Construction and calibration of an impact hammer

Impact hammers are used for rapid testing of the frequency-dependent response of structures to excitation. This work demonstrates how an impact hammer can be made from a piezoelectric crystal of the type widely used in barbeque lighters. The hammer was tested by measuring the inertance of a known mo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of physics 2009-10, Vol.77 (10), p.945-949
Main Authors: Waltham, Chris, Kotlicki, Andrzej
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calibration
Crystals
Impact tests
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Impact hammers are used for rapid testing of the frequency-dependent response of structures to excitation. This work demonstrates how an impact hammer can be made from a piezoelectric crystal of the type widely used in barbeque lighters. The hammer was tested by measuring the inertance of a known mobile mass and by measuring the calculable driving-point admittance of rectangular wooden bars. The impact hammer was shown to be robust, easy to build, and to have a low-noise linear output for a wide range of applied forces.
ISSN:0002-9505
1943-2909
DOI:10.1119/1.3177062