Academics

Alok Sinha authors book on vibration in periodic structures

Penn State Professor of Mechanical Engineering Alok Sinha and his recently published book “Vibration of Nearly Periodic Structures and Mistuned Bladed Rotors.” Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Professor of Mechanical Engineering Alok Sinha recently authored his third book, titled “Vibration of Nearly Periodic Structures and Mistuned Bladed Rotors.”

Published by the Cambridge University Press, the volume is the first comprehensive book that presents the concepts and issues in the analysis of mistuned blade vibration in nearly periodic structures. Nearly periodic structures are composed of a number of similar or identical elements coupled together, such as the blades on bladed-disk assemblies used in steam and gas turbines. Very minor variations due to manufacturing tolerances in the physical size and shape of blades can lead to dramatic changes in vibratory behavior of a bladed disk; for example, vibration localization. Similar phenomenon is observed in graphene and carbon nanotubes.

In authoring the work, Sinha called on his 35 years of research in this area and on the works of others in the field. He also has shown similarities between tools used in bladed rotor analysis and condensed matter physics.

“In the past, I have written textbooks for graduate and undergraduate courses. With the publication of this research monograph, I feel very happy that I have written books for each category of my professional activities,” Sinha said.

Sinha holds a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor of science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. His areas of teaching and research include vibration, control systems, jet engines, robotics, neural networks and nanotechnology. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He is the author of two other books: “Linear Systems: Optimal and Robust Control” (2007) and “Vibration of Mechanical Systems” (2010).

Last Updated August 14, 2017