Impact testing was one of the first practical applications of the
ast-Fourier transform (FFT) technique in the late 1960s.
Prior to
eveloping the FFT, measuring the frequency response function
FRF) was limited to sinusoidal testing procedures. The sine testing
methods were slow, and required elaborate fixtures for excitation
electro-mechanical or hydraulic exciters). Impact testing pro-
ided an order of magnitude faster test time and minimal fixtures.
As a result, it became a very good field-testing and troubleshooting
method, as well as a pretesting method for controlled laboratory
esting. This article is a general review of the evolution of impact
esting from its development in the 1960s and ’70s to the present
me, with a more extensive review of recent developments in test-
ng procedures and parameter estimation for multiple-reference
mpact testing (MRIT).