We have the pleasure to host Ghislain Raze from the University of Liège on the 27th November 2025 for a seminar entitled Experimental continuation: a powerful framework for nonlinear testing.
Abstract: Extraordinary advances have been made to characterize the rich behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems theoretically and numerically. Experiments, however, still face significant challenges when dealing with nonlinearity. Indeed, nonlinear systems may feature multiple coexisting stable and unstable solutions, bifurcations and sensitivity to initial conditions, all of which can be difficult to handle from an experimental point of view.
A family of methods collectively known as experimental continuation has recently emerged to overcome these difficulties. These approaches combine continuation and feedback control to systematically and effectively trace complete bifurcation diagrams of nonlinear dynamical systems.
This talk will first briefly review the diverse approaches employed in experimental continuation and present them within a unified framework. It will then introduce a method called arclength control-based continuation, a powerful tool allowing the experimenter to obtain complex bifurcation diagrams. Finally, it will briefly overview a few advanced experimental capabilities, such as resonance and bifurcation tracking, and continuation of isolas.
Bio: Ghislain Raze obtained his PhD from the University of Liège in 2021 on vibration control using piezoelectric digital absorbers. During his postdoc, he focused on nonlinear modal analysis and on experimental continuation. He is currently a research associate at the University of Liège where he works on experimental continuation and control of nonlinear dynamical systems.
Acknowledgments: Ghislain Raze is a Research Associate of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS which is gratefully acknowledged.