Test my product using sine or random?

As you know, in the vibration world, there are quite a few test “types” to which you can expose your product. The major choices are Sine, Random, Classical Shock, Transient Shock, Field Recorded Time History, Sine-on-Random, Random-on-Random and Sine-and- Random-on-Random. Frequently, our customers will request advice on which of these types of test to run on their product, and in particular, how to choose between the two most common test types: sine or random. Their desire is to know which test, sine or random, is best to most quickly pinpoint flaws in their product. If they can only run one test, either sine or random, which should it be? Recently, I received an even more specific request from a customer. This customer (Don) presented both a sine test and a random test and wanted to know, given both a sine test and a random test, how he could determine which is the most severe? Let’s take a look at the two tests and decide how to answer to his question. Here is Don’s question: How would the following specifications compare with regard to amplitude/severity?