The final part of this research involves study of the global bifurcations of the two gyroscopic systems. Using recently developed bifurcation methods, we detect the presence of multi-pulse orbits homoclinic to a slow ...

This dissertation presents a systematic study of the blast waves produced by axisymmetric detonation waves and constant velocity as well as accelerating deflagration waves propagating through homogeneous axisymmetric clouds ...

This research investigates the dynamic response, stability and bifurcation behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems subjected to deterministic and/or stochastic excitations which includes the following systems:

This thesis investigates the electrical conductivity of IM7 carbon fibers using two Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) –based techniques: Conductive AFM (C-AFM) and Scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy (sMIM). Unidirectional ...

Transverse matrix cracks often occur in fiber-reinforced cross-ply polymer matrix composites subjected to tensile loads. Experimental visualizations of strain fields are necessary to calibrate and validate computational ...

A pulsed vacuum arc discharge emits a plasma as well as macroparticles in the form of micron-sized molten droplets of cathode material. Due to their direction of flight and submicron to 100 mum diameter, these macroparticles ...

Closed Loop Analysis of Space Systems (CLASS) is a modular, closed-loop satellite test system developed at the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI). This thesis presents the technical details of the ...

This research successfully develops a new numerical method for the problem of two-sided flight path optimization, that is, a method capable of finding trajectories satisfying the necessary condition of an open-loop ...

In this work, experiments on planar free shear layers are conducted to obtain a set of benchmark computational fluid dynamics-validation data and to examine compressibility effects on shear layer turbulence. Five different ...

Sonic boom minimization is a challenge faced by the aviation community to enable high- speed civilian aircraft flying supersonically over populated land. One of the concepts proposed to reduce sonic boom incorporates a ...