Visualization techniques for representing scalar velocity fields over one- and two dimensional vibrating structures are investigated. High spatial density velocity fields are measured over a vibrating beam and a vibrating plate by a scanning laser velocimeter. The velocity measurements are assumed to contain noise.

This thesis proposes a model on which principles and goals of scientific visualization are applied to experimental structural dynamics. Various mathematical functions and parameter estimation techniques are studied to obtain suitable mathematical models for fitting the scattered data sets. A two window displaying method, including a main display window and a zoom window, is adopted for visualizing the two-dimensional velocity data. To visualize three-dimensional velocity fields, four representation methods, the illuminated shade surface, the wireframe surface, the color contour surface, and the three-dimensional vector representation are demonstrated to visualize velocity fields. A dynamic animation of the plate's dynamic response is also demonstrated. Results demonstrate the feasibility of using visualization techniques to manipulate complicated scalar velocity data and visualizes the dynamic response of the free-free beam and completely free rectangular plate vibrations.