The Duffing Equation: Nonlinear Oscillators and their Behaviour brings together the results of a wealth of disseminated research literature on the Duffing equation, a key engineering model with a vast number of applications in science and engineering, summarizing the findings of this research. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor in the field of nonlinear dynamics and addresses a different form of the equation, relating it to various oscillatory problems and clearly linking the problem with the mathematics that describe it. The editors and the contributors explain the mathematical techniques required to study nonlinear dynamics, helping the reader with little mathematical background to understand the text. The Duffing Equation provides a reference text for postgraduate and students and researchers of mechanical engineering and vibration / nonlinear dynamics as well as a useful tool for practising mechanical engineers. Includes a chapter devoted to historical background on Georg Duffing and the equation that was named after him. Includes a chapter solely devoted to practical examples of systems whose dynamic behaviour is described by the Duffing equation. Contains a comprehensive treatment of the various forms of the Duffing equation. Uses experimental, analytical and numerical methods as well as concepts of nonlinear dynamics to treat the physical systems in a unified way.

The Duffing Equation: Nonlinear Oscillators and their Behaviour brings together the results of a wealth of disseminated research literature on the Duffing equation, a key engineering model with a vast number of applications in science and engineering, summarizing the findings of this research. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor in the field of nonlinear dynamics and addresses a different form of the equation, relating it to various oscillatory problems and clearly linking the problem with the mathematics that describe it. The editors and the contributors explain the mathematical techniques required to study nonlinear dynamics, helping the reader with little mathematical background to understand the text. The Duffing Equation provides a reference text for postgraduate and students and researchers of mechanical engineering and vibration / nonlinear dynamics as well as a useful tool for practising mechanical engineers. Includes a chapter devoted to historical background on Georg Duffing and the equation that was named after him. Includes a chapter solely devoted to practical examples of systems whose dynamic behaviour is described by the Duffing equation. Contains a comprehensive treatment of the various forms of the Duffing equation. Uses experimental, analytical and numerical methods as well as concepts of nonlinear dynamics to treat the physical systems in a unified way.

Galileo Unbound traces the journey that brought us from Galileo's law of free fall to today's geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions. Remarkably, common themes persist that predict the evolution of species as readily as the orbits of planets or the collapse of stars into black holes. This book tells the history of spaces of expanding dimension and increasing abstraction and how they continue today to give new insight into the physics of complex systems. Galileo published the first modern law of motion, the Law of Fall, that was ideal and simple, laying the foundation upon which Newton built the first theory of dynamics. Early in the twentieth century, geometry became the cause of motion rather than the result when Einstein envisioned the fabric of space-time warped by mass and energy, forcing light rays to bend past the Sun. Possibly more radical was Feynman's dilemma of quantum particles taking all paths at once — setting the stage for the modern fields of quantum field theory and quantum computing. Yet as concepts of motion have evolved, one thing has remained constant, the need to track ever more complex changes and to capture their essence, to find patterns in the chaos as we try to predict and control our world.

A case study in mechanical vibration introduces the subject of nonlinear dynamics and chaos.

Translates new mathematical ideas in nonlinear dynamics and chaos into a language that engineers and scientists can understand, and gives specific examples and applications of chaotic dynamics in the physical world. Also describes how to perform both computer and physical experiments in chaotic dynamics. Topics cover Poincare maps, fractal dimensions and Lyapunov exponents, illustrating their use in specific physical examples. Includes an extensive guide to the literature, especially that relating to more mathematically oriented works; a glossary of chaotic dynamics terms; a list of computer experiments; and details for a demonstration experiment on chaotic vibrations.

The book discusses continuous and discrete systems in systematic and sequential approaches for all aspects of nonlinear dynamics. The unique feature of the book is its mathematical theories on flow bifurcations, oscillatory solutions, symmetry analysis of nonlinear systems and chaos theory. The logically structured content and sequential orientation provide readers with a global overview of the topic. A systematic mathematical approach has been adopted, and a number of examples worked out in detail and exercises have been included. Chapters 1–8 are devoted to continuous systems, beginning with one-dimensional flows. Symmetry is an inherent character of nonlinear systems, and the Lie invariance principle and its algorithm for finding symmetries of a system are discussed in Chap. 8. Chapters 9–13 focus on discrete systems, chaos and fractals. Conjugacy relationship among maps and its properties are described with proofs. Chaos theory and its connection with fractals, Hamiltonian flows and symmetries of nonlinear systems are among the main focuses of this book. Over the past few decades, there has been an unprecedented interest and advances in nonlinear systems, chaos theory and fractals, which is reflected in undergraduate and postgraduate curricula around the world. The book is useful for courses in dynamical systems and chaos, nonlinear dynamics, etc., for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in mathematics, physics and engineering.