Reprinted from the IMAC-XVI Proceedings, 1997, with permission of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc.

, 7 School Street, Bethel, CT 06801, 203-790-6373, Fax 203-790-4472, email sem@sem1.com, http://www.sem.org.

INSTRUMENTED SLEDGE HAMMER IMPACT EXCITATION: WORKED EXAMPLES A. Pavic, R. Pimentel and P. Waldron
University of Sheffield Centre for Cement and Concrete Department of Civil and Structural Engineering Sheffield S1 3JD United Kingdom

ABSTRACT. The paper firstly outlines typical differences between the philosophy of conducting modal testing in civil engineering compared to the application of the same technology in mechanical, automotive and aerospace engineering. These differences have a strong influence on the selection of a fast modal testing technique suitable for civil engineering applications. The instrumented hammer testing technique, where the impactor is a manually operated sledge hammer proved to be very popular because of its low cost, simplicity and speed of execution. However, specifics of modal testing of civil engineering structures such as the use of portable equipment in open space environments, low natural frequencies, closely spaced modes of vibration and relatively high damping require special consideration. This paper discusses some of these considerations which are not adequately addressed in the available literature. The problems presented are related to the use of a portable spectrum analyser, which typically has a limited number of digital data analysis options, when performing modal testing of long span concrete floors and footbridges using an instrumented sledge hammer.

1.

INTRODUCTION

The measurement of the dynamic properties of large civil engineering structures is notoriously difficult. There are several reasons for this, such as the size of the structure, adverse field conditions in which the dynamic measurements typically take place and the generally poor attitude of the civil engineering sector towards full-scale structural dynamic testing.

The size of the structure, typically weighing hundreds, if not thousands of tonnes, makes its artificial excitation difficult. The measurement of typically very small responses also requires ultra-sensitive transducers which normally pick up a lot of ambient excitation caused by the open space environments in which the structures are tested. Such excitation results in high uncorrelated background noise on the output channel(s). Whereas in ambient vibration testing such unmeasured excitation is desirable, in forced vibration testing, where the artificial excitation is measured, this phenomenon is unwanted. It increases the number of averages required to eliminate the effects of unmeasured excitation [1] which is usually caused by wind or traffic. Moreover, field conditions put a lot of pressure on the logistics of field testing and in-situ quality assurance (QA) systems. Finally, and quite contrary to the mechanical and aerospace industries, the construction industry has a very conservative reputation regarding the application of modal testing techniques in analysis and design. This may appear to be somewhat surprising as modal testing of prototype structures is an indispensable design tool used in everyday design in the automotive and aerospace industries. However, the vast majority of civil engineering designs are not based on prototyping but on codes of practice. This means that practically every civil engineering structure is a unique oneoff design. Dynamic tests of such structures are extremely valuable in terms of learning about their actual as-built behaviour and using such knowledge in future designs. Unfortunately, there are very few incentives for the owners and users of such structures to permit dynamic testing which causes disruption after they are opened for use.

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Fortunately, the newly established UK Dynamic Testing Agency (DTA) has detected [2] a recent change in this attitude by a variety of interested parties: developers, insurers, designers and builders [who] are all now seeking confirmation that structures are performing as designed.

1.1.

THE NEED FOR HAMMER TESTING

Therefore, there is an increased need for a fast, inexpensive and adequately reliable modal testing method. Ambient excitation, such as wind or traffic, has been used for many years now as a source of unmeasured excitation in dynamic testing of large structures. However, a large number of civil engineering structures which may be requiring frequent modal testing in the near future could be expected to have closely spaced modes of vibration making their identification from response-only measurements difficult if not impossible. Therefore, a modal testing method where both input (excitation) and output (response) are measured and FRFs are calculated, is seemingly the preferred way forward. Typical examples, with which the authors have been involved over the last 5 years, are slender structures, such as long-span floors [3] and fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) footbridges [4] requiring consideration of their vibration serviceability. Floors, footbridges and medium-span road bridges are sometimes called medium sized structures where one modal testing technique has proved to be particularly popular. This is an impulse response technique using a manually operated instrumented sledge hammer. Some examples of using hammer excitation on chimneys and elevated tanks are presented by Maguire and Severn [5], on footbridges by Gardner-Morse and Huston [6], and by Brownjohn et al [7], on medium-sized bridges by Raghavendrachar and Aktan [8], and on floors by Caetano and Cunha [9]. Other methods for applying measurable excitation, such as an attached shaker working in reaction mode do exist, but they tend to require more resources than hammer testing. Hammer testing is, therefore, considered to be an excellent investigative tool for the purpose and accuracy required for vibration serviceability assessment.

