38
Mechanical shock
Very
often
in
practice,
it is the
stress (and thus
the
relative displacement) which
seems
the
most interesting parameter,
the
spectrum being primarily used
to
study
the
behaviour
of a
structure,
to
compare
the
severity
of
several
shocks
(the
stress
created
is
a
good indicator),
to
write
test
specifications
(it is
also
a
good comparison
between
the
real environment
and the
test environment)
or to
dimension
a
suspension (relative displacement
and
stress
are
then
useful).
The
quantity
co
0
z
su
is
termed pseudo-acceleration.
In the
same way,
one
terms
pseudo-velocity
the
product
o)
0
z
sup
.
2
The
spectrum giving
co
0
z
sup
versus
the
natural
frequency is
named
the
relative
displacement
shock spectrum.
In
each
of
these
two
important categories,
the
response spectrum
can be
defined
in
various ways according
to how the
largest response
at a
given
frequency is
characterized.
Primary
positive shock response spectrum
or
initial positive shock response
spectrum
The
highest positive response observed during
the
shock.
Primary
(or
initial)
negative shock response spectrum
The
highest negative
response
observed during
the
shock.
Secondary
(or
residual
shock)
response spectrum
The
largest response observed
after
the end of the
shock. Here also,
the
spectrum
can
be
positive
or
negative.
Positive
(or
maximum positive) shock response spectrum
The
largest
positive
response
due to the
shock, without reference
to the
duration
of
the
shock.
It is
thus about
the
envelope
of the
positive primary
and
residual
spectra.