A Method for Optimal Reconstruction of Velocity Response Using Experimental Displacement and Acceleration Signals

Abstract

An algorithm is developed which takes advantage of the positive characteristics of integration and differentiation operations which can produce an optimal time-domain estimate of a velocity signal when a displacement and an acceleration signal are measurable. Simulations are carried out with Matlab where synthetic data is generated through solving the equations of motion of a multi-degree of freedom vibrating system. The velocity optimisation technique for velocity estimation is applied to the acceleration and displacement signals and the result is compared to the true velocity signal. A parametric analysis is carried out on the technique, as a function of extraneous noise on the simulated signals, as well as the integration and differentiation operator employed. Based on the results of the simulations, an experiment is performed where a reconstructed velocity is compared to a velocity signal measured directly using a laser vibrometer.