Basics of Structural Vibration Testing and Analysis

Basic Terminology of Structural Vibration The term vibration describes repetitive motion that can be measured and observed in a structure. Unwanted vibration can cause fatigue or degrade the performance of the structure. Therefore it is desirable to eliminate or reduce the effects of vibration. In other cases, vibration is unavoidable or even desirable. In this case, the goal may be to understand the effect on the structure, or to control or modify the vibration, or to isolate it from the structure and minimize structural response. Vibration analysis is divided into sub-categories such as free vs. forced vibration, sinusoidal vs. random vibration, and linear vs. rotation-induced vibration.