CA Seismic Testing

Construction practices and equipment installations in earthquake-prone areas pose a special set of challenges to engineers. No structure is isolated from seismic activity.
Recognizing this danger, governing jurisdictions in seismically active areas — such as California, Alaska and other affected areas — have adopted codes and standards. These standards require structures and equipment to maintain their integrity in spite of earthquakes, making seismic testing a vital part of validating prototypes and designs. Even if specific codes and standards do not exist within a given earthquake-prone jurisdiction, engineers may still need to provide assurance that their designs will withstand certain amounts of seismic activity. This helps protect equipment and provides safety to personnel.

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Dynamics Testing

National Technical Systems

Motorized products must pass a series of tests to ensure readiness for mass production. The parts that comprise an automobile, for example, are submitted to dynamics test labs to endure varying degrees of pressure, noise, vibrations and other challenging forces.

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Acceleration Testing

National Technical Systems

Acceleration testing provides engineers with data on the behavior of materials and equipment when the test items are subjected to acceleration forces (typically measured in terms of g-forces) applied slowly and held steadily for extended periods of time. Acceleration testing specifically avoids creating shock, vibration, or dynamic (resonant) responses in test items.

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Acoustic Testing

National Technical Systems

Different types of devices have different thresholds for acceptable amounts of acoustic noise. Acoustic testing services assess how your product will perform in real-world conditions, and whether or not further revisions should be made to reduce noise. At NTS, we have more than 50 years of experience performing acoustic noise testing and monitoring. We can determine an appropriate testing protocol for your needs, and ensure it is completed to the highest possible standards at one of our many test centers located across the country.

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Drop Testing

National Technical Systems

During installation, transport or repair, many products have a risk of being dropped. While handlers receive training to treat these items with care, mishaps happen to even the most experienced professionals. Drop testing ensures the product stays in its original condition from manufacturing to implementation.In addition to ensuring that products survive their journey from point A to point B, many products are at risk for being dropped or jarred throughout their lifetime. These products include handheld devices and tools, lab equipment, personal computers, field measuring equipment, construction tools, etc. In such cases, drop testing may be required to ensure that expensive tools or equipment are capable of surviving the perils of expected use and abuse.

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Dynamometer Testing

National Technical Systems

Dynamometer testing remains the industry standard for gauging the performance and durability of an automotive drivetrain components. Many facilities offer dyno testing, but few have the pedigree of NTS. For more than 50 years, we have been a valued partner to automotive, aerospace, defense and other industries in which advanced engineering expertise is required to bring a new product to market.

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Fatigue Testing and Analysis

National Technical Systems

Nearly every material known to man is subject to fatigue failure. This is true of polymers, plastics, composites, and metals. The general rule is as follows: if a person can bend something back and forth enough times, they can eventually break it.

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Loose Cargo Bounce Testing

National Technical Systems

Shipping containers carrying military and civilian hardware often spend a considerable amount of time in the backs of transport trucks. When the cargo travels off road being delivered to remote fields of operation, the ride can be quite rough. Items that see rough road duty may be encased telephones, laptops, missiles or medical equipment, and regardless of the journey, the gear has to work upon arrival.

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Pressure Impulse Testing

National Technical Systems

Hydraulic systems can be found in on- and off-road vehicles, aircraft, heavy equipment and many other machines and devices. Being able to accurately predict the lifespan of hoses and other wear items in a hydraulic system is of critical importance, both for determining appropriate service intervals and for reducing your liability.

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Vibration Testing

National Technical Systems

From sub-atomic particles all the way up to skyscrapers, internal movements and motions resulting from the absorption of energy make all objects vibrate to some degree. This fact means that in a world filled with energy and movement, vibrations — or the oscillating responses of objects when moved from a position of rest — are the norm.

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Force Limited Vibration Testing

National Technical Systems

In vibration testing of high value aerospace hardware, over testing of light, high performance structures is a great concern. Discrepancies between the mechanical impedances and the force capabilities of the mounting structure and the vibration shaker can cause catastrophic structural and functional problems to test item. The effectiveness of the radar depends on it retaining its structural integrity over the entire surface of the antenna and that all its electronics are a) tested at, or near levels they will experience in its service life and b) the resonance of various parts of the radar follow those of the model. Consequently, the vibration test lab required 60 data channels to accurately verify the design of the instrument and its ability to withstand launch, cruise and deployment loads. To avoid over testing, NTS used Force Limiting Test Process using four force transducers to prevent exceeding total load of 1000 pounds.

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Dual Shaker Testing

National Technical Systems

NTS has a number of facilities capable of conducting dual shaker testing, vibration testing utilizing multiple electrodynamic exciters, for the evaluation of large payloads.Once such example was conducted as part of the test program for NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer or LADEE. NTS worked with NASA’s Ames Research Center for simulated environmental testing of the LADEE observatory which included dual shaker vibration.Vibration testing on the observatory was conducted utilizing the NTS Santa Clarita facilities tandem Ling B-340 electrodynamic exciters. These exciters allow either dual shaker vibration testing, or in the case of the LADEE observatory tests, they minimize the test set-up time. The electrodynamic exciters were staged with one in the thrust axis and the other set-up for lateral axes vibration. This dual shaker set up allowed for a quick transition from one test to the other. During the tests, the vibration test lab was maintained at a class 10,000 cleanliness level.

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