New Jersey Institute of Technology
Department of Mathematical Sciences

Capstone Laboratory

Nonlinear waves in coupled pendulum chains


Instructor: Roy H. Goodman



The goal of this project was to observe and understand oscillating patterns in a large array of pendulums. This system provides a simple experimental model in which solitons, or something much like them, can be observed. This system was first studied in the Ph.D. dissertation of Denardo and in several followup articles, from whom some of our images are borrowed. Prof. Goodman learned about this experimental system in a talk by Victor Sanchez-Morcillo at the LENCOS 2012 conference.

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