of reconciliation between short testing times and the need for QA when making measurements is obviously necessary. A possible solution is the utilisation of an analogue tape recorder which would enable repetition of the data sampling exercises using different and best suited data acquisition parameters such as sampling rates, data acquisition duration (i.e. frequency resolution), characteristics of the exponential window which has to be applied, etc. Determination of the best combination of these parameters when producing FRFs is (usually) a time consuming trial and error procedure. The field testing time constraints usually mean that there will be no time to play with all possible options for FRF measurements in the field. This is the reason why analogue recording allowing later re-sampling is desirable. However, some limited data processing (digital sampling and FRF calculation) and analysis (simple curve fitting exercises) are required to be done in-situ as a means of ensuring that the system is properly set-up and that high quality analogue data are going to be acquired. For this, apart from the tape recorder, a portable spectrum analyser and curve fitting software available on site are crucial when conducting hammer testing. This paper describes some possible limitations and common pitfalls when using portable spectrum analysers in conjunction with hammer testing. Also, digital data acquisition set-ups that worked well when testing prototype floors and footbridges using an instrumented sledge hammer will be described.

2.

SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITION SETUPS

The theory and practice of hammer testing is well described in a classical paper by Halvorsen and Brown [11] published 20 years ago. Hammer testing is now internationally standardised in the comprehensive ISO 7626-5 standard [12], published in 1994. This standard covers many important QA aspects of impact testing in a more formal way.

2.1. 1.2. THE NEED FOR PORTABLE EQUIPMENT AND IN-SITU QUALITY ASSURANCE

CONSIDERATIONS

OF THE FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OPTIONS

LIMITED

Modal testing of prototype structures requires portable field testing equipment and a careful organisation and execution of the field work. This is governed by the severe testing time limitations which are usually imposed on in-situ modal testing exercises. When testing floors and footbridges the authors typically worked in two slots lasting only 12 hours each for a full modal survey including all necessary QA checks [10]. The checks are time consuming and some sort

Published literature usually cover hammer impact testing techniques used in the mechanical and aerospace engineering disciplines. In such applications, the frequency ranges of interest are typically higher than 50Hz. On the other hand, for civil engineering applications 50Hz is typically the upper bound of the frequency range of interest. In addition, civil engineering structures are usually heavily damped meaning that leakage is seldom a problem as transients die out well within the data acquisition time.

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This is illustrated in Figure 1 which shows typical timehistories of a hammer blow and the corresponding transient response. This is a measurement made on a real 600-tonne prestressed post-tensioned floor spanning 14.5m. As can be seen, all measurable response dies out after only approximately 1s. However, the data acquisition time was 8s, which is a common set-up when using a portable spectrum analyser which is suitable for field testing. A logical question which can be asked is why is it necessary to acquire such long signals registering mostly the background noise on both channels after 1s?

frequency of interest (i.e. bandwidth). This is done in order to satisfy the Nyquist condition and avoid distortion of signals which are passed through an imperfect anti-aliasing filter. The total data acquisition time, number of samples and the displayable analysis bandwidth are related as follows:

2.1.1. Frequency resolution vs. sampling rate

The principal reason for this is the closely spaced modes of vibration which is another specific property of civil engineering structures. In this particular case, by performing an FE analysis prior to the testing (which is another QA requirement [10]), it was established that 3 or 4 modes of vibration can be expected between 6Hz and 7Hz. This dictated a frequency resolution not greater than 0.125Hz. Although desirable, better frequency resolution is usually not practically achievable using a portable spectrum analyser. The reason is that such equipment, being very light, portable and convenient push-button devices, typically have a limited number of frequency analysis options which are hard-wired. This limitation is related to the conflicting requirements when calculating FRFs from impact tests in the lowfrequency region, as required in civil engineering applications. The first requirement is to sample the hammer hit properly i.e. with as many data points as possible along its main lobe. Holmes and White [13] insisted that at least 4 points along the hammer main lobe (Figure 2) should be s sampled in order to avoid poor digitization accuracy. To sample the hammer hit better, that is with more points, a faster sampling rate is naturally required. This increases the frequency analysis band and reduces the frequency resolution for the given number of data points i.e. frequency lines. This is not desirable. On the other hand, if the baseband is reduced in order to maximise the resolution using the maximum number of available frequency lines, the sampling rate becomes too slow and the hammer blow is not properly sampled even though anti-aliasing, which should be applied, increases its main lobe duration (Figure 2) [1]. This is the principal limitation encountered by the authors using a portable spectrum analyser in conjunction with hammer testing of large civil engineering structures. The following example illustrates this point.

