The total structural intensity in beams can be considered as composed of three kinds of waves: Bending, longitudinal, and torsional. In passive and active control applications, it is useful to separate each of these components in order to evaluate its contribution to the total structural intensity flowing through the beam. In this paper, a z-shaped beam is used in order to allow the three kinds of waves to propagate. The contributions of the structural intensity due to the three kinds of waves are computed from measurements made over the surface of the beam with a simple homodyne interferometric laser vibrometer. The optical sensor incorporates some additional polarizing optics to a Michelson type interferometer to generate two optical signals in quadrature, which are processed to display velocities and/or displacements. This optical processing scheme is used to remove the directional ambiguity from the velocity measurement and allows to detect nearly all backscattered light collected from the object. This paper investigates the performance of the laser vibrometer in the estimation of the different wave components. The results are validated by comparing the total structural intensity computed from the laser measurements with the measured input power. Results computed from measurements using PVDF sensors are also shown, and compared with the non-intrusive laser measurements.3411 366375Noiseaux, D.U., Measurement of power flow in uniform beams and plates (1970) J. Accost. Soc. America, 47, pp. 238-247Pavic, G., Measurement of structure borne wave intensity, part I: Formulation of methods (1976) J. of Sound and Vibration, 49 (2), pp. 221-230Verheij, J.W., Cross-spectral density methods for measuring structure-borne power flow on beams and pipes (1980) J. of Sound and Vibration, 70, pp. 133-139Bauman, P.D., Measurement of structural intensity: Analytic and experimental evaluation of various techniques for the case of flexural waves in one-dimensional structures (1994) J. of Sound and Vibration, 174 (5), pp. 677-694Halkyard, C.R., Mace, B.R., Wave component approach to structural intensity in beams (1993) Proc. of the 4th Int. Congress on Intensity Techniques, pp. 183-190. , Senlis, France, ABerthelot, Y.H., Yang, M., Jarzinski, J., Recent progress on laser Doppler measurements in structural acoustics (1993) Proc. of the 4th Int. Congress on Intensity Techniques, pp. 199-206. , Senlis, FranceCremer, L., Heckl, M., Ungar, E.E., (1988) Structure-Borne Sound, , Berlin: SpringerBelansky, R.H., Wanser, K.H., Laser Doppler velocimetry using a bulk optic michelson interferometer: A student laboratory experiment (1993) Am. J. Phys., 61 (11), pp. 1014-1019Halliwell, N.A., Laser Doppler measurement of vibrating surfaces: A portable instrument (1979) J. of Sound and Vibration, 62 (2), pp. 312-315Riener, T.A., Goding, A.C., Talke, F.E., Measurement of head/disk spacing modulation using a two channel fiber optic laser Doppler vibrometer (1988) IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 24 (6), pp. 2745-2747Jackson, D.A., Kersey, A.D., Lewin, A.C., Fibre gyroscope with passive quadrature detection (1984) Electronics Letters, 20 (10), pp. 399-401Goodman, J.W., Some fundamental properties of speckles (1976) J. Opt. Soc. Am., 66 (11), pp. 1145-1150Koo, K.P., Tveten, A.B., Dandridge, A., Passive stabilization scheme for fiber interferometers using (3×3) fiber directional couplers (1982) Appl. Phys. Lett., 41 (7), pp. 616-618