Taking laser Doppler vibrometry off the tripod: correction of measurements affected by instrument vibration

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Laser Doppler vibrometers (LDVs) are now well-established as an effective non-contact alternative to traditional contacting transducers. Despite 30 years of successful applications, however, very little attention has been given to sensitivity to vibration of the instrument itself. In this paper, the sensitivity to instrument vibration is confirmed before development theoretically and experimentally of a practical scheme to enable correction of measurements for arbitrary instrument vibration. The scheme requires a pair of correction sensors with appropriate orientation and relative location, while using frequency domain processing to accommodate inter-channel time delay and signal integrations. Error reductions in excess of 30 dB are delivered in laboratory tests with simultaneous instrument and target vibration over a broad frequency range. Ultimately, application to measurement on a vehicle simulator experiencing high levels of vibration demonstrates the practical nature of the correction technique and its robustness in a challenging measurement environment

Vibration measurements using continuous scanning laser vibrometry: Advanced aspects in rotor applications

This paper builds on previous work concerned with the development of a comprehensive velocity sensitivity model for continuous scanning Laser Vibrometry. This versatile model predicts the measured velocity for arbitrary mirror scan angles and arbitrary target motion and it has been especially valuable in revealing the sources of additional components seen in continuous scanning and tracking measurements on rotors. The application to vibration measurements on rotors is the particular focus of this paper which includes, for the first time, a three-dimensional consideration of the incident point on the target and validation of the DC component of measured velocity leading to evaluation of the individual components of the small but inevitable misalignments between the rotor and optical axes. This has not previously been possible. Misalignments in the region 0.5 mm and 0.5° were found and the model shows how additional components of the order 10-20 mm/s result for typical measurements. Such levels are significant as they are comparable with vibration levels likely in real applications and, if unexpected, may lead to data misinterpretation. The first thorough analysis of laser speckle effects in scanning Laser Vibrometer measurements on rotors is presented in the form of a speckle repeat map, together with experimental data quantifying the dramatic reduction in speckle noise found in tracking measurements. Finally, the velocity sensitivity model and the description of laser speckle effects are used to enable confident interpretation of data from a series of measurements on a rotating bladed disc. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Towards laser Doppler vibrometry from unmanned aerial vehicles

© 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Laser Doppler vibrometers are technically well suited to general application but they offer special benefits in a variety of challenging measurement scenarios which are now well documented and accepted. An interesting and potentially powerful example of such a challenging measurement scenario is one where the laser vibrometer is mounted on/in an unmanned aerial vehicle in order that autonomous measurement campaigns can be undertaken in remote and/or harsh environments. One important challenge to overcome in such a scenario is the measurement sensitivity to vibration of the instrument itself or indeed of any steering optics used to point the probe laser beam toward the target of interest. In this paper, recently reported means by which this measurement sensitivity can be rectified by simultaneously obtained correction measurements will be developed. Specifically, this development is intended to lead towards laser Doppler vibrometry from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with correction of instrument motion being presented herein for the first time from a single, rather than a pair of, uniaxial accelerometers

Vibration measurements using continuous scanning laser Doppler vibrometry: Theoretical velocity sensitivity analysis with applications

It is readily accepted that a laser vibrometer measures target velocity in the direction of the incident laser beam, but this measured velocity must be considered in terms of the various components of the target velocity. This paper begins with a review of the theoretical description of the velocity sensed by a single laser beam incident in an arbitrary direction on a rotating target undergoing arbitrary vibration. The measured velocity is presented as the sum of six terms, each the product of a combination of geometric parameters, relating to the laser beam orientation, and a combination of motion parameters-the 'vibration sets'. This totally general velocity sensitivity model can be applied to any measurement configuration on any target. The model is also sufficiently versatile to incorporate time-dependent beam orientation and this is described in this paper, with reference to continuous scanning laser Doppler vibrometry. For continuous scanning applications, the velocity sensitivity model is shown formulated in two useful ways. The first is in terms of the laser beam orientation angles, developing the original model to include time dependency in the angles, whilst the second is an entirely new development in which the model is written in terms of the mirror scan angles, since it is these which the operator would seek to control in practice. In the original derivation, the illuminated section of the rotating target was assumed to be of rigid cross section but, since continuous scanning measurements are employed on targets with flexible cross sections, such as beams, panels and thin or bladed discs, the theory is developed in this paper for the first time to include provision for such flexibility

