Single-Point Excitation for Determination of Modal Characteristics of Shuttle Panels

Single-point excitation techniques for conducting modal testing have gained wide acceptance in recent years. Improvements in minicomputer hardware and software have resulted in significant reductions in test time when coupled with single-point excitation. This has been achieved without sacrificing accuracy.

This paper discusses the results of singlepoint excitation as used on space shuttle orbiter panels to determine their modal characteristics. Comparisons are made between modes for panels installed in the orbiter Enterprise and acoustic test specimens.