A Critical Introduction to Some Industrial Resonance Testing Techniques

Abstract

This paper gives details of apparatus which was designed to permit an initial appraisal to be made of methods of resonance testing. A fairly lightly damped system with widely spaced natural frequencies was used. The ‘peak-amplitude’ technique of testing gave excellent and consistent results, though a simple alternative (and apparently novel) approach was superior in one respect, namely for the measurement of resonant frequencies. The Kennedy and Pancu method also gave good results but required more effort. A recently-suggested method of estimating damping was not found to be satisfactory or as good as the standard methods for the uncomplicated system under test. The simplest dynamical systems, then, appear to demand only the simplest of the techniques in current use in industry.