CSI Reliability Week, Orlando, FL October, 1999

INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING DEFLECTION SHAPES

By
Brian J. Schwarz & Mark H. Richardson
Vibrant Technology, Inc.
Jamestown, California 95327

ABSTRACT TWO TYPES OF VIBRATION

Mode shapes and operating deflection shapes (ODS’s) are All vibration is a combination of both forced and resonant
related to one another. In fact, ODS’s are always meas- vibration. Forced vibration can be due to,
ured in order to obtain mode shapes. Yet, they are quite
different from one another in a number of ways. In this • Internally generated forces.
paper, we will discuss ODS measurements, and their rela- • Unbalances.
tionship to experimental modal parameters. • External loads.
• Ambient excitation.
INTRODUCTION An operating deflection shape contains the overall vibration
In another article on operating deflection shapes [2], the au- for two or more DOFs on a machine or structure. That is, the
thor made the following statement, ODS contains both forced and resonant vibration compo-
nents. Other the other hand, a mode shape characterizes only
"Operational deflection shapes (ODS’s) can be measured the resonant vibration at two or more DOFs.
directly by relatively simple means. They provide very use-
ful information for understanding and evaluating the abso- Resonant vibration typically amplifies the vibration response
lute dynamic behavior of a machine, component or an en- of a machine or structure far beyond the design levels for
tire structure.'' static loading. Resonant vibration is the cause of, or at least a
contributing factor to many of the vibration related problems
What is an Operating Deflection Shape? that occur in structures and operating machinery.
Traditionally, an ODS has been defined as the deflection of a
structure at a particular frequency. However, an ODS can be To understand any structural vibration problem, the reso-
defined more generally as any forced motion of two or more nances of a structure need to be identified. A common way
points on a structure. Specifying the motion of two or more of doing this is to define its modes of vibration. Each mode
points defines a shape. Stated differently, a shape is the mo- is defined by a natural (modal) frequency, modal damping,
tion of one point relative to all others. Motion is a vector and a mode shape.
quantity, which means that it has location and direction asso-
ciated with it. This is also called a Degree Of Freedom, or UNDERSTANDING RESONANT VIBRATION
DOF. The majority of structures can be made to resonate. That is,
Why Measure ODS’s? under the proper conditions, a structure can be made to vi-
Measuring ODS’s can help answer the following vibration brate with excessive, sustained, oscillatory motion. Reso-
related questions, nant vibration is caused by an interaction between the inertial
and elastic properties of the materials within a structure.
• How Much is a machine moving? Striking a bell with a hammer causes it to resonate. Striking
• Where is it moving the most, and in what direction? a sandbag, however, will not cause it to resonate.
• What is the motion of one point relative to another (Op-
erating Deflection Shape)? Trapped Energy Principle
• Is a resonance being excited? What does its mode shape One of the most useful ways of understanding resonant vibra-
look like? tion is with the trapped energy principle. When energy enters
• Is there structure-born noise? a structure due to dynamic loading of any kind, resonant vi-
bration occurs when the energy becomes trapped within the
• Do corrective actions reduce noise or vibration levels?
structural boundaries, travels freely within those boundaries,
and cannot readily escape. This trapped energy is manifested
in the form of traveling waves of deformation that also have a
characteristic frequency associated with them. Waves travel-
ing within the structure, being reflected off of its boundaries,
sum together to form a standing wave of deformation. This
standing wave is called a mode shape, and its frequency is a
resonant or natural frequency of the structure.

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Another way of saying this is that structures readily absorb Time Domain ODS
energy at their resonant frequencies, and retain this energy in An ODS can be obtained from a set of measured time do-
the form of a deformation wave called a mode shape. They main responses,
are said to be compliant at their natural frequencies.
• Random.
Why then, won't a sandbag resonate when it is struck with a • Impulsive.
hammer? Because energy doesn’t travel freely within its • Sinusoidal.
boundaries. The sand particles don't transmit energy effi- • Ambient.
ciently enough between themselves in order to produce stand-
ing waves of deformation. Nevertheless, a sandbag can still Figure 1 shows the display of an ODS from a set of impulse
be made to vibrate. Simply shaking it with a sinusoidal force response measurements.
will cause it to vibrate. Sandbags can have operating deflec-
tion shapes, but don't have resonances or mode shapes.
Local Modes
Energy can also become trapped in local regions of a struc-
ture, and cannot readily travel beyond the boundaries of those
regions. In the case of an instrument card cage, at a resonant
frequency of one of its PC cards, energy becomes trapped
within a card, causing it to resonate. The surrounding card
cage is not compliant enough at the resonant frequency of the
card to absorb energy, so the energy is reflected back and
stays trapped within the card. The card vibrates but the cage
does not.
Many structures have local modes; that is, resonances that are
confined to local regions of the structure. Local modes will
occur whenever part of the structure is compliant with the Figure 1. Time Domain ODS From Impulse Responses.
energy at a particular frequency, but other parts are not.
Frequency Domain ODS
An ODS can also be obtained from a set of computed fre-
VIBRATION MEASUREMENTS
quency domain measurements,
The vibration parameters of a machine or structure are typi-
cally derived from acquired time domain signals, or from • Linear spectra (FFTs).
frequency domain functions that are computed from acquired • Auto power spectra (APS’s).
time signals. Using a modern multi-channel FFT analyzer, • Cross power spectra (XPS’s)
the vibration response of a machine is measured for multiple • FRFs (Frequency Response Functions).
points and directions (DOFs) with motion sensing transduc- • ODS FRFs.
ers. Signals from the sensors are then amplified, digitized, Figure 2 shows the display of an ODS from a set of FRF
and stored in the analyzer's memory as blocks of data, one measurements.
data block for each measured DOF.

