Abstract
One of the potential causes of failures in an aeroplane power-plant or the aeroplane structure itself is excessive vibration. While every effort is made to reduce the number of modes of vibration which might be excited to objectionable amplitudes, it is desirable to measure the power-plant and aeroplane vibration characteristics in flight to ensure that there are no vibrations of sufficient magnitude to cause fatigue failures in any parts. In the Bell Laboratories an automatically tuned wave analyser has been developed to meet the needs of the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corporation, which desired apparatus that when used in conjunction with suitable vibration pickups would measure the amplitude of vibration at a frequency equal to any predetermined multiple of engine revolution per minute, even when the engine speed is continuously changed. This analyser can be used with a recorder to draw curves of the amplitude of vibration of selected orders of frequency as a function of engine speed. An article by F. G. Marble (Bell Lab. Rec., 22, No. 8; April 1944) describes the analyser and its use.
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An Automatic Vibration Analyser. Nature 154, 113 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/154113c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/154113c0