Sec. 3.1 Impulse Response Function a) 3.1 IMPULSE RESPONSE FUNCTION A very common source of vibration is the sudden application of a short-duration force called an impulse. An impulse excitation is a force that is applied for a very short, or infinitesimal, length of represents one example of a shock loading and is ce. The response of a system to an impulse is identical to the free response system to certain In many useful a nonperiodic ier initial conditions. This is illustrated in the following. ituations the applied force F (1) is impulsive in nature (ie., acts with large magnitude for a very short period of time), First, consider a mathematical model of an impulse excitation. A graphical time history of @ model of the impulse is given in Figure 3.1. This is a rectangular pulse of very large magnitude and very small width (duration) Fo 4 Figure 3.1 Time history of an impulse force used to model impulsive Joading of large magnitude applied over a short time interval The rule of Figure 3.1 is stated symbolically as 0 tT+e where € is a small positive number. This simple rule, F(#), can be integrated to define the impulse. The impulse of the force F(¢) is defined by the integral 1 (e) by w+ =] Fad which provides a measure of the strength of the forcing function F(t). Since the rule F(t) is zero outside the time interval from 7 ~€ to 7 +, the limits of integration on 1(€) can be extended to yield 1(e) = [ F(t)dt (3.2) which has the units of N-s. In this case the integral of equation (3.2) is evaluated by calculating the area under the curve using equation (3.1), which becomes: ed FE A 1) i Fd = 52e=F G3) cana Generel Forced Response — Chap. g of the value of € as lor he limit os «> O Cou € #0), the integral takes the value /(€) his is used 10 define the impulse {4URCKON we the function F(¢) with the two pr Fa-n=0 t¢# 4) and / Fa-nd=h 34) If the magnitude of F is unity, this becomes the definition of the unit impulse function, denoted 8(¢), also called the Dirac delta function (Boyce and DiPrima, 1986), ‘The solution for response of the single-degree-of-freedom system (see Window 3.4) to an impulsive load for the system initially at rest is calculated by recalling from physics that an impulse imparts a change in momentum to a body. Por the sake of simplicity take + = 0 in the definition of an impulse. Consider the mass to be at rest just prior to the application of an impulse force. This instant of time is denoted 0”. The initial conditions are both zero, so that x(0") = i(0*) = 0, since the system is initially at rest, Thus the change in momentum at impact is mi(0*) —mi(O~) = mvo, so that F = Fr = muy —0 = mvp, while the initial displacement remains at zero, Thus ap impulse applied to a single-degree-of-freedom spring-mass system is the same as applying the initial conditions of zero displacement and an initial velocity of vp = PAt/m. | Window 3.1 Review of the Response of the Single-Degree-of-Freedom System of Chapter mi + ck +kx = F(t) 10=% ey E+ Mot +u7x = f(s) ‘This system has free response [i.e., f(t) = 0] in the underdamped case (i,, 0 <{ <1) given by Vie + om? + Cows? o/1-e O= sin(wyt +) =o/l-@ and = tap) oa oe Yo + hiro Here wo = /E7m, { = c/(2me), and 0 < { < 1 must hold for the solution above to be valid [from equations (1.36) to (1.38)}.Sec. 3.1 Impulse Response Function si or an underdamped system (0 < < 1) the response to the initial conditions Xo = 0, v) = F Jn is of the form (F ¢ Ft, has units of N-s) x(t) = —— sin wat 3.6) moog as predicted by equations (1.36) and (1.38), repeated in Window 3.1. It is convenient to write this solution in the form x() = Fhe) G7) where /(¢) is defined by 1 ’ h(t) = —e™ sin agt (3.8) moog Note that the function f(t) is the response to a unit impulse applied at time ¢ = 0. If applied at time t = 1, 7 #0, this can also be written as (replace t above with t — 7) 1 aS tour) moa sinou(t r>t G9) and zero for the interval 0 <1 <7. The functions h(t) and h(t — 7) are each called the impulse response function of the system. While the impulse is a mathematical abstraction of an infinite force applied over an infinitesimal time, in applications it presents an excellent model of a force applied over a short period of time. The impulse response is physically interpreted as the response to an initial velocity with no initial displacement (hence no phase shift for t = 0). The impulse response function is useful for calculating the response of a system to a general applied force excitation as discussed in Section 3.2. A common occurrence that causes such an excitation is an impact. In vibration testing, a mechanical device under test is often given an impact and the response measured to determine the system’s vibration properties. The impact is often created by hitting the test specimen with a hammer containing a device for measuring the impact force. Use of the impulse response for vibration testing is also discussed in Chapter 7. In practice, a force is considered to be an impulse if its duration (Ar) is very short compared with the period, T = 21/o, associated with the structure’s undamped natural frequency. In typical vibration tests, Ar is on the order of 107° s. Example 3.1.1 In vibration testing an instrumented hammer is often used to hit a device to excite it and to measure the impact force simultaneously. If the device being tested is a single-degree- of-freedom system, plot the responses given m = 1 kg, c = 0.5 kg/s, k = 4 N/m, and F =2N-s. It is often difficult to provide a single impact with a hammer. Sometimes a “double hit” occurs, so the exciting force may have the form f(t) = 28) +807)