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A structure responds as a
summation of decaying sinusoids when
an impact is used as the excitation force.
The Exponential Window The general form of the response of a
David Formenti and Brian MacMillan, Sage Technologies, Morgan Hill, CA structure being excited by an impact is:
∑ [ R k e −σ ]
n
Question: When should I use an expo- Time Record. This would result in the fol- y (t ) = kt
sin(ω kt )
nential window? How does the exponen- lowing optimum frequency resolution re- k =1
tial window work and can its effects on quired to make a good FRF measurement: where:
my data be removed by post-processing? n = number of modes in the frequency
1
You should only use an exponential ∆f = range being excited
window when your test object and data T R k = constant for mode k
acquisition parameters require extra where: σk = damping decay rate for mode k
damping in the system to avoid the ef- ∆f = analyzer’s frequency resolution, Hz ωk = damped natural frequency for
fects of leakage (more on this later). The T = analyzer’s time record length, sec. mode k.
exponential window is one of the few This is preferred because no special When an exponential window is ap-
windows whose effects can be removed signal processing windows need be ap- plied, the response time history becomes:
by post-processing and we will describe plied to the response channel. This re- y ′(t ) = w (t ) y (t )
how to determine the amount of damping sults in a very accurate measurement that
∑ [ R k e −σ ]
has no leakage errors or distortion caused n
added by the exponential window and
y ′(t ) = e −σ 0t kt
sin(ω kt )
how to remove this added damping from by the signal processing window. The
k =1
the estimated damping in your Modal same FRF measurement that was illus-
∑ [Rke − (σ ]
n
trated above was measured again in Fig- + σ k )t
Analysis System y ′(t ) = 0
sin(ω kt )
Determining Whether You Need an ures 3 and 4 after the analyzer was set up k =1
to capture the response channel’s entire
∑ [Rke − (σ ′ )t sin(ω kt )]
Exponential Window. Exponential win- n
dows, when needed, are only applied to time history. Notice that the amplitude y ′(t ) = k
motional responses in reaction to impul- and shape of the leakage free measure- k =1
sive inputs like hammer tests. If you are ment is dramatically different from that where the apparent damping of mode k
using a nonimpulsive signal source such in Figure 2. is:
as a shaker with random or sine excita- Using an Exponential Window to σ ′k = σ 0 + σ k
tion, you should not use an exponential Eliminate Leakage. The second way to
window. eliminate or minimize leakage is to apply From the above equations, one can see
During impact testing, leakage will oc- an exponential window. We use signal that the exponential window does noth-
cur whenever the analyzer’s time record processing windows much of the time to ing more than add a constant amount of
capture length is shorter than the time help minimize leakage errors. Signal pro- damping σ0 to each mode of vibration in
required for the response channel to de- cessing windows are applied in the Time the FRF measurement. The modal analy-
cay to an amplitude (near zero) below the Domain by multiplying the measured sig- sis system processes the set of FRF mea-
analyzer’s noise floor. Figure 1 shows a nal y(t) by some special time varying surements and the apparent damping σ′k
measured response signal from an accel- function w(t). Some of the more common is estimated during the curve fitting pro-
erometer where the analyzer did not com- window functions have familiar names, cess. If you knew how much damping
pletely measure the response. The re- such as: Hanning, Rectangular, Flat Top was added to each mode from the use of
sponse signal has been truncated which and Exponential. The windowing opera- the exponential window, you could cal-
will result in errors when the response tion of the analyzer can be expressed by culate the modes actual damping using
time history is transformed into the Fre- the following equation: the following equation:
quency Domain using the Fast Fourier y ′(t ) = w (t ) y (t ) σ k = σ ′k − σ 0
Transform (FFT) algorithm. These are
called leakage errors and will show up in where: Setting the Exponential Window on
both amplitude and frequency param- y′(t) = modified time history (windowed) Your Spectrum Analyzer. So the issue
eters of the test results. (The effects of w(t) = signal processing window now becomes how to determine the
leakage using various excitation tech- y(t) = analyzer’s original sampled time damping decay rate σ0 of the exponential
niques will be a topic of a future Q&A history. window that has been selected. Unfortu-
column.) The effect of this leakage error The exponential window is ideally nately analyzer manufacturers do not
on a measured FRF is illustrated in Fig- suited for impact testing because of its implement the setting of the exponential
ure 2. predictable effects on the resulting FRF window parameters in a common man-
Eliminating Leakage without Using the measurement; more on that later. The ner. However, most use one of two meth-
Exponential Window. Leakage can be equation of the exponential window is: ods to directly or indirectly specify the
eliminated in one of two ways when us- amount of damping σ0 added to an FRF
ing impact testing to measure FRFs. The w (t ) = e −(t /τ ) = e −σ 0t measurement.
first and preferable way is to set up the where: One method is to specify the exponen-
analyzer such that its Time Record length τ = exponential time constant, sec tial time constant τ by entering a value or
is sufficiently long enough to capture the σ0 = damping decay rate, rad/sec (1/ τ). positioning a cursor that specifies the
complete response time history of the When the exponential window is ap- value of the time constant. The time con-
response signal. This is accomplished by plied, it attenuates the amplitude of the stant τ is the time required for the expo-
making the frequency resolution ∆f of the response signal exponentially from a fac- nential to decay to a value of 0.368 as
measurement smaller. The frequency tor of 1.0 to a small value. The ending shown by the equation below:
resolution ∆f is improved by increasing value is a function of the window’s time
the number of frequency lines of resolu- constant τ and the analyzer’s time record w (τ ) = e −(t /τ ) = e −(τ /τ ) = e −1 = 0.368
t =τ
tion or by using a smaller frequency length T. The exponential window has a
analysis bandwidth. Optimally, the re- predictable effect on the response time In other words, the response signal has
sponse channel time history should de- history because of the nature of the been attenuated by 63.2% when t = τ . Af-
cay to zero at the end of the analyzer’s structure’s response from an impact forc- ter τ is known, you can determine the
Accelerance, g/lb
For example, if τ = 0.1 sec then the larger values is in error. 103
Accelerance, g/lb
the following equation: 103
ln[w (T )] 102
σ0 = −
T 101
where: 200
σ0 = damping decay rate, rad/sec 150 100
w(T) = value of exponential window at 100 10–1
end of analyzer’s time record 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Acceleration, g
50
T = analyzer’s time record length, sec. Frequency, Hz
0
For example, if the value of the expo-
–50
Figure 5. FRF using exponential window, 90%
nential window is 0.10 at the end of a decay.
time record of 0.64 sec, the damping σ0 –100
will be: –150 105
ln(0.10) –200
σ0 = − = 3.598 rad / sec = 0.573 Hz 0 0.1 1.0 104
0.64 Time, sec
Accelerance, g/lb
Consequences of Using an Exponential 103
ment that was made without using an 0 500 1000 1500 2000
103
exponential window and no leakage. Frequency, Hz
50
comes too large by the amount σ0 . One
0
can then simply subtract the added
damping σ0 from the estimated damping –50
σ′k to determine the actual damping σk . –100
This sounds good, but in practice does
–150
not work very well. Many times this cal-
culation results in a negative damping –200
0 0.5 1 1.5
value because of errors in the measure- Time, sec
ment and/or curve fitting process. Typi-
Figure 3. Completely captured response time
cally the values of the actual damping σk history.
are relatively small as compared with the