Page 55 - Shock and Vibration Overview

Simulating Shock & Vibrations in the Laboratory

SIMULATING SHOCK &

VIBRATIONS IN THE

LABORATORY

Shock and vibration testing in the field is a great way to get operational data on your
system’s response to its environment and/or to quantify the environment you intent to
operate in. But as the design process advances and prototypes are constructed it will be
advantages to do some controlled shock and vibration testing in the laboratory. There
are a couple main purposes of laboratory testing:

 Qualification testing
o During design process
o To meet test or regulatory standards
 Fatigue testing
 Modal analysis
 Evaluating performance characteristics

General Shock and Vibration Testing
There are two main types of vibration shakers/exciters for general shock and vibration

testing: electrodynamic (ED) and hydraulic. Figure 39 provides a plot comparing the
operating ranges of these two types of exciters. Electrodynamic is much more common
because of the wider frequency range, their linear behavior, and their wide range of
operating conditions (shock and SRS pulses in addition to vibration). But for maximum
displacement and lower frequency ranges a hydraulic shaker would be preferred.

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