Nonlinear Random Vibration: Experimental Results

Abstract

Experimental investigations of random excitation of dynamic systems are valuable but scarce. They are particularly important for nonlinear random vibrations, since different approaches can lead to different results for the same problem. They are also useful in providing physical insight into a number of complex dynamic phenomena and in identifying the modal parameters of systems. The scarcity of random vibration testing is mainly due to a number of difficulties and errors encountered in generating the correct random excitation, and data acquisition. The purpose of this review article is to assess the recent experimental results reported in the literature by the author and others. An attempt will be made to correlate the experimental measurements qualitatively with those predicted analytically. In most cases, no quantitative comparisons have been made. Difficulties encountered in experimental tests, data acquisition, and associated errors, will be discussed. New research directions based on recent analytical and experimental developments in the theory of nonlinear random vibration will also be outlined.