Number of samples (1) 2.56 Bandwidth Equation (1) shows that, for the given number of samples, reducing the bandwidth increases the data acquisition time. After anti-aliasing, the main lobe of a half-sine pulse produced by a typical 5.4kg (12lb) manually operated instrumented sledge hammer lasts between 10 and 15ms (Figure 2). The minimum sampling rate required to sample 4 to 6 points along the main lobe is, therefore, 512 points per second or 1/512=1.953125ms. The sampling rate of 512 points per second corresponds to the 200Hz baseband analysis. Equation (1) and data in Table 1, therefore, show that the total data acquisition time should be 8s for the 4096 points necessary to produce 1600 frequency lines. This maximum number of frequency lines are required if the specified frequency resolution of 0.125Hz is to be obtained for a 200Hz baseband analysis (200Hz/1600=0.125Hz). Tacquisition =

2.2.

DYNAMIC

RANGE AND USE INSTRUMENTED SLEDGE HAMMER

OF

2.1.2. Example
Table 1 shows options when selecting the frequency ranges and number of data points (and frequency lines) which are typically available in a portable spectrum analyser. The analyser usually samples at 2.56 times the highest specified

It is well known that the dynamic range of instrumentation should be set-up so that there is no overloading and that there is enough resolution to describe analogue time histories. Also, civil structures are large and there is often a natural desire for the hammer operator to hit it hard and excite it properly Hard hits mean large initial acceleration . peak responses which decay quickly (Figure 1). However, large initial peak voltages require a greater instrumentation full-scale voltage range. This reduces the response signal resolution for either 12- or 16-bit calculations typically performed in a portable spectrum analyser. When the signal resolution is poor, the low-level noise is registered as a very long string of either zeros or very small and equal numbers. This is due to the relatively high damping and long data acquisition times which occur in hammer testing of civil engineering structures (Figure 1), as mentioned previously. This may cause problems with the numerical stability and accuracy of the FFT calculations. An indication of this problem, observed by the authors, is the calculation of coherence. When a 12-bit spectrum analyser digitisation was set at the 500mV full-scale dynamic range, it was observed that coherence calculations showed an unrealistic constant value of 1.0 for points away from resonances. The coherence was internally calculated by using FFT on a 16bit processor. Coherence for well excited resonances was

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high but lower than 1.0, as expected. If the signal resolution is a problem, then a reduction of the full-scale voltage range should improve the coherence, until overloading starts to occur. Spectrum analysers with a better dynamic range are clearly desirable but are not readily available.

2.4.

200HZ VS. 500HZ FRF BASEBAND RANGE

2.3.

THE USE OF AN EXPONENTIAL WINDOW AND THE FRF MEASUREMENT QA

Although the long data acquisition times and transients which die out quickly do not create signal leakage (Figure 1), this does not mean that exponential window should not be used. Such FRF measurements will have low signal-tonoise ratios and the use of the exponential window is beneficial as it attenuates noise after the transients die out. Figure 3 illustrates this point. The dotted line shows the point mobility measured on the previously mentioned 600tonne concrete floor. Ten averages, having time-histories similar to the one shown in Figure 1, were used. Data acquisition time was 8s (200Hz baseband analysis with 4096 points) and no exponential window was applied. The solid line shows the same ten averages (replayed from a tape recorder) utilising the highest possible exponential window decay. Higher damping, artificially introduced in the latter case is obvious. Whereas peaks between 6Hz and 7Hz of the solid FRF line clearly indicate the existence of closely spaced modes of vibration these are not visible on the heavily damped (solid) FRF. Nevertheless, when both FRFs were downloaded to a PC to perform an initial check of the FRF data quality using the SDoF circle-fit method, the FRF without exponential window could not be processed as it did not have enough points around resonance, whereas the Nyquist plot of the FRF with the exponential window clearly indicated all closely spaced modes of vibration. This initial check of the FRF data processibility by a SDoF curve-fit method proved to be very reliable and is usually possible only if the exponential window is used. Point mobility FRFs with the exponential window applied and which circle-fit parameter estimation cannot produce meaningful results, are usually an indication that something is wrong. The authors have spotted faulty transducers, poor connections, low batteries and, on one occasion, even a wrongly programmed portable spectrum analyser (manufacturer fault) following this procedure. It should be s stressed again that due to the above mentioned limitations in the allowable frequency resolution, an exponential window should be used in order to increase the number of FRF points above the half power level for each mode and make it processible by a simple SDoF circle-fit.

