 Mechanical accelerance

Mechanical accelerance is the acceleration-to-force frequency response, $G(s)=A(s)/F(s)$ under zero initial conditions. It has units $\mathrm{k}{\mathrm{g}}^{-1}$. It is related to mechanical receptance and mechanical driving-point mobility byThus an acceleration response cannot be labeled mobility without a frequency-dependent conversion. Its inverse is mechanical dynamic mass, which is generally complex and frequency dependent.^[ref]

For $m\ddot{x}+c\dot{x}+kx=F$,For a pure mass, $G=1/m$, independent of frequency in the ideal rigid model. A supported mass is different: spring and damping forces also enter its response. If $k>0$, accelerance tends to zero as $\omega$ tends to zero, while its high-frequency limit is $1/m$ within the model's useful range.

With $m=2\mathrm{kg}$, $c=4\mathrm{N}s/m$, $k=200N/m$ and $\omega =10rad/s$, the result is $G=2.5i\mathrm{k}{\mathrm{g}}^{-1}$. A peak force $0.8\mathrm{N}$ gives acceleration amplitude $2m/{\mathrm{s}}^2$, leading force by a quarter cycle. The reciprocal response is $-0.4i\mathrm{kg}$: it describes a dynamic ratio, rather than a negative physical amount of inertial material.

An impedance head measures force and acceleration together, making this ratio directly accessible after measurement calibration and signal processing. Driving-point accelerance uses coincident force and response directions. A response at another point is a transfer measurement; a small or vanishing transfer response can arise from the mode shapes and does not establish that the driven structure has infinite physical mass.