Introduction to Random Vibration Testing

Back to: Random Testing

The paper, What is Random Vibration Testing?, defines random vibration testing by comparing it to sine testing and introduces pertinent random statistics that later lessons in this course will build upon.

Main Takeaways

• How random vibration testing differs from sine testing
• Introduction to the underlying statistics of random vibration

Sine vibration tests function differently than random vibration tests because a sine test runs one frequency at a time, and random tests excite all the frequencies in the defined spectrum at any given time.

For more information about the difference between sine and random testing, consider reviewing the following resource:

Webinar (23:10)

When to Use Random Vibration Testing

According to the article, When Should I Use Random Vibration Testing?, vibration test engineers should use random vibration testing when:

• Looking to test a product for real-life, non-deterministic vibration
• Looking to see how a product will respond to multiple resonances being excited at the same time

Bringing a product to failure using a sine track and dwell test at one frequency ignores how vibrations at other frequencies affect the failure rate. Random vibration testing results in a faster failure mode because all frequencies in the test profile are excited simultaneously.

Does this sound like the vibration testing you need to perform? If so, let’s get started.