Design and Evaluation of Multi-Axis High-Frequency Vibration Shaker Systems
Dr. Georg Mauer, U of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ms. Brinda Venkatesh, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas

Abstract:
When  mechanical and electronic components  operate in environments subjected to large omni-directional accelerations, the realistic testing of product prototypes requires the duplication of the vibration conditions recorded during field tests in the laboratory. Realistic multi-axis vibration testing contributes to the reliable performance of the final product. In order to avoid structural overloads and equipment malfunctions, elastic systems (mechanical and/or electrical) must be evaluated and tested for their performance over the entire frequency range of their operations. A six-Degree of freedom multi-axis shaker system would create more realistic component vibration tests than the more common uniaxial tests, and thus improve component reliability. All elastic bodies exhibit structural resonances and mode shapes at various natural frequencies. As the shaker system’s operational frequency range increases, the test platform becomes increasingly likely to exhibit structural resonances, at which the platform would become uncontrollable. Shaker platform design is thus governed by the requirement to avoid structural resonances as much as possible. The shaker controller governs the shaker system’s spectral dynamics so as to ensure the fidelity of the shaker’s output spectra to the reference spectra at a specified location, e.g. at the center of the platform table onto which test articles are mounted.  This paper describes the design, finite element analysis (FEA), and experimental performance evaluation of a six-axis electrodynamic shaker for small payloads, accelerations to 25g, and frequencies to 2 kHz. The results from FEA dynamic system simulation (input/output spectra and modal analysis) are compared with experimental time-domain measurements and spectral analysis for multiple platform design configurations. The results to date have shown reasonable agreement between FEA predictions and the experimental records.

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