important role in the dynamics of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). A Duffing oscillator is widely used as an archetypical model of mechanical resonators with nonlinear elastic behavior. In contrast, nonlinear dissipation effects in micromechanical oscillators are often overlooked. In this work, we consider a doubly clamped micromechanical beam oscillator, which exhibits nonlinearity in both elastic and dissipative properties. The dynamics of the oscillator is measured in both frequency and time domains and compared to theoretical predictions based on a Duffing-like model with nonlinear dissipation. We especially focus on the behavior of the system near bifurcation points. The results show that nonlinear dissipation can have a significant impact on the dynamics of micromechanical systems. To account for the results, we have developed a continuous model of a geometrically nonlinear beam-string with a linear Voigt–Kelvin viscoelastic constitutive law, which shows a relation between linear and nonlinear damping. However, the experimental results suggest that this model alone cannot fully account for all the experimentally observed nonlinear dissipation, and that additional nonlinear dissipative processes exist in our devices.

Nonlinear damping in a micromechanical oscillator

Nonlinear elastic effects play an important role in the dynamics of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Duffing oscillator is widely used as an archetypical model of mechanical resonators with nonlinear elastic behavior. In contrast, nonlinear dissipation effects in micromechanical oscillators are often overlooked. In this work, we consider a doubly clamped micromechanical beam oscillator, which exhibits nonlinearity in both elastic and dissipative properties. The dynamics of the oscillator is measured in frequency domain and time domain and compared to theoretical predictions based on Duffing-like model with nonlinear dissipation. We especially focus on the behavior of the system near bifurcation points. The results show that nonlinear dissipation can have a significant impact on the dynamics of micromechanical systems. To account for the results, we have developed a continuous model of a nonlinear viscoelastic string with Voigt-Kelvin dissipation relation, which shows a relation between linear and nonlinear damping. However, the experimental results suggest that this model alone cannot fully account for all the experimentally observed nonlinear dissipation, and that additional nonlinear dissipative processes exist in our devices.

Chaotic behaviour is found for sufficiently long triaxial ellipsoidal non-Brownian particles immersed in steady simple shear flow of a Newtonian fluid in an inertialess approximation. The result is first determined via numerical simulations. An analytic theory explaining the onset of chaotic rotation is then proposed. The chaotic rotation coexists with periodic and quasi-periodic motions. Quasi-periodic motions are depicted by regular closed loops and islands in the system Poincare map, whereas chaotic rotations form a stochastic layer.

Chaotic rotation of triaxial ellipsoids in simple shear flow

Modifications of the Helmholtz free energy and the stress associated with general constitutive equations of a simple continuum are proposed to model dispersive effects of an inherent material characteristic length. These modifications do not alter the usual restrictions on the unmodified constitutive equations imposed by the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The special case of a thermoelastic compressible Newtonian viscous fluid is considered with attention focused on uniaxial strain. Within this context, the linearized problems of wave propagation in an infinite media and free vibrations of a finite column are considered for the simple case of elastic response. It is shown that the proposed model predicts the dispersive effects observed in wave propagation through a chain of springs and masses as the wavelength decreases. Also, the nonlinear problems of steady wave propagation of a soliton in the absence of viscosity and of a shock wave in the presence of viscosity are discussed. In particular it is shown that the presence of the dispersive terms can cause the stress in a shock wave to overshoot the Hugoniot stress by as much as 50%. This phenomenon may cause an underprediction of the threshold level for failure determined by analysis of stress in shock experiments.

Continuum model of dispersion caused by an inherent material characteristic length

The nonlinear equations of motion for a silicon cantilever beam, covered by a piezoelectric lead–zirconate–titanate layer, subjected to a Lennard-Jones type boundary condition, are derived for voltage excitation. The Lagrangian of the system is obtained from the electric enthalpy density, including the virtual work of the Lennard-Jones potential, assuming the beam undergoes only small displacements. By application of Hamilton’s principle, the nonlinear equations of motion are consistently derived and truncated to third order for perturbation analysis. The evolution equations are obtained by the multiple scales method and periodic solutions to the equations of motion are determined and discussed with respect to different tip to sample distances. An analytically obtained frequency response function enables determination of the frequency shift of individually piezoactuated microbeams, which are proposed as fundamental elements of parallel atomic force microscopy, undergoing forced vibration in a dissipative environment.

Oded Gottlieb

Papers

Nonlinear damping in a micromechanical oscillator

Nonlinear damping in a micromechanical oscillator

Chaotic rotation of triaxial ellipsoids in simple shear flow

Continuum model of dispersion caused by an inherent material characteristic length

Nonlinear dynamics of a noncontacting atomic force microscope cantilever actuated by a piezoelectric layer