Automotive Vibration Testing

Automotive testing is critical during vehicle development and allows test engineers to characterize the effect of long-term road-induced vibration and shock. Vibration Research offers a comprehensive suite of software options that address the many testing requirements for automotive vibration testing.

VibrationVIEW Software Package

Sine

Random

Fatigue Damage Spectrum

Test Acceleration

Mixed Mode

Sine Resonance Track & Dwell (SRTD)

Kurtosion

3-axis Control

Four-post Control

Customized Vehicle Test Profiles

Generate test profiles or enter specifications with ease. The VibrationVIEW interface is intuitive and user-friendly, and the software is industry-leading. Access standard vibration testing modes built for ease of use and advanced features you won’t find anywhere else.

Get Demo Software

Autonomous Data Acquisition

OBSERVR1000 & VR MOBILE

The ObserVR1000 hardware can be controlled remotely with the VR Mobile application, which runs on a smartphone or tablet using a WiFi connection. Set up, monitor, and modify field data recording without a wired configuration.

VR Mobile

 thumbnail

ObserVR1000 and VR Mobile inside Ford pickup truck

MONITOR TESTS REMOTELY: Observe live data recording from any mobile device. Select, start, and stop the test; analyze issues with a live FFT display.

SET UP AUTONOMOUS ACQUISITION: Define any number of triggering events to record data without interference. Save processing time, capture transient events, drive external equipment, and more.

CONNECT A TACHOMETER: Configure a dual or quadrature tachometer to measure rotation. Encoder types include wheel, rotational, or scalar.

DISPLAY GPS DATA: View position updates at about 1Hz along with GPS timebase synchronization. Then, play the GPS media files in sync with a waveform recording.

Multi-axis Control

Multi-Loop/Four-Post Control software logo VR

Multi-Loop/Four-Post Control

Control a test item with four shakers on a single axis.

3-Axis Control software logo VR

3-Axis Control

Run a random vibration test along the x, y, and z-axis.

 thumbnail

Replicate Field Data

VibrationVIEW offers several test development methods to replicate the original environment of a product using recorded data. The result is a test profile that closely reflects—or is equivalent to—the field environment.

Fatigue Damage Spectrum FDS software logo VR

FATIGUE DAMAGE SPECTRUM

Use recorded data to create an accelerated random test that represents a lifetime of fatigue damage.

Field Data Replication (FDR) software icon VR

FIELD DATA REPLICATION

Reproduce recorded field acceleration measurements on a shaker. The software performs an iterative time-history playback to replicate waveforms.

Sine Tracking Analysis Generation (STAG) software icon VR

SINE TRACKING, ANALYSIS AND GENERATION (STAG)

Generate an accurate representation of an environment with dominant sinusoidal vibration and background random vibration, such as an engine environment.

NVH Testing

NOISE, VIBRATION, AND HARSHNESS

Automotive manufacturers depend on noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) testing to optimize vehicle performance and maintain a standard of comfort across their vehicle catalog.

microphone attached to a car seat

FFT analysis software logo VR

FFT Analysis

Diagnose imbalances and analyze vibration from the engine or other components. FFT helps to determine which frequencies are excited and the amplitude at each frequency.

Order analysis software logo VR

Order Tracking and Analysis

Understand the vibration source at different frequencies and its relation to the reference RPM.

Modal testing software logo VR

Modal Testing

Identify a component’s response to an input. In ObserVIEW, acquire responses from each degree of freedom (DOF), and the software will calculate the average response for each DOF and generate a smooth transfer function for further analysis.

octave analysis software icon VR

Octave Analysis

Analyze the frequency content of an acoustic signal and control the noise of the device under test.

Vibration Control

Mix & Match Controllers with Shakers

Control modules can be used independently on separate shakers or linked into a single stack for jobs requiring a higher channel count (up to 512 channels total).

This cost-effective solution creates substantial savings for our customers.

One 12-channel Control System or 3 separate 4-channel Control Systems

Copy > Paste in Excel & Word

Copy and paste vibration test profiles and graphs between VibrationVIEW and Microsoft Word/Excel. This feature is especially useful when sharing profiles with colleagues, entering data from a customer, or entering lengthy or complicated test profiles.

VibrationVIEW screenshot with Microsoft Excel

Electric Vehicle Testing

The automotive industry has made many advancements in this growing sector, particularly in battery electric vehicle (BEV) development.

EV vs. ICE

The team at VR recorded data from an electric and internal combustion vehicle to better understand the differences in their noise, vibration, and harshness.

recording of the interior noise of a tesla

Watch the Video Series

EV Battery Standards

Several organizations have developed EV battery testing standards, including the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the United Nations (UN). Learn more about these standards.

EV Battery Drop Shock Test

Drop shock testing is standard in the packaging industry but is applicable to many. Electric vehicle batteries (and other lithium-ion batteries) must meet international standards before shipment.

Industry Standards

ASTM Series ISTA Series ISO 10326-1:2016
ISO 16750 SAE J1211 GMW3172
JIS D 1601 MIL-STD-810

GMW Mirror Evaluation

GMW14201 is a rotational vibration measurement test for inside and outside automotive rearview mirrors and measures the mirror’s rotational response when subjected to vertical input vibration.

Buzz, Squeak, Rattle Testing

Product stack with ObserVR1000, VR9500 and VR10500

Vibration Research offers control hardware and shakers customized for low-noise operation used in BSR testing, sound limit testing, sound recordings, and anechoic chambers. The VR9500 and VR10500 controllers have a low noise floor (<70nV/√Hz) with a 130dB dynamic range. The controllers are compatible with all shakers and do not require a special board in the controlling PC.

Additional Features

  • Control sine, random, or shock vibration to 50,000Hz
  • 104,000 lines of resolution (26,000 with the VR9500)
  • 24-bit analog inputs

Automotive Companies Using VR Products

Gentex logo BMW logo Ford logo

Continental logo JCI logl Yazaki logo

Ford Motor Case Study

Ford Motor Company FDS Case Study CoverLab technicians at a Ford Motor Company testing facility faced a puzzling and potentially dangerous dilemma. Were the company’s laboratory tests simply over-testing or were they accurately predicting a real and potentially dangerous situation? The facility used Vibration Research’s Fatigue Damage Spectrum software to solve its product challenge.

Download Case Study

Robot Arm DAQ

BEV Vibration Test

Photo courtesy of ONE

 thumbnail

 thumbnail

Data Recording & Analysis Applications

Full Analysis Software List

Vibration Control Applications

Full Control Software List

Download VibrationVIEW

Get Demo Software