Keynote Speakers

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Speaker Profiles

Prof. Gaëtan Kerschen, University of Liège, Belgium

(Short bio here: http://www.s3l.be/en/kerschen)

Title: Control-based vibration testing: new opportunities for mechanical and aerospace structures

Nonlinear vibration theory witnessed extraordinary advances during the 20th century following Poincaré’s seminal work. Since the 1970s, remarkable progress has been made in computational nonlinear dynamics, driven by nonlinear finite element formulations and numerical continuation methods. Although several challenges remain, the theoretical understanding of nonlinear dynamical phenomena and our ability to predict them numerically have reached a high level of maturity.

However, this progress has had limited impact on industrial vibration testing, which still relies almost exclusively on linear assumptions. To close this gap, control-based nonlinear vibration testing (CBNVT) leverages feedback control to identify, in real time and in a model-free manner, bifurcation diagrams of nonlinear systems. This keynote will review the state of the art in CBNVT and introduce a new method, termed arclength control-based continuation (ACBC), which approaches the capabilities of numerical continuation. Its benefits will be demonstrated through numerical and experimental examples.