Vibration measurements using continuous scanning laser vibrometry: Velocity sensitivity model experimental validation

This paper builds on a previous study in which the theoretical description of the velocity sensed by a single laser beam incident in an arbitrary direction on a rotating target undergoing arbitrary vibration was extended to continuous scanning laser vibrometer measurements on targets with flexible cross sections. The velocity sensitivity model was written in terms of either laser beam orientation angles or deflection mirror scan angles, with the latter found to be the most useful for continuous scanning applications. The model enables the prediction of the laser vibrometer output for any measurement configuration on any target. The experimental validation presented in this paper confirms that additional components appear in rotating target measurements that are associated with both the scanning system configuration and any misalignment between the scanning system and target rotation axes. This paper will show how use of the velocity sensitivity model enables the vibration engineer to make laser Doppler vibrometry measurements with confidence

Radial vibration measurements directly from rotors using laser vibrometry: The effects of surface roughness, instrument misalignments and pseudo-vibration

Laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) offers an attractive solution when radial vibration measurement directly from a rotor surface is required. Research to date has demonstrated application on polished-circular rotors and rotors coated with retro-reflective tape. In the latter case, however, a significant cross-sensitivity to the orthogonal radial vibration component occurs and post-processing is required to resolve individual radial vibration components. Until now, the fundamentally different behaviour observed between these cases has stood as an inconsistency in the published literature, symptomatic of the need to understand the effect of surface roughness. This paper offers the first consistent mathematical description of the polished-circular and rough rotor behaviours, combined with an experimental investigation of the relationship between surface roughness and cross-sensitivity. Rotors with surface roughness up to 10 nm satisfy the polished-circular rotor definition if vibration displacement is below 100% beam diameter, for a 90 μm beam, and below 40% beam diameter, for a 520 μm beam. On rotors with roughness between 10 nm and 50 nm, the polished-circular rotor definition is satisfied for vibration displacements up to 25% beam diameter, for a 90 μm beam, and up to 10% beam diameter, for a 520 μm beam. As roughness increases, cross-sensitivity increases but only rotors coated in retro-reflective tape satisfied the rough rotor definition fully. Consequently, when polished-circular surfaces are not available, rotor surfaces must be treated with retro-reflective tape and measurements post-processed to resolve individual vibration components. Through simulations, the value of the resolution and correction algorithms that form the post-processor has been demonstrated quantitatively. Simulations incorporating representative instrument misalignments and measurement noise have enabled quantification of likely error levels in radial vibration measurements. On a polished-circular rotor, errors around 0.2% for amplitude and 2 mrad for phase are likely, rising a little at the integer orders affected by pseudo-vibration. Higher pseudo-vibration levels and the need for resolution increase errors in the rough rotor measurements, especially around the synchronous frequency where errors reach 20% by amplitude and 100 mrad for phase. Outside a range of half an order either side of first order, errors are ten times lower and beyond fifth order errors are similar to those for the polished-circular rotor. Further simulations were performed to estimate sensitivities to axial vibration, speed variation and bending vibrations. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Understanding the Dynamic Behaviour of a Tennis Racket under Play Conditions

The 'feel' of tennis rackets is of increasing importance to manufacturers seeking product differentiation in a context where further performance enhancements are prevented by a combination of mechanical limits and regulations imposed to protect the integrity of the sport. Vibrations excited during a shot contribute greatly to the perception of 'feel'. Previous studies have been reported but none has covered the full set of mode families or the frequency range in this study. In-plane vibrations associated with the routine use of topspin shots in modern tennis have not been documented so far in the literature. To consider modal behaviour, multiple measurements during play conditions are required but this is practically impossible. This paper proposes an alternative approach and successfully relates a comprehensive modal analysis on a freely suspended racket to vibration measurements under play conditions. This is achieved through an intermediate stage comprising a necessarily more limited modal analysis on a hand-gripped racket and use of the mass modification modal analysis tool. This stage confirmed the prevailing view that hand-gripping can be considered as a mass modification distributed along the handle of the freely suspended racket but the associated mass was much lower than that of an actual hand and the hand also increased the damping ratio of frame modes significantly. Furthermore, in frame vibration measurements during forehand groundstrokes, a greater reduction in bending mode frequencies was observed, consistent with a mass-loading of around 25 % of the actual hand as a consequence of the tighter grip. In these play tests, the first two bending modes, the first torsional mode, the first eight stringbed modes, the first three hoop modes and the third in-plane bending mode were identified, with the stringbed modes being particularly prominent. © 2013 Society for Experimental Mechanics

