Characterizing JONSWAP rogue waves and their statistics via inverse spectral data

Rogue waves in random sea states modeled by the JONSWAP power spectrum are high amplitude waves arising over non-uniform backgrounds that cannot be viewed as small amplitude modulations of Stokes waves. In the context of Nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) models for waves in deep water, this poses the challenge of identifying appropriate analytical solutions for JONSWAP rogue waves, investigating possible mechanisms for their formation, and examining the validity of the NLS models in these more realistic settings. In this work we investigate JONSWAP rogue waves using the inverse spectral theory of the periodic NLS equation for moderate values of the period. For typical JONSWAP initial data, numerical experiments show that the developing sea state is well approximated by the first few dominant modes of the nonlinear spectrum and can be described in terms of a 2- or 3-phase periodic NLS solution. As for the case of uniform backgrounds, proximity to instabilities of the underlying 2-phase solution appears to be the main predictor of rogue wave occurrence, suggesting that the modulational instability of 2-phase solutions of the NLS is a main mechanism for rogue wave formation and that heteroclinic orbits of unstable 2-phase solutions are plausible models of JONSWAP rogue waves. To support this claim, we correlate the maximum wave strength as well as the higher statistical moments with elements of the nonlinear spectrum. The result is a diagnostic tool widely applicable to both model or field data for predicting the likelihood of rogue waves. Finally, we examine the validity of NLS models for JONSWAP data, and show that NLS solutions with JONSWAP initial data are described by non-Gaussian statistics, in agreement with the TOPEX field studies of sea surface height variability.     

On the nonlinear interactions and existence of breathers in a chain of coupled pendulums

The paper considers a chain of linearly coupled pendulums. Continues first order system equations are treated via time and space multiple scale method which lead to nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Further investigations on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation detects systems responses in the form of propagated nonlinear waves as functions of their envelope and phases. This provides information about localization of nonlinear waves and their directions in space and time.     

Design and analysis of nonlinear-transformation-based broadband cloaking for acoustic wave propagation

A coordinate-transformation method can be used to design invisibility cloaks for many types of waves, including acoustic waves. The traditional method for designing a cloak depends on a transformation from a virtual space to a physical space. Previous acoustic cloaks that are mainly designed with linear-transformation-based acoustics have drawbacks that acoustic wave trajectories in the cloaks cannot be controlled and tuned. This work uses a nonlinear mapping from a ray trajectory perspective to construct acoustic cloaks with tunable non-singular material properties. Use of a ray trajectory equation is a straightforward and alternate way to study propagation characteristics of different types of waves, which allows more flexibility in controlling the waves. A broadband cylindrical cloak for acoustic waves in an inviscid fluid is realized with layered non-singular, homogeneous, and isotropic materials based on a nonlinear transformation. Some advantages and improvements of the invisibility nonlinear-transformation cloak over a traditional linear-transformation cloak are analyzed. The invisibility capability of the nonlinear-transformation cloak can be tuned by adjusting a design parameter that is shown to have influence on the acoustic wave energy flowing into the region inside the cloak. Numerical examples show that the nonlinear-transformation cloak is more effective for making a domain undetectable by acoustic waves in an inviscid fluid and shielding acoustic waves from outside the cloak than the linear-transformation cloak in a broad frequency range. The methodology developed here can be used to design nonlinear-transformation cloaks for other types of waves.     

A finite wavelet domain method for wave propagation analysis in thick laminated composite and sandwich plates

An efficient numerical method is developed for the simulation of three dimensional transient dynamic response in thick laminated composite and sandwich plate structures involving very high frequencies and wave numbers. The proposed method incorporates Daubechies wavelet scaling functions for the interpolation of the in-plane displacements with a Galerkin formulation. It further explores the orthonormality and compact support of wavelet scaling functions to produce near diagonal consistent mass matrices and banded stiffness matrices. Hence, an uncoupled equivalent discrete spatial dynamic system is formulated, synthesized and rapidly solved in the wavelet domain using an explicit time integration scheme. The in-plane wavelet interpolation is further combined with an efficient high order layerwise laminate plate theory, that implements Hermite cubic splines for the through-the-thickness approximation of displacement fields. Numerical results are presented on the prediction of guided waves in laminated and thick sandwich composite plates and compared with respective solutions obtained by analytical, semi-analytical and time domain spectral element models. The method yielded higher convergence rates and substantial reductions in computational effort compared to respective time domain spectral finite elements.     

Nonlinear vibration analysis of piezoelectric bending actuators: Theoretical and experimental studies

Piezoelectric bimorph actuators are used in a variety of applications, including micro positioning, vibration control, and micro robotics. The nature of the aforementioned applications calls for the dynamic characteristics identification of actuator at the embodiment design stage. For decades, many linear models have been presented to describe the dynamic behavior of this type of actuators; however, in many situations, such as resonant actuation, the piezoelectric actuators exhibit a softening nonlinear behavior; hence, an accurate dynamic model is demanded to properly predict the nonlinearity. In this study, first, the nonlinear stress–strain relationship of a piezoelectric material at high frequencies is modified. Then, based on the obtained constitutive equations and Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, a continuous nonlinear dynamic model for a piezoelectric bending actuator is presented. Next, the method of multiple scales is used to solve the discretized nonlinear differential equations. Finally, the results are compared with the ones obtained experimentally and nonlinear parameters are identified considering frequency response and phase response simultaneously. Also, in order to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed model, it is tested out of the identification range as well.