Why Is Random Vibration Quantified In

Strange g2/Hz Units?

Sun, 07/01/2007 - 12:00am
Wayne Tustin
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Random vibration spectra (as in test specifications) usually show intensity as power spectral
density (PSD), auto-spectral density, or acceleration spectral density (ASD) in rather strange
units of g2/Hz vs. frequency in Hz.

Suppose that your boss asks you to measure the vibration at some location. You gather

 an accelerometer and suitable signal conditioner,

 a band-pass filter (which you temporarily bypass), and
 a true RMS (TRMS) readout voltmeter (Figure 1).

CALIBRATION
First, you calibrate your measurement system. You attach your accelerometer to a small
electrody-namic shaker that develops 1g RMS (i.e., 1.414 g peak) at say 500 Hz. You adjust your
“set gain” control so that yourtrue RMS readout displays 1 volt RMS (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Vibration Instruments

SENSITIVITY
What is your sensitivity? That is, what is the transfer sensitivity from acceleration in g to volts?
1:1, right? Whenever you see 1 volt on the meter, you know that your accelerometer is
experiencing 1 g. Two volts indicates 2 g, etc.

But you only know sensitivity at 500 Hz. How to determine sensitivity at other frequencies?
Sweep shaker frequency (maintaining 1 g RMS = 1.414 g peak) over a wide range of
frequencies. Plot your voltmeter reading vs. frequency. Hopefully, your graph will be flat at 1
volt/g (Figure 2).
 Figure 2: Calibration Results

Now you “unbypass” the filter. You adjust the filter center frequency to 500 Hz and the
bandwidth to 160 Hz. Now you repeat the previous sweep and graph. Note the dramatic change
in sensitivity vs. frequency (Figure 3). Your sensitivity is still 1 volt/g but only from 420 Hz to
580 Hz. (“Real world” responses are never this flat. The transitions at the “cutoff” frequencies
are never vertical. These were drawn with a ruler). Actually, my only reason for Figure 3 is fear
that some reader might not be familiar with bandpass filters.

Figure 3: Insertion of Bandpass Filter

MEASUREMENT OF 4 g RMS
Finally, you are ready to make that measurement for your chief. You remove your accelerometer
from the calibration shaker. You attach it at the location that interests your chief. Suppose that
now the voltmeter indicates 4 volts RMS. You infer that the accelerometer was sensing 4 g RMS.
That's probablywhat you tell your boss.

DICK ONLY MEASURES 2 g RMS

Your chief thanks you but, for some reason, assigns the same measurement to Dick, another
engineer. Dick independently repeats each of your steps, with one exception: for some reason, he
selects a 40 Hz bandwidth filter. At this point, note that neither you nor Dick nor the chief would
know, without further measurements, that the vibration that interests the chief is (1) random and
(2) “white” in the vicinity of 500 Hz. Because of (1) and (2), Dick’s voltmeter readout will be
proportional to the square root of bandwidth. Dick’s bandwidth is 1/4 of yours, so his voltmeter
readingwill be 1/2 of yours. Dick reports 2 g RMS to the chief.
AND HARRY ONLY MEASURES 1 g RMS
Highly perplexed, the boss assigns the task to Harry. Harry independently repeats each of yours
and Dick’s steps, with one exception: for some reason, Harry selects a 10 Hz bandwidth filter.
He gets 1 volt and reports 1 g RMSto the chief.

WHICH WAS CORRECT?

The chief is puzzled. Three engineers. Three reports. Was your reading correct? Was Dick’s?
Was Harry’s? In a sense, all were correct, but all erred in not telling the chief the frequency
range over which each measured: 420–580, 480–520, and 495–505 Hz, respectively. Then, the
chief could have commanded that everyone use the same bandwidth. Historically, the reports of
some early random vibration investigators failed to log thebandwidths the investigators had used.
Their data was essentially useless.

ALL USE g2/Hz

You, Dick, and Harry should have each squared the RMS reading and divided by the bandwidth,
as in Table 1, then each should have reported, “That vibration you wanted me to measure, chief,
it was 0.1 g2/Hz.” The chief might not have understood but he might be satisfied since each
made the samereport. (Does that describe any chief you might have had?)

Using this method, various laboratories, firms, and agencies can communicate regarding random
vibration intensity. The effect of bandwidth has been can-celled out...normalized. Nearly
everyone uses g2/Hz. A few workers use m2/s3.

That final column in Table 1, with the units g2/Hz, is commonly (in the U.S.) called PSD.
Elsewhere, it is known as ASD or as autocorrelation spectral density. All mean essentially the
same thing.

Area = 0.1 g2/Hz x 1980 Hz = 198 g2

Taking the square root, we arrive at 14 g RMS.

LOCATION MUST BE ON A SHAKER

Where is this location that interested your chief? It could not have been on any vehicle or
machine. Such spectra are very jagged. This spectrum could only be found on a shaker that had
been adjusted to deliver a flat, whitespectrum in accordance with an early, circa 1955, test
specification.
That number we just calculated, 14 g RMS, is useful. It tells us how hard our shaker is working.
We calculate F = MA. Here A is 14. We add up all the masses (weights) involved, including test
articles, fixture and shaker armature, andmultiply that total by 14. That gives us the RMS force
the shaker is delivering.

Such a flat test spectrum is rarely encountered today. Typical spectra contain PSD/ASD slopes
and steps. We will see how shaker systems automatically calculate root area. At one time, we did
those calculations with a hand calculator. Understand that yours, Dick’s, and Harry’s story is
only a story. It couldnever have happened.

The concept of analysis in terms of volts2/Hz was already well established in telephony long
before say 1950, when engineers began tomeasure random vibrations.

A far less popular normalizing alternative: volts/Hz.

Recognize, please, that the above term, 14 g RMS, by itself, means little. It measures how hard
the shaker is “working.” Numerous spectra,having various shapes, might all have the same area
and root area.

This article was extracted from Section 20.11 of Wayne Tustin’s 2005 text, Random Vibration
and Shock Testing. Wayne teaches short courses dealing with vibration and shock testing. His
schedule is posted at www.equipment-reliabili-ty.com.

Wayne Tustin,Equipment Reliability Institute,Santa Bar-bara,CA;805-564-

1260;tustin@equipment-reliability.com.