Revisiting stigmergy in light of multi-functional, biogenic, termite structures as communication channel

Termite mounds are fascinating because of their intriguing composition of numerous geometric shapes and materials. However, little is known about these structures, or of their functionalities. Most research has been on the basic composition of mounds compared with surrounding soils. There has been some targeted research on the thermoregulation and ventilation of the mounds of a few species of fungi-growing termites, which has generated considerable interest from human architecture. Otherwise, research on termite mounds has been scattered, with little work on their explicit properties. This review is focused on how termites design and build functional structures as nest, nursery and food storage; for thermoregulation and climatisation; as defence, shelter and refuge; as a foraging tool or building material; and for colony communication, either as in indirect communication (stigmergy) or as an information channel essential for direct communication through vibrations (biotremology). Our analysis shows that systematic research is required to study the properties of these structures such as porosity and material composition. High resolution computer tomography in combination with nonlinear dynamics and methods from computational intelligence may provide breakthroughs in unveiling the secrets of termite behaviour and their mounds. In particular, the examination of dynamic and wave propagation properties of termite-built structures in combination with a detailed signal analysis of termite activities is required to better understand the interplay between termites and their nest as superorganism. How termite structures serve as defence in the form of disguising acoustic and vibration signals from detection by predators, and what role local and global vibration synchronisation plays for building are open questions that need to be addressed to provide insights into how termites utilise materials to thrive in a world of predators and competitors

On the dynamic response of an instrumented headform for alternative mounting stiffnesses when subjected to ballistic impacts

© 2017, © IMechE 2017. The current British Standard for head protectors for cricketers has been recently revised to include a projectile-based battery of tests, the intention being to ensure that a certified helmet will also prevent contact of the ball or grille with the specified headform facial region. The purpose of this study was to characterise the dynamic response of the headform to direct ballistic impacts for alternative headform mounting arrangements. On one hand, and in accordance with the relevant sections of the Standard, what might be described as a ‘Constrained’ setup was evaluated while, on the other hand, an arrangement with significantly reduced stiffness, in line with that previously reported for the passive human neck, was subject to equivalent appraisal. For each mounting scenario, an air cannon was used to project a cricket training ball at three speeds towards the instrumented headform at three locations with five repeats per speed/location combination. High-rate/resolution video and piezoelectric accelerometer data were collected and processed to determine the headform response. While differences between specific ball impact speed and location scenarios are set out in detail later in the article, overall observations are summarised as follows. From a ball/headform contact duration standpoint, video derived results showed ranges of 1.30–1.45 ms (Constrained) versus 1.26–1.41 ms. Maximum ball deformations, the timing of which enabling the event to be subdivided into ‘loading’ and ‘unloading’ phases, were found to be 82.5%–86.2% (Constrained) versus 82.8%–86.4% of original ball diameter; mean peak headform accelerations during loading were found to be 860–1615 m/s2 (Constrained) versus 967–1638 m/s2; and headform speeds at the end of the loading phase were found to be 0.5–0.92 m/s (Constrained) versus 0.54–0.93 m/s. Differences between headform response for the two mounting arrangements were observed to be more substantial during the loading rather than unloading phase

Restoring high accuracy to laser Doppler vibrometry measurements affected by vibration of beam steering optics

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Laser Doppler vibrometers are now well-established as an effective non-contact alternative to traditional contacting transducers. Wide-ranging applications include those where beam steering optics are required to reach locations that are difficult to access but no attention has yet been given to measurement sensitivity to the vibration of those optics. In this paper, a thorough mathematical treatment of this sensitivity to steering optic vibration and its correction is set out. A very practical scheme requiring a single correction measurement, from the back-surface of the mirror at the incidence point and aligned with the mirror normal, delivers an error reduction typically in excess of 30 dB. After validation in the laboratory, the scheme is then applied to a genuinely challenging measurement scenario on a single cylinder racing motorcycle. Correction is theoretically perfect for translational mirror vibrations but angular mirror vibrations require an adapted scheme using a triplet of accelerometers arranged around a circular path on the mirror back-surface and this is set out theoretically