Publications

Testing in a combined vibration and acceleration environment

Jepsen, Richard A.; Romero, Eduardo F.

Sandia National Laboratories has previously tested a capability to impose a 7.5 g-rms (30 g peak) radial vibration load up to 2 kHz on a 25 lb object with superimposed 50 g acceleration at its centrifuge facility. This was accomplished by attaching a 3,000 lb Unholtz-Dickie mechanical shaker at the end of the centrifuge arm to create a 'Vibrafuge'. However, the combination of non-radial vibration directions, and linear accelerations higher than 50g's are currently not possible because of the load capabilities of the shaker and the stresses on the internal shaker components due to the combined centrifuge acceleration. Therefore, a new technique using amplified piezo-electric actuators has been developed to surpass the limitations of the mechanical shaker system. They are lightweight, modular and would overcome several limitations presented by the current shaker. They are 'scalable', that is, adding more piezo-electric units in parallel or in series can support larger-weight test articles or displacement/frequency regimes. In addition, the units could be mounted on the centrifuge arm in various configurations to provide a variety of input directions. The design along with test results will be presented to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the new piezo-electric Vibrafuge.