One of the most frustrating aspects of the measurement of severe pyroshock events is the acceleration offset that almost invariably occurs. Dependent on its magnitude, this can result in large, low-frequency errors in both shock response spectra (SRS) and velocity-based damage analyses. Fortunately, recent developments in accelerometer technology, signal conditioning, and data acquisition systems have reduced these errors significantly. Best practices have been demonstrated to produce offset errors less than 0.25% of Peak-Peak value in measured near-field pyrotechnic accelerations: a remarkable achievement.

Read on to learn more about potential contributors to these offsets. Included are accelerometer mounting issues, cable and connector sources, signal conditioning amplitude range/bandwidth, digitizing errors (e.g. aliasing), and more...