Why Is Random Vibration Quantified In Strange g2/Hz Units?

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), Dicks voltmeter readout will be proportional to the square root of bandwidth. Dicks 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 Dicks 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 Dicks? Was Harrys? In a sense, all were correct, but all erred in not telling the chief the frequency range over which each measured: 420580, 480520, and 495505 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 usesg2/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, Dicks, and Harrys 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.