Working with Physical Measurements from Severe Mechanical Shock & More

This training module focuses on the acquisition of transient physical measurements using accelerometers, strain gauges, and other commonly used sensors as well as working with the typically noisy data generated from these measurements. The training also covers the validation and comparison of physical test data with transient numerical simulation results. This training is recommended for those taking physical measurement data as well as those who receive or work with physical measurement/test data (that means FEA users too!).

Please note, the training concentrates on many aspects related to making good and accurate transient measurements, and then how the proper use of DSP techniques is often required to obtain improved results and correlation between physical tests and numerical simulations. The training does not discuss how to tune simulations to obtain improved correlations.

Course Objectives & Benefits

  • Get BOTH the measurement/test engineer and simulation user on the same page!
  • Learn about the key aspects of making a good transient measurement.
  • Explore sources that cause distortions in physical tests, and then how to potentially remove them.
  • Learn about the challenges of taking accurate transient accelerometer and strain gage measurements, and techniques to improve both the raw data as well as its down-stream post-processing.
  • Experience how to use DFS to identify the bandwidth of the noise-floor in measurements and then apply appropriate filtering to significantly improve the noise-floor.
  • Learn how to obtain better correlations between physical tests and FEA simulations.

Course Outline

  • General Comments on Physical Measurements
  • Data Acquisition System Requirements for Shock Measurements & Other Transient Events
  • Physical Measurements with Accelerometers
  • The Importance of Sensor Mounting & Cabling
  • Some Interesting Tests with Accelerometers and Angular-Rate Sensors
  • Accelerometer Issues – Zero Shifting and More
  • Post-Processing of a Typical Shock Measurement
  • Physical Measurements with Other Sensors (Strain Gages, Load Cells …)
  • Measure with Multiple Approaches Using Different “Physics” Whenever Possible
  • Comparing Models to Physical Measurements
  • Processing Simulation Data with Various DSP Tools Commonly Used by Experimentalists and Test Engineers
  • Final Comments & FAQs
  • Workshops
    • The class provides several fully-solved examples including their raw data files that the attendees can explore to further solidify their learnings.

Course Duration

  • Four sessions, 3 hours each (12 hours total)

Prerequisites

  • Some previous exposure to transient physical test measurements is beneficial, but not required.
  • Basic understanding of digital signal processing similar to that taught in DSP Essentials module is recommended.

Training Delivery Options

  • Public Web Training via Zoom
    • Cost: $1,105
  • Request a customized course for your company/organization.
    • Can be delivered LIVE over the web or in-person at your site.
    • You can customize content, including having use utilize one or more of YOUR datasets in workshop examples.
    • Click here to request a quote.

Current Training Course Offerings:

Testimonials

Ted Diehl has the best material I have seen explaining aliasing and all the ‘gotchas’ in the measurement process.
— Luke A. Martin, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
Ted Diehl is a fantastic instructor with lots of practical industrial use case examples. I highly recommend his classes to anyone post-processing Explicit FEA simulation results!
— Lori Boynge, SIMULIA User Advocacy Director, 3DS
This DSP seminar should be mandatory for every explicit dynamics user. Ted is a great lecturer. I have attended many seminars over the years; I believe Ted’s was one of, if not the most useful. Looking back to all the things I did with Explicit, I know now that they could have been done better had I had the knowledge provided by the class...
— Pedro Bastias, NACCO - Materials Handling Group