ODS MEASUREMENTS
An ODS can be defined from any forced motion, either at a
moment in time, or at a specific frequency. Having acquired
either a set of sampled time domain responses, or computed
(via the FFT) a set of frequency domain responses, an operat-
ing deflection shape is defined as:
Operating Deflection Shape: The values of a set of time
domain responses at a specific time, or the values of a set of
frequency domain responses at a specific frequency.

Figure 2. Frequency Domain ODS From a Set of FRFs

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CSI Reliability Week, Orlando, FL October, 1999

FRF values at a frequency, taken from two or more FRFs,

is an ODS.

TESTING REAL STRUCTURES

Real continuous structures have an infinite number of DOFs,
and an infinite number of modes. From a testing point of
view, a real structure can be sampled spatially at as many
DOFs as we like. There is no limit to the number of unique
DOFs at which we can make measurements.
Because of time and cost constraints, we only measure a
small subset of the measurements that could be made on a
structure. Yet, from this small subset of measurements, we
can accurately define the resonances that are within the fre-
quency range of the measurements. Of course, the more we
spatially sample the surface of the structure by taking more Figure 3. Repeatable Operation.
measurements, the more definition we will give to its ODS’s
and mode shapes. Steady State (Stationary) Operation
Steady state, or stationary operation can be achieved in many
DIFFICULTY WITH ODS MEASUREMENTS situations where repeatable operation cannot. Steady state
operation is achieved when the auto power spectrum (APS)
In general, an ODS is defined with a magnitude and phase of a response signal does not change over time, or from
value at each point on a machine or structure. To define an measurement to measurement. Figure 4 shows a steady state
ODS vector properly, at least the relative magnitude and operation. Notice that the time domain waveform can be
relative phase are needed at all response points. different during each sampling window time interval, but its
In a time domain ODS, magnitude and phase are implicitly auto power spectrum does not change.
assumed. This means that either all of the responses have to
be measured simultaneously, or they have to be measured
under conditions which guarantee their correct magnitudes
and phases relative to one another.
Simultaneous measurement of all responses means that a
multi-channel acquisition system, that can simultaneously
sample all of the response signals, must be used. This re-
quires lots of transducers and signal conditioning equipment,
which is expensive.
Repeatable Operation
If the structure or machine is undergoing, or can be made to
undergo, repeatable operation, then response data can be
acquired one channel at a time. To be repeatable, data acqui-
sition must occur so that exactly the same time waveform is
obtained in the sampling window, every time one is acquired. Figure 4. Steady State Operation.
Figure 3 depicts repeatable operation. For repeatable opera-
tion, the magnitude and phase of each response signal is For steady state operation, ODS data can be measured with a
unique and repeatable, so ODS data can be acquired using a 2 channel FFT analyzer or acquisition system. The cross
single channel analyzer. An external trigger is usually re- spectrum measurement (XPS) contains the relative phase
quired to capture the repeatable event in the sampling win- between two responses, and the auto power spectrum (APS)
dow. of each response contains the correct magnitude of the re-
sponse. Since the 2 response signals are simultaneously ac-
Order Related Data quired, the relative phase between them is always maintained.
A single channel analyzer can also be used to acquire ODS’s No special triggering is required for steady state operation.
using a tachometer pulse as the trigger. In this case, spectral
magnitude & phase data at any fixed multiple of the rota-
tional speed (order) of the machine can acquired with a single
channel analyzer, but only if the operation is repeatable.

