The past twenty or thirty years, or since the 1980’s, mechanical and structural problems have benefited from some sort of structural analysis using Modal, or ODS (operating deflection shape) analysis techniques.

The fields that have benefited the most from modal, and experimental modal analysis have been the aeronautical, aerospace, and automotive industries, in part because of the expensive testing procedures, but also because as they have needed to reduce the mass, or weight of a machine, or structure, there have been safety, and structural problems as a result.

Almost any system that has any forces applied, where it be a pipe or valve with a fluid flowing through, or a machine, or airplane, modal and ODS testing have been beneficial in solving problems associated with stresses, cracking, bending, twisting, etc. of a structure.

With ODS, we test the machine while in operation at various locations and directions on a given structure (such as a fan), and then transfer all this data into a software program where we create animations based on mathematical calculations at the given measurement locations in reference to a stationary location and direction. This can be quite time consuming, however tends to be the least time consuming of these structural tests, where using the actual forces applied by the application.

Modal testing can at times be better at determining resonances of a structure and substructures, thereby identifying where a structure is most vulnerable to vibration or other dynamic forces.

By using 3D modeling, and animation, we can create a “movie” of the way a structure is moving at a given period of time, or at a given frequency (such as operating frequency, or harmonics, or resonances).

Please call for more information on how we help reduce mechanical, or structural failures at your plant or facility using ODS, or Modal analysis.