NI SC Express Application Areas

Structural Testing

Static and fatigue tests are types of structural tests used to validate the designs of components, subassemblies, and full-scale ground and airframe prototypes. While static testing aims to push the test article to its theoretical limits, fatigue testing characterizes the operational loads experienced over its lifetime. In both tests, a hydraulic control system applies realistic loads while a real-time data acquisition system digitizes the response, calculates engineering channels, triggers alarms, provides operator display, and saves data.

Case Study: Using LabVIEW, PXI, and CompactRIO to Rapidly Develop Structural Test Systems for a Space Exploration Vehicle

Learn more about structural test

Modal Analysis in Dynamic Testing

The SC Express platform has the high-speed data acquisition necessary to perform modal analysis and other dynamic tests at high frequency without sacrificing sensor resolution or synchronization between channels. SC Express has been used on modal analysis applications ranging from mechanical engineering labs in universities to the operational modal analysis and monitoring used on the Donghai Bridge in China.

Case Study: Structural Health Monitoring of the Donghai Bridge Using LabVIEW and PXI

Watch a video on modal analysis using NI LabVIEW

Evaluate a modal analysis software tool

Vibration and Shaker Testing

SC Express, combined with LabVIEW Real-Time, makes the PXI platform an ideal solution for shaker table testing. The analog I/O of SC Express and the precise processing time of LabVIEW Real-Time have been used in numerous data acquisition and control systems.

Case Study: University of Nevada Researchers Use LabVIEW, PXI, and CompactRIO to Measure the Effects of Earthquakes on Bridges

Case Study: Vibration Monitoring of a 600 MW Steam Turbine Start-Up Using LabVIEW

Learn more about noise, vibration, and harshness

Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Testing

The NI solution based on LabVIEW and DIAdem is ideal for both model and full-scale wind tunnel data acquisition and evaluation systems.

Case Study: Evaluating Wind Tunnel Test Data With NI DIAdem at Airbus

Case Study: Identifying Noise Sources on In-Flight Aircraft With LabVIEW and PXI

Case Study: Boeing Measures Reduced Aircraft Noise Emissions With NI PXI and LabVIEW

Pipeline, Bridge, and Building Monitoring

Monitor structures reliably with the versatile, distributed measurement types ranging from optical to electrical sensors. The high accuracy and sensitivity of SC Express products, along with their tight synchronization, make them an ideal solution for the unique challenges of structural monitoring.

Case Study: Reducing Measurement Time by 20x Using NI Optical Sensor Interrogators

Watch a video on monitoring the Milan Cathedral spire structure

Learn more about optical sensing

Environmental Chamber Monitoring

Many applications require a test article or device be tested over a variety of environmental conditions to characterize its response under changing pressure, temperature, or humidity. In the test chamber, vacuums simulate conditions a structure may experience while a data acquisition system measures hundreds of thermocouples, several dozens of resistance temperature detectors (RTDs), and any other necessary sensor measurements.

Case Study: NASA Chooses NI SC Express for Accuracy, Flexibility in New Data Acquisition System

Case Study: Using NI Software and Hardware to Develop a Distributed, Networked Real-Time Control and Data Acquisition System

Read about a thermal-acoustic stabilization chamber

Learn about the patented NI cold-junction compensation (CJC) design