Vibration Test for Membrane Structures Using Non-Contact Laser Excitation System in Vacuum Environment

Abstract

This paper proposes an innovative vibration testing method for membrane structures based on impulse response excited by laser. Non-contact impulse force is generated by irradiating a high power pulse laser to a structure. The laser excitation makes a precise measurement of the frequency response in wide frequency range possible because an ideal impulse force is applied to a point on the structure. Using a laser Doppler vibrometer to detect a response of the structure, both non-contact laser excitation and measurement are achieved in the vibration testing system. Furthermore, a vibration measurement of the membrane structure in vacuum environment is effectively conducted by using the proposed vibration testing method with a vacuum chamber. The validity of the present vibration testing system is verified by evaluating the measured data of the membrane structure in the vacuum chamber.