Operational Modal Analysis of Self-Excited Vibrations in Milling Considering Periodic Dynamics

Abstract

A new method is presented to identify the dynamics of regenerative chatter from measured process vibrations in milling. This method combines the synchronous once-per-revolution sampling of process vibrations with the operational modal analysis to estimate the Floquet multipliers of the delayed linear time-periodic dynamics in milling, all from the natural process vibrations without external excitation. The identified multipliers quantify vibration stability, enabling chatter prediction before it occurs. In addition to this, they can be used to calibrate physics-based chatter models based on vibration measurements solely within the stable region. The method’s accuracy in identifying Floquet multipliers is validated through extensive numerical simulations and two experimental case studies. The results show that chatter due to both Hopf and period-doubling bifurcations can be predicted from the process vibrations during stable cuts. Moreover, the experimental case studies demonstrate a vibration measurement system for implementing the presented method in standard milling operations and confirm its effectiveness in practice.