Towards the mid-frequency regime - combining wave chaos methods and 'Statistical Energy Analysis'

The proposed fellowship aims at forging links between the Mechanical Engineering community and Applied Mathematics at the interface of vibrations in large-scale structures and short wavelength asymptotics of linear wave equations. The investigator has worked extensively on the properties of eigenspectra of wave problems both from a short wavelength perspective as well as from a statistical point of view - an area of research often referred to as quantum - or wave - chaos. The field is historically closely linked to problems in quantum mechanics, but can with modifications be applied to other linear wave equations such as the wave equations of elastodynamics. It is proposed here to evaluate the possibility of incorporating quantum chaos methods in a Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) approach, widely used in the mechanical engineering community for analysing energy flow of high-frequency vibrations in complex structures such as buildings, aeroplanes and so on. It will be argued here that by re-evaluating and modifying some of the basic assumptions of the technique, error estimates in SEA may be improved and system specific features may be incorporated which would make the method applicable also in the medium frequency range. Detailed knowledge of the method itself and its range of applications is essential for this task, which the investigator seeks to obtain during the lifetime of the fellowship