An Introduction to Statistical Energy Analysis of Structural Vibration

The ideas of the approach to vlbratton analysts called Stattsttcal Energy Analysts (SEA) are e~plored wtthout going mto great techmcal detad The arm oj thts descrtptlon zs to gwe gutdance to those with parttcular vtbtatton problems who may ask whether the), should be using SEA and, t f so, what expectattons they should have o f tt In the fivst sectton, SEA in its most common fo rm ts tllustrated by the stmplest example In the second sectton, the questton o f the underlying assumptions o f SEA is considered by a stmple and appatentl), novel approach Thts dtscusston also gives some mfol matlon on posstble methods o f measurmg the SEA parameter~ tn a gtven ptoblem and decldmg whetheJ a SEA model ts indeed appt oprtate for that problem We also attempt to gtve gutdance on how SEA should be apphed to a gtven problem, especially how the system under study should be dtvtded up into subsystems One area m whtch SEA can be espectally useful ts m the destgn o f a systematw sequence o f expet iments on ful l ot model scale when tD'lng to pm down the source o f a pat tlculat vtbratlon ptoblem SEA can provide a successton of models, starting wtth the stmpleat possible and becommg ptogresstvelv mote comphcated, whwh enable results to be mtetpteted and suttable questtom to be asked Jot the new stage oJ testmg Thta ts a mote valuable set vtce than ts commonly applectated without such guMance, an e~pet lmentet faced wtth a ~ omphcated stt uctut e can ~pend a vet v long ttme makmg measurements ~htch turn out not to address the problem m hand