A vibration meter can be used to determine the characteristic vibration values of desired and undesired vibrations. For this purpose, the vibration meter is usually adapted directly to a specific area of application. The vibration meters can be divided according to their field of application into devices for vibrations on machines, for vibrations on buildings and devices for measuring vibrations that affect people.
The standards and reference values for these application groups are taken into account both in the measuring functions and measuring ranges of the vibration meters and in their evaluation options. The vibration meter for the inspection of machine vibrations, for example, often offers a direct evaluation of the measurement results as very good, good, critical or inadmissible according to the classification of DIN ISO 10816.
For some evaluations, the vibration acceleration values are sufficient. For more detailed inspections, there are vibration meters which, in addition to the vibration acceleration, also determine the vibration velocity and the vibration displacement as well as the vibration frequency. Depending on the instrument model, the direction-dependent quantities can be output separately for the three axes or as a total value. For the detailed evaluations of the vibration behavior, high-quality devices also offer FFT analyses and wave views on the graphic display or in the associated evaluation software.