You are on page 1of 2

12/3/2015

ModalanalysisWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Modalanalysis
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Modalanalysisisthestudyofthedynamicpropertiesof
structuresundervibrationalexcitation.
Modalanalysisisthefieldofmeasuringandanalysingthe
dynamicresponseofstructuresandorfluidsduringexcitation.
Exampleswouldincludemeasuringthevibrationofacar'sbody
whenitisattachedtoanelectromagneticshaker,orthenoise
patterninaroomwhenexcitedbyaloudspeaker.Modernday
modalanalysissystemsarecomposedof1)sensorssuchas
transducers(typicallyaccelerometers,loadcells),ornoncontact
viaaLaservibrometer,orstereophotogrammetriccameras2)
dataacquisitionsystemandananalogtodigitalconverter
frontend(todigitizeanaloginstrumentationsignals)and3)host
PC(personalcomputer)toviewthedataandanalyzeit.
ClassicallythiswasdonewithaSIMO(singleinput,multiple
output)approach,thatis,oneexcitationpoint,andthenthe
responseismeasuredatmanyotherpoints.Inthepastahammer
survey,usingafixedaccelerometerandarovinghammeras
excitation,gaveaMISO(multipleinput,singleoutput)analysis,
whichismathematicallyidenticaltoSIMO,duetotheprinciple
ofreciprocity.InrecentyearsMIMO(multiinput,multiple
output)havebecomemorepractical,wherepartialcoherence
analysisidentifieswhichpartoftheresponsecomesfromwhich
excitationsource.Usingmultipleshakersleadstoauniform
distributionoftheenergyovertheentirestructureandabetter
coherenceinthemeasurement.Asingleshakermaynot
effectivelyexciteallthemodesofastructure.[1]
Typicalexcitationsignalscanbeclassedasimpulse,broadband,
sweptsine,chirp,andpossiblyothers.Eachhasitsown
advantagesanddisadvantages.
TheanalysisofthesignalstypicallyreliesonFourieranalysis.
Theresultingtransferfunctionwillshowoneormore
resonances,whosecharacteristicmass,frequencyanddamping
canbeestimatedfromthemeasurements.

Car'sdoorattachedtoan
electromagneticshaker.

Aphotographshowingthetestsetup
ofaMIMOtestonawindturbine
rotor.Thebladesareexcitedusing
threemechanicalshakersandthe
responseismeasuredusing12
accelerometersmountedtoBlade3
inthenextstageofthetest,the
accelerometerscanbemovedtoBlade
2and3tomeasureresponseatthose
locations. [1]

TheanimateddisplayofthemodeshapeisveryusefultoNVH(noise,vibration,andharshness)
engineers.
Theresultscanalsobeusedtocorrelatewithfiniteelementanalysisnormalmodesolutions.

Contents
1 Structures

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_analysis

1/3

12/3/2015

ModalanalysisWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

1 Structures
2 Electrodynamics
3 Seealso
4 References
5 Externallinks

Structures
Instructuralengineering,modalanalysisusestheoverallmassandstiffnessofastructuretofindthe
variousperiodsatwhichitwillnaturallyresonate.Theseperiodsofvibrationareveryimportanttonote
inearthquakeengineering,asitisimperativethatabuilding'snaturalfrequencydoesnotmatchthe
frequencyofexpectedearthquakesintheregioninwhichthebuildingistobeconstructed.Ifa
structure'snaturalfrequencymatchesanearthquake'sfrequency,thestructuremaycontinuetoresonate
andexperiencestructuraldamage.
Althoughmodalanalysisisusuallycarriedoutbycomputers,itispossibletohandcalculatetheperiod
ofvibrationofanyhighrisebuildingthroughidealizationasafixedendedcantileverwithlumped
masses.Foramoredetailedexplanation,see"StructuralAnalysis"byGhali,Neville,andBrown,asit
providesaneasytofollowapproachtoidealizingandsolvingcomplexstructuresbyhand.

Electrodynamics
Thebasicideaofamodalanalysisinelectrodynamicsisthesameasinmechanics.Theapplicationisto
determinewhichelectromagneticwavemodescanstandorpropagatewithinconductingenclosuressuch
aswaveguidesorresonators.

Seealso
Frequencyanalysis
ModalanalysisusingFEM
Modeshape
Eigenanalysis
Structuraldynamics
Vibration
Modaltesting
Seismicperformanceanalysis

References
1. "ComparisonofModalParametersExtractedUsingMIMO,SIMO,andImpactHammerTestsonaThree
BladedWindTurbine,ExperimentalMechanicsSeries2014,pp185197[1]
(http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/9783319047744_19)

D.J.Ewins:ModalTesting:Theory,PracticeandApplication
JiminHe,ZhiFangFu(2001).ModalAnalysis,ButterworthHeinemann.ISBN0750650796.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_analysis

2/3

You might also like