Structural Dynamics Testing

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Acceleration Testing

The stresses placed on a material or product when subjected to increasing gravity load can be catastrophic. Acceleration loads can cause structural problems such as deflection, fastener or hardware failure, and problems with flow and pressure regulation.

We have a range of centrifuge systems to subject products to increased g loading. Some of our acceleration testing capabilities include:

• Forces up to 11400 Kgf
• Frequencies from 5 – 3,000 Hz.
• Hydraulic Shaker up to 4500 Kgf
• Payloads up to 1600 kg

Spin Testing

Like disks and blisks, rotating components in aero engines are highly sensitive in terms of aircraft safety –failures can result in hazardous or even catastrophic effects. For this reason spin testing becomes an indispensable part of aero engine development.

Using our extensive range of facilities can test most rotating components of aero engines, turbine compressors, turbochargers and blowers under realistic conditions using highly sophisticated spin test rigs.

• Our spin testing capabilities include:
• Temperatures ranging from -40C to 1000C
• Speeds from 24,000 – 200,000 RPM
• Components up to 2500kg
• Generation of 3D temperature gradients by special oven technologies
• Multi-channel telemetry systems
• Permanent vibration monitoring
• Crack detection and crack growth monitoring at rotating specimens
• High-speed cameras

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High-level vibration and extended stress can degrade the structural integrity of a product, making high-cycle fatigue and low-cycle fatigue a crucial part of material and product qualification programs. Our equipment allows us to test over a wide range of frequencies in short periods of time, simulating a components' service life and environmental stressors.

Some of our capabilities include:

• Strain gauge calibration
• Specimen sizes from standard bars to full-size fan blades
• Frequencies up to 20kHz
• Temperatures up to 1200°C
• Force-controlled and strain controlled programs
• Open-hole fatigue testing
• Tension-tension fatigue testing
• Tension-compression fatigue testing

Vibration Testing

Vibration testing simulates the conditions that a product or structure might see during its lifetime while under a test environment. Vibration testing can be used to ensure that products are robust and perform safely during operation or transit, avoiding unexpected performance or early life failure in the field.

The vibration testing methods we perform include:

• Sinusoidal
• Random
• Resonance Search & Dwell
• Narrow Band Random on Random
• Sine-on Random
• Combined Temperature and Vibration
• Helicopter Rotor Frequency Simulation
• Gunfire Simulation
• SRS
• Blade-off vibration (engine fan blade loss and windmilling)

Drop & Shock Testing

Shock testing is used to measure the impact of sudden acceleration caused by explosion, drop, or collision. Our labs perform shock testing to prepare products for harsh industrial, transportation and military environments. Using an accelerometer to calculate speed and force, components are subjected to loads up to 50,000 g for less than one second. Our labs then evaluate the product for damage and stress, and to ensure that it can meet the demands of its work environment.

Some of our shock testing capabilities include:

• Operational shock and crash safety
• Gunfire simulation
• Classical shock (half sine and saw tooth testing)
• Decaying sine wave testing
• Bump testing
• Impulse testing
• Drop testing
• Impact testing  

Element helps manufacturers to understand and meet the seismic qualification requirements, of which are often specific to a project, industry or sector. Our seismic testing and certification services ensure that a product will continue to perform without loss of function under the most extreme vibration conditions, making them essential for nuclear equipment manufacturers of safety-critical systems and components.

Our seismic testing program includes:

• Test plan and strategy creation
• Fixture design
• Exploratory Testing
• Single Axis Testing
• Biaxial Testing
• Triaxial Earthquake Testing
• Qualification Documentation

The increasing need for lightweight design, combined with improved functionality, quality and economic build, continues to drive the need for comprehensive testing within key structural systems and components in the Aerospace sector.With state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, Element has demonstrated the capability and the know-how to perform complex and highly sophisticated test campaigns.

Some of our capabilities include:

• Deformation measurement
• Acoustic defect detection
• Imbalance Testing
• Impact Testing
• Load Testing
• Compression Testing
• Tension and Torque Testing
• Endurance Testing
• Multi-axial Testing

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Impact Hammer Testing

• Impact Hammer Testing uses physical contact from impact hammers to characterize the dynamic properties of a structure or material
• Precise hammer strikes are coupled with accelerometers to record responses
• Element’s structural dynamics engineers can perform on- and off-site testing to meet your precise requirements

Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (SLDV)

• Benefits from fast and laser-accurate results
• Non-contact method of modal analysis
• Doesn’t damage prototype or affect object’s structural dynamics
• Principally used to scan test objects to determine mode shapes
• Maximum acquisition bandwidth of 1MHz
• Excitation by EM shaker, speaker or piezo crystal

FEA Model Validation

• Used to validate FEA modeling against available data.
• Helps ensure against risky under-design and costly over-design
• Scanned 3D geometry, grid points and results can be imported into finite element analysis software for model generation and results correlation