High intensity vibration testing using an empirically modified reference specification and method thereof

Abstract

An acoustic or mechanical vibration testing system includes a MIMO control system coupled to at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers and at least two control sensor transducers wherein the number of control sensor transducers need not be equal to the number of controller output drives or number of separately controllable groups of vibration transducers. The MIMO control system utilizes both a predetermined initial reference specification and a modified reference specification, wherein data acquired during system operation under conventional MIMO control is used to create the modified reference specification based on actual system performance and limitations thereof so as to maintain closer correspondence to the predetermined initial reference specification with less required system drive power, as a function of the predetermined initial reference, and less risk of damage to the test system and the test article during the performance of a test.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vibration testing system comprising:
 at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers and at least two control sensor transducers;   a controller coupled to the at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers and at least two control sensor transducers, wherein the controller is configured to
 run a vibration pre-test using MIMO control at substantially below a full test level utilizing a predetermined initial reference specification or a previously modified initial reference specification, and 
 create a modified reference specification based on actual system performance during the vibration pre-test at substantially below a full test level. 
   
     
     
         2 . The vibration testing system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to run the vibration pre-test utilizing the previously modified initial reference specification, wherein the previously modified initial reference specification is obtained by manually modifying the predetermined initial reference specification in order to create the modified reference specification based on actual system performance during the vibration pre-test at substantially below a full test level, and wherein the controller is further configured to run a vibration test using the modified reference specification that requires less required system drive power than running a vibration test using the modified reference specification obtained using an unmodified predetermined initial reference specification. 
     
     
         3 . The vibration testing system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to run a vibration test using the modified reference specification that requires less system drive power than running a vibration test using an unmodified reference specification, as a function of the predetermined initial reference specification in use, given the same testing facility and test conditions. 
     
     
         4 . The vibration testing system of  claim 3 , wherein utilizing the modified reference specification enables closer correspondence to the predetermined initial reference specification with less required system drive power, as a function of the predetermined initial reference, and less risk of damage to the test system and the test article during the performance of a test 
     
     
         5 . The vibration testing system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to create the modified reference specification by
 utilizing the predetermined initial reference specification or previously modified initial reference specification, wherein the predetermined initial reference specification or previously modified initial reference specification is expressed as a reference spectral density matrix [G rr (f)],   measuring control location responses during operation under the vibration pre-test using MIMO control at substantially below a full test level utilizing the predetermined initial reference specification or the previously modified initial reference specification, wherein the control location responses are represented by a control response spectral density matrix [G cc (f)], and   creating the modified reference specification expressed as a modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)], wherein the diagonal elements of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are the same as in the reference spectral density matrix [G rr (f)] and wherein each of the below diagonal elements of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are equal to the below diagonal elements of the reference spectral [G rr (f)] multiplied by a factor, [K ijk ], which is a ratio that is representative of the product between each control location pair implied by the predetermined initial reference specification or the previously modified initial reference specification divided by the product between each control location pair implied by the actual measured control location responses during low level operation, and wherein the above diagonal rows of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are equal to the complex conjugate transpose of the below diagonal columns of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)].   
     
     
         6 . The vibration testing system of  claim 5 , wherein the previously modified initial reference specification is obtained by manually increasing values of chosen off-diagonal coherence elements of an initial reference spectral density matrix slightly to tradeoff how close the correspondence to the diagonal elements of the reference spectral density matrix [G rr (f)] and the control response spectral density matrix [G cc (f)] are in a subsequent test that uses the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] that results from using the previously modified initial reference specification, in order to further reduce required system drive power within chosen frequency ranges, as compared to a test run with a modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] obtained using an unmodified predetermined initial reference specification, given the same testing facility and test conditions. 
     
     
         7 . The vibration testing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers are acoustic transducers and the at least two control sensor transducers are control microphones. 
     
     
         8 . The vibration testing system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers are shakers and the at least two control sensor transducers are accelerometers or other mechanical vibration sensing transducers. 
     
     
         9 . A method of vibration testing a test article, the method comprising:
 running a vibration pre-test using MIMO control at substantially below a full test level utilizing a predetermined initial reference specification or a previously modified initial reference specification using a system having at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers and at least two control sensor transducers, and   creating a modified reference specification based on actual system performance during the vibration pre-test at substantially below a full test level.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising running a vibration test using the modified reference specification. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein utilizing the modified reference specification enables closer correspondence to the predetermined initial reference specification with less required system drive power, as a function of the predetermined initial reference, and less risk of damage to the test system and the test article during the performance of a test 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the step of creating the modified reference specification comprises:
 utilizing the predetermined initial reference specification or previously modified initial reference specification, wherein the predetermined initial reference specification or previously modified initial reference specification is expressed as a reference spectral density matrix [G rr (f)],   measuring control location responses during operation under the vibration pre-test using MIMO control at substantially below a full test level utilizing the predetermined initial reference specification or the previously modified reference, wherein the control location responses are represented by a control response spectral density matrix [G cc (f)], and   creating the modified reference specification expressed as a modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)], wherein the diagonal elements of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are the same as in the reference spectral density matrix [G rr (f)] and wherein each of the below diagonal elements of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are equal to the below diagonal elements of the reference spectral [G rr (f)] multiplied by a factor, [K ijk ], which is a ratio that is representative of the product between each control location pair implied by the predetermined initial reference specification divided by the product between each control location pair implied by the actual measured control location responses during low level operation, and wherein the above diagonal rows of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)] are equal to the complex conjugate transposes of the below diagonal columns of the modified spectral density matrix [G mod_rr (f)].   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers are acoustic transducers and the at least two control sensor transducers are control microphones. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the at least two separately controllable groups of vibration transducers are shakers and the at least two control sensor transducers are accelerometers.