It is interesting that 200Hz baseband FRFs sampled at 1.953125ms (4096 points and 1600 spectral lines) were found to perform much better in parameter estimation than their 500Hz counterparts having the same number of spectral lines. It appears that the better frequency resolution is seemingly more important than the faster sampling rate. An explanation for this could be the application of an antialiasing filter which smoothes and extends the hammer blow. Figure 2 shows the prolonged duration of the hammer blow after anti-aliasing corresponding to 200Hz is applied. As previously stated, for such a prolonged duration lasting about 10ms, a sampling rate of 1.953125ms produces approximately 4-5 points per peak which appears to be sufficient for stable FRFs to be produced. With this set-up, typically 10 averages are necessary. As the higher frequencies are not of interest, the 200Hz baseband analysis was found to perform well. FRF measurements using lower baseband analyses (100, 50 and 25Hz, as shown in Table 1) suffered from poor signal-to-noise ratios due to the fact that anti-aliasing filters and slower sampling rates reduce the hammer peaks to the levels which are comparable to the levels of undershooting (Figure 1). This is always present in the transient signal produced by a sledge hammer which has a piezoelectric load transducer [1].

3.

CONCLUSIONS

The low and closely spaced frequencies of vibration, together with relatively large damping directly affect the setups of the digital data acquisition parameters used in conjunction with instrumented sledge hammer impact excitation. When testing full-scale floors and footbridges, it is prudent to take the following practicalities into consideration: Instrumented sledge hammers are usually delivered with a selection of tips having variable hardness. The softest, usually a rubber tip, should be used. Additional cushioning of the hammer blow is possible, but may require additional in-situ set-up time which may not be feasible. In any case, the main lobe of a typical hammer impact should not last less than 5-10ms (Figure 1) in order to concentrate the excitation energy in the lowfrequency region. The sledge hammer operator has to resist a natural desire to hit the structure hard and excite it properly Too . strong a hammer blow requires relatively high full-scale voltage setting on both channels. This may cause a poor resolution of typically long low-level signals resulting in numerical instability of FFT calculations. However, too gentle a blow may not excite the structure enough for even the ultra-sensitive response transducers to register

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the vibration signal above the noise level. Therefore, it is necessary to liaise with the hammer operator and, by trial and error, establish an optimum hammer hit strength. Such a hit should be applied throughout the test with as little change as possible. Although the upper frequency range of interest when testing long span floors or footbridges is usually only 50Hz, when using a portable spectrum analyser, the 200Hz baseband analysis with the maximum number of frequency lines should be selected for a 5-10ms hammer blow. This should be done in order to sample the hammer peak properly, improve the signal to noise ratio and have sufficient frequency resolution. Too fast a sampling rate corresponding to baseband analyses greater than 200Hz typically available in portable spectrum analysers (500Hz or more) may result in FRFs having poor frequency resolution even with the maximum number of frequency lines. Too slow a sampling rate corresponding to baseband analyses lower than 200Hz (100, 50 and 25Hz) usually results in improper hammer peak sampling, poor signal to noise ratios and inaccurate FRFs in which scaling tends to be greatly inaccurate.

