The method described above is able to separate the contributions of a set of targets, provided that vibration frequency is known. This can be adequately measured by calculating the FFT of the angle of the measured response in time, normalized with respect to the instantaneous microwave frequency.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSThe radar technique has been tested at a facility of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Perugia. The test structure was a vertical steel frame 10-m in height. A mechanical vibrodyne was positioned on the summit (Fig. 3). The CW radar was a prototype based on a network analyzer (HP 8753D) that operated as a coherent microwave transmitter and receiver, with a couple of horn antennas as described in [5]. The radar system was positioned in front of the structure, at a distance of 8 m. An accelerometer was installed on the structure at a height of 6 m.CWSF measurement was carried out both with the structure artificially shaken by the vibrodyne, and naturally stirred by a light breeze. Figure 4 shows the FFT plots of the radar angular response in time with the structure naturally stirred. CWMF measurement was carried out with the structure artificially shaken. Figure 5 shows the plot of the expression in Eq. (2). Table 1 summarizes the results of the radar measurements and compares them to the reference data obtained with the accelerometer installed on the structure.The agreement between CWSF tests and accelerometer measurements is rather qualitative. In effect, as the radar performs a global displacement measurement, the comparison with a punctual sensor is of minor significance.On the contrary, because the CWMF technique is able to separate the contribution of the structure section where the accelerometer was installed, the agreement between CWMF tests and accelerometer measurements is more satisfactory.
CONCLUSIONThe non-contact remote operating microwave techniques described in this paper provided effective measurements of the dynamic response of large structures. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the CWSF technique is able to measure the response of vertical structures without artificial stimuli.
A ROBUST AND EFFICIENT METHOD FOR OBTAINING THE COMPLEX MODES IN INHOMOGENEOUSLY FILLED WAVEGUIDES