Fifty five years following a long and winding road through structural acoustics and vibrations

Abstract

Being an academic at institutions that did not have a dedicated mission in acoustics allowed me to pursue diverse research topics. Probably because of the challenge presented by structural acoustics and vibrations, my efforts were primarily focused in those areas. They proceeded from nonlinear shell theory, to pipeline instability, to nonlinear vibrations, to nonlinear acoustics, to variational methods for acoustic radiation, to shock response of submarines, to experimental modal analysis, to coupled acoustic-structure resonance of a flying telescope with an open cavity. I will attempt to attempt to explain what led me to this progression, and to place these efforts in the context of communal efforts.