A noise reduction method for force measurements in water entry experiments based on the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition

In this paper a denoising strategy based on the EEMD (Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposi-tion) is used to reduce the background noise in non-stationary signals, which represent the forcesmeasured in scaled model testing of the emergency water landing of aircraft, generally referredto as ditching. Fuselage ditching tests are performed at a constant horizontal speed of 12 m/swith a controlled vertical motion, resulting in a vertical velocity at the beginning of the impactof 0.45 m/s. The measured data are affected by a large amplitude broadband noise, whichhas both a mechanical and an electronic origin. The noise sources cannot be easily avoided orremoved, since they are associated with the vibrations of the structure of the towing carriageand with the interaction between the measurement chain and the electromagnetic fields. TheEEMD noise reduction method is based on the decomposition of the signal into modes and onits partial reconstruction using the residue, the signal-dominant modes and some further modestreated with a thresholding technique, which helps to retain some of the sharp features of thesignal. The strategy is developed and tested first on a synthetic signal with a superimposed andknown background noise. The method is then verified on the measurement of the inertial forceacting on the fuselage when it is moving in air, as in this case the added mass is negligibleand the denoised force should equal the product of the mass and the acceleration, both ofthem being known. Finally, the procedure is applied to denoise the forces measured duringthe actual ditching experiment. The results are superior to those obtained from other classicalfiltering methods, such as a moving average filter and a low-pass FIR filter, particularly due tothe enhanced capabilities of the EEMD-denoising strategy here developed to preserve the sharpfeatures of the signals and to reduce the residual low-frequency oscillations of spurious origin.