Time-Frequency Analysis of Shock and Vibration Measurements Using Wavelet Transforms

Abstract

This article presents the use of the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) for the analysis of shock and vibration measurements. Acceleration measurements from pallets dropped from five different heights and vibration measurements of pallets are acquired in controlled laboratory settings. Power spectral density (PSD) as estimated from CWT is compared to the Shock Response Spectrum as well as the PSD estimated from Fourier Transform (FT) and Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT). CWT overcomes the drawbacks of Fourier Transform in analyzing non-stationary signals such as shock and vibration data. CWT also provides more improved time-frequency resolution than STFT. The article presents results that indicate that CWT can be used as an effective spectral analysis tool for shock and vibration measurements.