Determining the Sensor Locations for an Effective Modal AnalysisWith an Application to a Car Exhaust

The quality of the modal test is directly related to obtaining accurate frequency response functions. To conduct a high-quality modal test, the instrumentation used in the test must be placed in the most suitable locations and in sufficient numbers. In this study, pre-test, drive point residual (DPR), and correlation algorithms have been developed to ensure a high-quality modal test. The pre-test and drive point residual algorithms are used to determine the positions and numbers of test instrumentation, while the correlation algorithm is used to identify similarities between the test and finite element models. Finally, the proposed algorithms have been tested and validated on an exhaust model.