Joseph A. Turner

Professor and Chair

W306 Nebraska Hall
Department of Engineering Mechanics
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0526

Phone: (402) 472-8856
Fax: (402) 472-8292
E-mail: jaturner@unl.edu
Web site: http://em-jaturner.unl.edu/

The work carried out in this lab focuses on characterizing the underlying dynamic behavior of structures and structural members. The results are used to complement continuing theoretical work. One particular experiment, shown below, is a vibrating beam with a contact boundary condition. The beam is excited using a shaker, power amplifier, and a waveform generator. The response is measured using an accelerometer, a power supply, and a signal analyzer. Computers with GPIB boards are used for control of the experiment and data analysis. In addition, this laboratory contains a Spectraquest machinery fault simulator is used to investigate nonlinear vibrations associated with machinery defects.