ESM 5414- Nonlinear Systems

Spring 2013

Instructor: Dr. Nicole Abaid (nabaid@vt.edu)

Course time and location: MWF 11:15 am - 12:05 pm in 209 Hancock Hall

Office hours and location: M 1 pm-2 pm and by appointment in 320 Norris Hall

Course material:
Course material will be provided by the instructor and will reference the recommended texts. The Scholar
website for the course will be the primary means for the dissemination of course materials.

Texts:
Strogatz, S. H., Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos with Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry,
and Engineering, Westview Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001. (Recommended)
Kahlil, H. K., Nonlinear Systems (Third Edition), Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002.
(Recommended)
Nayfeh, A. H. and Balachandran, B., Applied Nonlinear Dynamics, Wiley Interscience, New York,
NY, 1995.

Topics:
Nonlinear system behavior
Equilibria
Periodic solutions
Regions of attraction
Local and global stability
Bifurcations
Chaos
Strange attractors
Applications in nonlinear control

Exams:
There will be two in-class midterm exams. Dates will be announced at least one month in advance.

Homework:
Homework assignments will be due approximately every week. A subset of the assigned problems will be
graded and partial credit will be awarded at the discretion of the instructor. Late assignments are not
accepted.

Project:
The project will be proposed by students singly or in teams of two and will be approved by the instructor.
The project will comprise both a written report and an oral presentation.

Grading:
The grade for the course is determined from homework (10%), two midterm exams (30% each), and a
project (30%). Students grades for one of these exams may be augmented by 5 points by demonstrating a
complete set of lecture notes at the end of the semester.

Honor code:
Other than collaborative projects designated by the instructor, all work must be done individually. The
honor code is strictly enforced.