The use of vibration testing is designed to ensure the safety of components when subjected to turbulence during transportation, such as flight. NASA disassembles its aircraft and exploration vehicles for vibration testing to ensure they can withstand launch and landing phases of a journey.
Random vibration can be used to test technology using equipment to shake components to simulate the force placed on components during real world use. According to National Technical Systems, twin shaking equipment can be used to expose a component to around 70,000 pounds of force, while a single shaking device can exert forces of around 45,000 pounds.
Different types of vibration are simulated depending on the conditions in which the components are to be used. For example, helicopter components are subjected to self-generated vibrations from rotor blades, similar to the forces produced by turbofan engines.
