
108 Vehicle noise and vibration refi nement
© Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2010
The coherence function of Equation 5.59 is a causal relationship unless one
has other physical grounds for knowing that an input x(t) produces an
output y(t). For example, x(t) could be excitation force and y(t) could be
vibration response. If a perfect linear relationship exists between x(t) and
y(t) at some frequency f
0
, then the coherence function γ
2
xy
(f
0
) will be unity
at the frequency. If x(t) and y(t) are such that S
xy
(f
0
) = 0 at frequency f
0
,
then the coherence function will be zero at that frequency, and x(t) is not
correlated to y(t).
There are four main reasons in practice why a computed coherence func-
tion between a measured input x(t) and a measured output y(t) will differ
from unity. These are:
• Extraneous noise in the input and output measurements
• Bias and random errors in the spectral density function estimates
• Output y(t) being due in part to other inputs as well as the measured
input x(t)
• Non-linear system operations existing between x(t) and y(t).
If the fi rst three possibilities are ruled out by good data acquisition, proper
data processing and physical understanding, it is reasonable to conclude
that low coherence at particular frequencies is due to non-linear system
effects at these frequencies. Thus the ordinary coherence function can
provide a simple practical way to detect non-linearity without identifying
its precise nature.
Table 5.3 shows the basic formulas of two- and one-sided spectral density
functions for stationary random data. Three frequently encountered signals
such as sine wave, wideband random signal and narrowband random signal
and their conversions for time traces, the cumulative probability distribu-
tion, the probability density distribution, autocorrelation and the auto-
spectrum are compared and plotted in Fig. 5.6 where the relationship and
trend of the signals changing with bandwidth can be seen.
Table 5.3 Basic spectral density functions, stationary random data
Two-sided spectra
Sf
T
EX fYf f
xy
( ) [ ( ) ( )],=−∞<<∞
1
*
Sf
T
EX f Xf
T
EXf
xx
() [ () ()] [ () ]==
11
2
*
One-sided spectra
Gf
T
EX fYf f
xy
() () (),=
[]
≥
2
0* only
Gf
T
EX f Xf
T
EXf
xx
() [ () ()] [ () ]==
22
2
*
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