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

4.
[1] [2]

REFERENCES
McConnell, K. G. Vibration Testing Theory and Practice. Wiley. 1995. Dynamic Testing Agency. Handbook on Guidelines to Best Practice, Vol. 0, An Introduction to the DTA its Products and Services. The DTA, UK. 1996. Pavic, A. Vibration Serviceability of Long-Span In-Situ Concrete Floors in Buildings. PhD Thesis. University of Sheffield, UK. 1997. Pimentel, R. L. Vibrational Performance of Pedestrian Bridges Due to Human-Induced Loads. PhD Thesis. University of Sheffield, UK. 1997. Maguire, J. R. and Severn, R. T. Assessing the Dynamic Properties of Prototype Structures by Hammer Testing. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 83, Part 2, pp. 769-784. 1987. Gardner-Morse, M. G. and Huston, D. R. Modal Identification of a Cable-Stayed Pedestrian Bridge. Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 119, No. 11, pp. 3384-3404. 1993. Brownjohn, J. M. W., Dumanoglu, A. A. and Taylor, C. A. Dynamic Investigation of a Suspension Footbridge. Engineering Structures. Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 395-406. 1994. Raghavendrachar, M and Aktan, A. E. Flexibility by Multireference Impact Testing for

Bridge Diagnostics. Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 118, No. 8, pp. 21862203. 1992. Caetano, E. and Cunha, A. Experimental Identification of Modal Parameters on a Full-Scale Structure. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements (Editors: Brebia, C. A. and Carlomagno, G. M.), Vol 2. pp. 321-336. 1993. DTA. Handbook on Guidelines to Best Practice, Vol. 3, Modal Testing. The Dynamic Testing Agency, UK. 1993 and 1995. Halvorsen, W. G. and Brown, D. L. Impulse Technique for Structural Frequency Response Testing. Sound and Vibration, pp. 8-21. November, 1977. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 7626-5: Vibration and Shock - Experimental Determination of Mechanical Mobility - Part 5: Measurements Using Impact Excitation with an Exciter which is Not Attached to the Structure. ISO, Switzerland. 1994. Holmes, P. J. and White, R. G. Data analysis Criteria and Instrumentation Requirements for the Transient Measurement of Mechanical Impedance. Journal of Sound and Vibration. Vol. 25, No. 2. pp. 217-243. 1972.

[3]

[4]

Table 1: Set-up options available in a typical portable spectrum analyser which relate the analysis bandwidth and number of samples Bandwidth Number of samples/ No. of frequency lines 40kHz 256/100 20kHz 512/200 10kHz 1024/400 5kHz 2048/800 2kHz 4096/1600 1kHz 500Hz 200Hz 100Hz 50Hz 25Hz Note: Highlighted is the combination of frequency analysis parameters which produced satisfactory results when testing long-span floors and footbridges

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

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H am m er H it Las ting Approxim atel 5 m s y

0.1 6 0.1 4 0.12 0.1 0 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 -0.02 0 1 2 3 4 T e[] im s 5 6 7 8
Und h ooting ers H igh l eltrans ient peakaccel ev eration requiring a l arge dy nam ic range f th e digitis er or

Low -l elbackgroundnois e ev

Accel eration Res pons e

0.20 0.1 5 0.1 0 0.05 0.00 -0.05 -0.1 0 -0.1 5 0 1 2 3 4 T e[] im s 5 6 7 8
Low - l elbackgroundnois e ev H igh l eltrans ient peakaccel ev eration requiring a l arge dy nam ic range f th e digitis er or

Figure 1: Typical excitation and response time histories sampled at 1.953125ms

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H am m er H it Las ting Approxim atel 5 m s y

0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 - 0.05 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030 0.035 0.04 0
No anti-al ing f ter appl ; f tes t s am pl ias il ied as ing rate us ed( 0kH z 4 ) S m ooth ing and ringing a cons equence ofantias al ing f ter ias il

T e[] im s H am m er h it s am pl edat 0.009 7 6 5 6 25 m s ( 0kH zbas ebandanal s is ) 4 y H am m er h it s am pl edat 1.9 5 3125 m s ( 200H zbas ebandanal s is ) y
Figure 2: The effect of anti-aliasing filter on the hammer impact signal

1.80 1.6 0 1.4 0 1.20 1.00 0.80 0.6 0 0.4 0 0.20 0.00

Com paris on ofFRFs w ith and w ith out Exponential W indow appl ied
No exponentialw indow appl ied

Maxim um exponentialw indow appl ied

0 1 2 3 4

5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Frequency [ z H ]
Figure 3: 200Hz baseband analysis with and without the exponential window

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