Vibration

Although vibration is a common phenomenon, determining vibrational patterns or managing excessive vibration can be challenging. From standard tests to complex troubleshooting, from data acquisition to reporting, HBK’s comprehensive set of test and measurement tools helps you to master any vibration-related engineering issues.

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Vibration Testing with Electrodynamic Shakers

Through vibration testing we can condense a lifetime of stress and wear into a short period of time, reveal hidden design weaknesses and validate durability.

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It is very difficult to avoid vibration – it affects the safety and comfort of our vehicles, it affects the structural integrity of our buildings and bridges, and if we’re over-exposed to human vibration, it can even affect our health.

For example, the car, bus or train that you take to work each day will have been extensively tested to make sure it can withstand the mechanical shocks imposed on it – not only to ensure your safety, but also to ensure that you get a smooth ride. To make sure that the wing of an aircraft will not succumb to physical stress, it will have been subjected to measurements of great accuracy. A mobile phone must be able to withstand bouncing around in a backpack as well as being dropped on the floor several times. A satellite has to be able to survive the excessive vibration from being launched into space.

Vibration must be measured and evaluated, either because it causes an immediate problem or because the structure or product has to adhere to a standard or test specification. Vibration testing and monitoring helps manufacturers to ensure quality, reliability and durability of complete products and their components by providing insights into the inner world of vibration within products, machines and structures.

Vibration Testing and Validation

To ensure products can handle shocks and stresses within their service life, vibration testing comes into play. As an example, this applies to:

A mobile phone must be able to withstand bouncing around in a backpack as well as being dropped on the floor several times. If it cannot cope with this general day-to-day use, warranty costs will explode for the manufacturer resulting in a real risk of brand deterioration and of customers looking elsewhere the next time they buy a new phone.
A satellite has to be able to survive the excessive vibrations from being launched into space. If it is faulty, the investment in the development and building of the satellite may be jeopardized.

In order to ensure that the products customers receive are intact and fully-functional, it is essential that they can survive the journey from when they are boxed at the factory until they arrive at the end destination. Moreover, beyond merely withstanding short-term physical forces, developers need to ensure that their products will maintain the integrity and quality that represents the brand in the longer term.

Product qualification and verification is done through extensive simulation in the development phases, but simulation is not enough. It is also necessary to do physical testing on prototypes and end-of-line items, both to validate simulated results and to prove product durability to customers.

Ensuring product quality

Vibration tests can reveal design weaknesses that would only become apparent during transport, deployment and use – like a helmet hitting the ground. Some of these tests, such as buzz, squeak and rattle (BSR) on vehicle interiors, can also detect the development of unwanted noise.

For environmental testing such as highly accelerated lifetime testing (HALT) and highly accelerated stress screening (HASS), it is necessary to combine vibration testing with environmental chambers to add the expansion stresses of rapid heating and cooling. These tests are typically conducted on industrial and electronic components and products, on medical equipment and on military hardware.

Vibration test profiles

Where do the actual vibration test profiles originate? Customers, end users or manufacturers who incorporate a component into an assembly, often define vibration test specifications and procedures themselves.

These are typically based on experience and knowledge of which design solutions work well and which don’t. Vibration testing can provide a more structured approach to understanding failure modes and defects that are caused by vibration.

Vibration testing standards

Many vibration testing profiles are defined by standards developed over many years. There are a lot of them and they are often dedicated to specific applications and products. Examples include DIN, ISO, BS, MIL, IEC and ASTM. The use of testing according to standards is especially the case for the aerospace and defence industries. These include MIL-STD-810, NATO STANAGs and AS/EN9100.

Fundamentals of Vibration

From repetitive, standard tests to complex troubleshooting, from data acquisition to reporting, we provide a unique and comprehensive set of tools spanning the entire measurement chain from shakers, accelerometers and data acquisition systems to data analysis software with the flexibility to deal with a wide range of engineering challenges.