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ODS’s FROM FREQUENCY DOMAIN MEASUREMENTS forms of excitation are either unmeasured or un-measurable.
Any set of vibration data taken from a structure is the result On the other hand, ODS’s can always be measured, no matter
of applied excitation forces. Whether it be operating data, what forces are causing the vibration.
caused by self-excitation, or data taken during a modal test Transmissibility
under tightly controlled excitation conditions, the operating Transmissibility measurements are made when the excitation
deflection shapes are always subject to both the amount and force(s) cannot be measured. Transmissibility is a 2-channel
location of the excitation. measurement like the FRF. It is estimated in the same way as
Linear Spectrum the FRF, but the response is divided by a reference response
This frequency domain function is simply the FFT of a sam- signal instead of an excitation force. Phase is also preserved
pled time domain function. Phase is preserved in the Linear in Transmissibility's, and a set of them need not be obtained
Spectrum, so in order to obtain operating deflection shapes by simultaneously sampling all of the time domain responses.
from a set of Linear Spectra, either the measurement process Each response & reference response pair must be simultane-
must be repeatable, or the time domain signals must be si- ously sampled, however.
multaneously sampled. Since the Linear Spectrum is com- As with FRFs, a set of Transmissibility's contain both magni-
plex valued (contains both magnitude and phase informa- tude and phase at each frequency, so ODS’s obtained from a
tion), the resulting operating deflection shapes will also con- set of Transmissibility's will also contain correct magnitude
tain magnitude and phase information. and phase information. The units of the operating deflection
Auto Power Spectrum shapes are response units per unit of response at the refer-
The APS is derived by taking the FFT of a sampled time do- ence DOF.
main function, and multiplying the resulting Linear Spectrum An unexpected drawback of Transmissibility measurements
by the complex conjugate of the Linear Spectrum at each however, is that each resonance is represented by a “flat
frequency. Phase is not preserved in the APS, so a set of spot” in the data instead of a peak. This is shown in Figure
these measurements need not be obtained by simultaneously 5. The top curve in Figure 7 is a response APS showing 4
sampling all of the time domain responses. Since phase is resonance peaks. The Transmissibility below has “flat spots”
not retained in these measurements, operating deflection (no peak) in the frequency range where a resonance peak
shapes derived from them will contain only magnitude, and occurs.
no phase information.

FRFs
The FRF is a 2-channel measurement, involving a response
and an excitation signal. It can be estimated in several ways,
depending on whether the excitation or the response has more
measurement noise associated with it.
The most common calculation involves dividing an estimate
of the cross power spectrum (XPS) between the response and
excitation signals by an estimate of the auto power spectrum
(APS) of the excitation, at each frequency. Averaging to-
gether of several XPS’s and APS’s is commonly done to re-
duce noise in these estimates.
Since a set of FRFs contains both magnitude and phase at
each frequency, the operating deflection shapes derived from
a set of FRFs will also contain both magnitude and phase
information. The units of the operating deflection shapes are
acceleration, velocity, or displacement per unit of excitation
force at the reference DOF.
Difficulty with FRF Measurements
FRF measurement requires that all of the excitation forces
causing a response must be measured simultaneously with Figure 5. APS & Transmissibility.
the response. Measuring all of the excitation forces can be
difficult, if not impossible in many situations. FRFs cannot
be measured on operating machinery or equipment where
internally generated forces, acoustic excitation, and other

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ODS FRF equal to the mode shape. This concept becomes clearer
An ODS FRF is a different 2-channel measurement that can when sine wave excitation is considered.
also be used when excitation forces cannot be measured.
The advantage of the ODS FRF over the Transmissibility is USING A SINUSOIDAL ODS AS A MODE SHAPE
that the ODS FRF has peaks at resonances, thus making it
If a single sinusoidal force excites the structure, its steady
easy for locating resonances.
state response will also be sinusoidal, regardless of the fre-
Like Transmissibility, an ODS FRF also requires a reference quency of excitation. However, the ODS that is measured
(fixed) response measurement along with each response also depends on whether or not a resonance is excited. In
measurement. Each ODS FRF is formed by replacing the order to excite a resonance, two conditions must be met:
magnitude of each XPS between a response and the refer-
Condition 1: The excitation force must be applied at a DOF,
ence response with the APS of the response. The phase of
which is not on a nodal line of the mode shape.
the XPS is retained as the phase of the ODS FRF.
Condition 2: The excitation frequency must be close to the
This new measurement contains the correct magnitude of the
resonance peak frequency.
response at each point, and the correct phase relative to the
reference response. Evaluating a set of ODS FRF measure- If both of these conditions are met, and the resonance is
ments at any frequency yields the frequency domain ODS for "lightly" damped, it will act as a mechanical amplifier and
that frequency. Figure 6 shows the display of an ODS from a greatly increase the amplitude of response, or the ODS. Con-
set of ODS FRF measurements. versely, if either condition is not met, the mode will not par-
ticipate significantly in the ODS.
All single frequency sine wave modal testing is based upon
achieving the two conditions above, plus a third,
Condition 3: At a resonant frequency, if the ODS is domi-
nated by one mode, then the ODS will closely approximate
the mode shape.
If Condition 3 is not met, then two or more modes are con-
tributing significantly to the ODS, and the ODS is a linear
combination of their mode shapes.

