Application Area 9: Appliance Design
A mechanical accelerometer is used to measure the acceleration of a rocket test sled. It contains a linear spring-damper system. See the image below. By tuning the stiffness and damping, the accelerometer can be designed to estimate the acceleration it feels within an acceptable time.

- Objective
- We can compute the deviation of any system response xx from its target value x*x∗ as follows:
- Design Variables
- The stiffness of the spring, k , and its damping, c , are the design variables.
- Results
- By properly selecting the spring stiffness and damping, the accelerometer can be designed to respond in the desired time frame.