Analysis of Random Mechanical Vibrations in Symmetrical Thin Plates Using Full-Field Vibration Measurements

A successful application of statistical energy analysis for analyzing energy exchanges between weakly coupled subsystems theoretically requires a diffuse vibrational field in all subsystems. So as to verify the conditions of establishment of the diffuse field in practice, full-field vibration measurements were conducted with a high-speed camera on a simply supported rectangular plate excited by a wide band random force. The results constitute an experimental investigation of the diffuse field region in the frequency-structural damping domain and a validation of previously obtained numerical results. The domain of the diffuse field is confined to high frequencies and low damping, with limits than can be easily defined. However, it is shown that the vibrational field is not fully spatially homogeneous due to enhancement of response induced by the effect of coherence of rays. Theoretical values of the enhancement factor obtained using an image source analysis are confirmed by measurement results.