Explore Vibration Measurement and Analysis by Application

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Vibration Testing with Electrodynamic Shakers
Rotating Machine Analysis and Diagnostics
NVH End-of-Line (EoL) Testing

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Shock and drop testing

To test how products, components and subsystems survive a drop – an induced shock – it is common to perform transient shock testing, drop testing and/or impact testing.

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Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) combined with climatic chambers

In many industries, such as the military or the automotive sector, systems and components need to operate at extreme environmental conditions. HBK’s system solutions for ESS ensure that thermal and vibrational stress does not cause them to fail.

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Package testing and transport vibration testing

Package testing and transport vibration testing simulate a product’s journey from when it is boxed at the factory until it reaches the customer. The dedicated HBK test system solution helps you to ensure packaging and product integrity.

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Buzz, Squeak and Rattle (BSR) testing

Noise from automotive components is annoying to passengers, affecting their notion of brand, quality and comfort. For components and interiors to remain durable and noise-free, car manufacturers perform BSR testing of components and assemblies.

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Battery testing

To ensure maximum performance and safety, HBK offers battery testing solutions for mechanical vibration, electrical, and durability testing. As durability testing is often repetitive, we make sure test results are accurate and consistent throughout.

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Qualification and acceptance testing

Qualification and acceptance testing (Q&A) ensures that equipment designs meet the performance expectations required for a particular mission: mechanical satellite qualification test – from assembly and transportation to launch and operation.

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Order analysis

Order analysis is beneficial when designing or working with reciprocating or rotating machinery such as powertrains and pumps. It allows you to identify sound and vibration due to imperfections in moving parts separately from structurally related noise.

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Machine diagnostics

Excessive vibration of moving parts can cause rotating machinery to break down. Our experts help you apply highly effective diagnostic techniques to establish the root cause of deteriorating machine condition in time to plan corrective measures.

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Gas turbine testing

Comprehensive engine testing and analysis during development is critical to optimizing the dynamic behaviour of these complex machines. Our gas turbine test systems help meet the stringent requirements and tight test schedules of these operations.

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woman and man doing acoustic quality analysis and vibration production line testing

Sustainable NVH quality assurance in harsh production environment requires robust industrial sensors, reliable data acquisition and real time analyses. HBK experts work together with the manufacturing companies to improve quality testing with the objective of optimizing process costs.

BKSV's (now HBK) LDS V8 shaker system and the LDS V721 shaker system help SMAC laboratory with vibration testing

Aerospace products being shaken

To meet the stringent performance requirements of the aerospace industry, the SMAC laboratory in Toulon needed a reliable solution for vibration testing of a new damper. After a thorough validation, they decided to use two shaker systems from HBK.

Engineers testing vibration in a car seat with a microphone and software

Smartphone app improves vibration testing

Setting up for modal analysis is time-consuming and prone to human data entry errors, which is a cause of frustration for engineers. HBK’s Transducer Smart Setup app automated the process, eliminated human error and saved time for Faurecia.

Facade of the TÜV SÜD which tested transportation of heavier objects, particularly sub-assemblies for cars and trains, by upgrading their HBK shaker

Moving and shaking Germany’s transportation testing

Test house, TÜV SÜD, relies on vibration test systems for shock and low-frequency testing. Their challenge was to upgrade their 15-year-old HBK shaker to support heavier payloads, such as EV batteries. Find out how HBK met their requirements.

RAL Space employees working on the James Webb Space Telescope with a new vibration test system: HBK's LDS range of shakers.

Ensuring satellite reliability with vibration testing

For RAL Space, ‘right-first-time’ engineering is non-negotiable when developing critical components for NASA. By upgrading their HBK shaker, they were able to conduct more sophisticated vibration tests for NASA’s satellite program.

Less rail noise, more well-being

CETEST is a Spanish ISO 17025 accredited testing and analysis centre. Using HBK solutions for sound and vibration measurement, it offers flexible and reliable testing and evaluation services – amongst others to customers in the railway industry.

Silente electric cars as Volkswagen wants

Continuously tightening NVH and customer acceptance requirements for their transmissions helps VW grow market share. But to maintain profitability, production line yield must also continuously increase. HBK’s DISCOM systems address both challenges.

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