Vibration is a physical phenomenon that presents itself in operational rotating machineries and moving structures, regardless of the condition of their health. Vibration can be induced by various sources, including rotating shafts, meshing gear-teeth, rolling bearing elements, rotating electric field, fluid flows, combustion events, structural resonance and angular rotations. Because of its ubiquity, vibration is highly applicable for investigating the operational conditions and status of rotating machinery and structures.
Vibration analysis is a process that monitors the levels and patterns of vibration signals within a component, machinery or structure, to detect abnormal vibration events and to evaluate the overall condition of the test object.
Vibration Analysis
It is commonly conducted both on the time waveforms of the vibration signal directly, as well as on the frequency spectrum, which is obtained by applying Fourier Transform on the time waveform.
Vibrations can be represented in different forms, including displacement, velocity and acceleration. Displacement describes the distance that the measuring point has moved; velocity describes how fast the movement is; and acceleration is self-explanatory. The three types are all widely used, specifically acceleration, which offers the widest frequency range and is extensively applied for dynamic fault analysis.
What Can Vibration Analysis Detect?
Time domain vibration analysis is able to monitor vibration levels. Acceptable operation vibration limits can be pre-defined either through long-term operation and maintenance history or through referring to established standards. If the limit is breached, this could be that the overall health condition of the machine is deteriorating and defects have developed.
Frequency domain vibration analysis excels at detecting abnormal vibrating patterns. For instance, a crack that has developed on a roller bearing outer race will lead to periodic collisions with bearing rollers. In time waveform, this information is usually hidden and masked by the vibration from other sources. By studying the frequency spectrum, the periodicity of the collisions can be discovered and thus detect the presence of bearing faults.
What Are Some Industrial Applications of Vibration Analysis?
Vibration analysis is predominantly applied for the condition monitoring on machineries and their key rotating parts, including but not limited to:
Bearings, gears, shafts, free wheels
Rotating machines such as gearboxes, motors, fans and drive-trains
Reciprocate machines such as piston engines, reciprocate compressors, pumps and door mechanisms
Vibration analysis has also been employed in structural health monitoring, including but not limited to:
- Bridges
- Pipes
- Turbine blades
Advantages
- Real-time reaction to the change of health conditions
- Supports remote condition monitoring
- Well-established processing and signal analysis methods/algorithms for predictive maintenance
- Supported by various sensors commercially available for different operational conditions
Limitations
- Difficult to conduct fault localisation
- Difficult to monitoring crack propagation
- High requirements for proper system setup
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