EXCITING RESONANCES WITH IMPACT TESTING

With the ability to compute FRF measurements in an FFT
analyzer, impact testing became popular during the late
1970s as a fast, convenient, and relatively low cost way of
finding the mode shapes of machines and structures.
Figure 6. ODS Displayed Directly From ODS FRF Data.
To perform an impact test, all that is needed is an impact
hammer with a load cell attached to its head to measure the
MODE SHAPES FROM ODS’s
input force, a single accelerometer to measure the response at
We have already seen that ODS’s are obtained either from a a single fixed point, a two channel FFT analyzer to compute
set of time domain responses, or from a set of frequency do- FRFs, and post processing software for identifying and dis-
main functions that are computed from time domain re- playing the mode shapes in animation.
sponses. In addition, modal parameters (natural frequency,
In a typical impact test, the accelerometer is attached to a
damping, & mode shape) can be obtained from a set of FRF
single point on the structure, and the hammer is used to im-
measurements. In general, the following statement can be
pact it at as many points and as many directions as required
made,
to define its mode shapes. FRFs are computed one at a time,
“All experimental modal parameters are obtained from between each impact point and the fixed response point.
measured ODS’s.” Modal parameters are defined by curve fitting the resulting
Stated differently, modal parameters are obtained by post- set of FRFs. Figure 7 depicts the impact testing process.
processing (curve fitting) a set of ODS data. In other words,
a set of FRFs can be thought of as a set of ODS’s over a fre-
quency range. At or near one a resonance peak, the ODS is
dominated by a mode. Therefore, the ODS is approximately

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nary part of the FRFs are taken as the mode shape, for dis-
placement or acceleration responses. (The peak values of
the real part are used for velocity responses.) All of these
very simple curve-fitting methods are based on an analytical
expression for the FRF, written in terms of modal parameters
[3].

ODS’s AND MODE SHAPES CONTRASTED

Even though all experimental mode shapes are obtained from
measured ODS’s, modes are different from ODS’s in the fol-
lowing ways,
1. Each mode is defined for a specific natural frequency.
An ODS can be defined at any frequency.
Figure 7. Impact Testing. 2. Modes are only defined for linear, stationary structures.
ODS’s can be defined for non-linear and non-stationary
Curve Fitting structures.
In general, curve fitting is a process of matching an analytical
3. Modes are used to characterize resonant vibration.
function or mathematical expression to some empirical data.
This is commonly done by minimizing the squared error (or ODS’s can characterize resonant as well as non-
difference) between the function values and the data. In sta- resonant vibration.
tistics, fitting a straight line through empirical data is called 4. Modes don’t depend on forces or loads. They are inher-
regression analysis. This is a form of curve fitting. ent properties of the structure. ODS’s depend on forces
or loads. They will change if the loads change.
5. Modes only change if the material properties or bound-
ary conditions change. ODS’s will change if either the
modes or the loads change.
6. Mode shapes don’t have unique values or units. ODS’s
do have unique values and units.
7. Mode shapes can answer the question, “What is the rela-
tive motion of one DOF versus another?” ODS’s can
answer the question, “What is the actual motion of one
DOF versus another?”

CONCLUSIONS
Operating deflection shapes were defined for both time and
frequency domain functions. We saw that ODS’s can be ob-
tained from a variety of both time and frequency domain
functions, but restrictive assumptions must also made with
each measurement type.
Figure 8. Curve Fitting FRF Measurements.
We also discussed ODS’s and modes shapes, and made the
Estimates of modal parameters are obtained by curve fitting statement that, “All experimental modal parameters are
FRF data. Figure 8 depicts the three most commonly used obtained from measured ODS’s.” In spite of this close rela-
curve-fitting methods used to obtain modal parameters. The tionship, we contrasted ODS’s with mode shapes and pointed
frequency of a resonance peak in the FRF is taken as the out seven ways in which the two are different from one an-
modal frequency. This peak should appear at the same fre- other.
quency in every FRF measurement.
The width of the resonance peak is a measure of modal
damping. The resonance peak width should also be the same
for all FRF measurements. The peak values of the imagi-

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REFERENCES
[1] Potter, R. and Richardson, M.H. "Identification of the
Modal Properties of an Elastic Structure from Measured
Transfer Function Data" 20th International Instrumentation
Symposium, Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 21-23, 1974.
[2] Døssing, Ole "Structural Stroboscopy-Measurement of
Operational Deflection Shapes" Sound and Vibration Maga-
zine, August 1988.
[3] Richardson, M. H., "Modal Analysis Using Digital Test
Systems," Seminar on Understanding Digital Control and
Analysis in Vibration Test Systems, Shock and Vibration
Information Center Publication, Naval Research Laboratory,
Washington D.C. May, 1975.

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