Dr. Howard Gaberson’s Papers

Howard A. Gaberson (1931-2013) was a shock and vibration specialist with more than 45 years of dynamics experience.  He was with the U.S. Navy Civil Engineering Laboratory and later the Facilities Engineering Service Center from 1968 to 2000, mostly conducting dynamics research. Gaberson specialized in… Read more

PSD Bandsplitting

Some power spectral density test specifications are too high in amplitude for a given shaker system.  Bandsplitting can be cautiously used in these cases. Here is a brief guideline paper:  bandsplit.pdf Here is a Matlab script that implements bandsplitting per the guidelines: bandsplit.zip The main script… Read more

Fun with Sound Files

Making sound recordings is easy these days given that iPods, iPads and Android cell phones have this capability. Here is a freeware program that can be used to process the sound data: Audacity This program can also convert the sound file from one format to… Read more

Simply-Supported Plate, Bending Modes

The Vibrationdata Signal Analysis Package has a function for calculating the natural frequencies of a plate simply-supported about all edges. The package also has options for calculating the response to base excitation. Vibrationdata > Structural Dynamics > Plates, Rectangular & Circular > Rectangular Plate, Simply Supported The… Read more

Stress-Velocity Relationship

Shock and vibration environments produce dynamic stresses which can cause material failure in structures. The potential failure modes include fatigue, yielding, and ultimate stress limit. F.V. Hunt wrote a seminal paper on this subject, titled “Stress and Stress Limits on the Attainable Velocity in Mechanical… Read more

Some NASA Vibration Videos

This video shows the vibration of consoles in the Mobile Launch Platform underneath the Space Shuttle for the liftoff event. MLP Field Verification Video This video shows the “tennis shoe” method for exciting a rocket vehicle. Saturn V Apollo SA-500F Shake Test at VAB 1966… Read more