9315761 Moon This award of $190,000 is for curriculum development in adding new approaches in nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear controls into undergraduate engineering education. Current analysis tools taught in undergraduate engineering curriculum center upon linear dynamics and control. However, mechanical and electromechanical design based solely on linear models fail to analyze properly many important physical effects that are inherently non-linear. This proposal will develop teaching, software and experimental modules to introduce methods in nonlinear analysis, with specific applications that include design of a flexible robot arm, structural design with nonlinear materials, nonlinear control of smart machines, and the use of chaos theory to avoid machine noise.
