Lecture Note

Fault Analysis

Page 1
 Fault Analysis

z Unbalance
z Misalignment
z Pulleys faults
z Bent shaft
z Shaft crack
z Mechanical looseness
z Journal bearing faults
z Rolling element bearing faults
z Rotor rub
z Electrical motor problems
z Pumps Problems
z Gear faults

The main advantage of making vibration measurements on rotating

machinery, is the possibility to detect faults, before they make the
machine break down, and thereby reduce economical losses, such as
damaged equipment and production loss. To this the constant
percentage band width spectrum has shown to be the most efficient.

When a fault is detected, vibration analysis can be used to diagnose

the fault.

Making diagnosis using vibration analysis requires skill and experience.

Additional measurements of FFT spectra and phase measurements is
often required.

In the following some simple rules for the most common machine
faults are drawn up giving the fault type and a characteristic vibration
measurements.
The spectra in the examples are all made as drawings, in order to
emphasize the typical feature of each fault.

Page 2
 Unbalance

Static Unbalance
•Equal phase on
each bearing
•Mainly radial vibration Typical
Typical
Unbalance
Unbalance
Spectrum
Spectrum
Dynamic Unbalance
• Phase changes 180 °
across bearing
• Mainly radial vibration RPM
Radial

Please Note:
Strong
Overhung Rotor Unbalance unbalance
• Both Radial and horizontal vibration cause
• Often both Static and Dynamic harmonics
unbalance are seen together

Unbalance is the most common fault associated with rotating shaft.

Unbalance vibration is mainly radial. On overhung rotor axial
components may be present as well.
High 1X is often believed to be unbalance, however it can be
misalignment, bent rotor or cracked shaft, and further investigation of
what may cause the defect is often necessary.
Often Static Unbalance and Dynamic Unbalance are seen together. The
phase difference across the shaft therefore may vary.
Sources of Imbalance
The following machine problems are among the conditions that will
create imbalance:
Uneven dirt accumulation on fan rotors
Lack of homogeneity in cast parts, such as bubbles, blow-holes, porous
sections
Rotor eccentricity
Roller deflection, especially in paper machines
Machining errors
Uneven mass distribution in electric motor rotor bars or windings
Uneven erosion and corrosion of pump impellers
Missing balance weights
Bowed Shaft
Page 3
 Misalignment
mm/s
A. Parallel misalignment
10

3.1

0.31

Radial Vibration approx. 180 ° phase shifted mm/s 1X 2X 3X

2X often highest peak 10

B. Angular misalignment 3.1

0.31

1X 2X 3X

Please
PleaseNote:
Note:
Misalignment
Misalignmentmay
maybe
beappears
appearson
on1X
1X
Axial Vibration approx.. 0 ° phase shifted component
componentonly
only
1X , 2X or 3 X highest

Misalignment is traditionally associated with a 2nd harmonic

component, which according to some sources is due to to 2 times the
stress reversal during one rotation. More probably the harmonic occurs
due to distortion of the ideal sinusoidal vibration signal.
It is quite common that misalignment occurs on the 1st harmonic only
in the spectrum. An investigation of the phase relationship across the
rotor and across the coupling should therefore always be carried out for
distinguishing misalignment from unbalance.
A misaligned rotor tend to wear in. That is after a while the bearing will
get deformed after the misalignment. In the spectrum this is seen as
the 2nd order component will decrease and the third order will increase
as wear develops.
Causes of Misalignment
Misalignment is typically caused by the following conditions:
Inaccurate assembly of components, such as motors, pumps, etc.
Relative position of components shifting after assembly
Distortion due to forces exerted by piping
Distortion of flexible supports due to torque
Temperature induced growth of machine structure
Coupling face not perpendicular to the shaft axis
Soft foot, where the machine shifts when hold down bolts are torqued.

Page 4
Page 5
 Bent Shaft

mm/s

10

3.1

0.31

1X 2X

• Axial And Radial Vibration

• 180 ° Phase shift in Axial Vibration
• 0 ° Phase shift in radial vibration

A Bent Shaft to many extents is looking like a misalignment in the

spectrum.
A phase measurement for axial vibration across the shaft will
distinguish between misalignment and bent shaft as the bent shaft will
produce a 180 Degrees Phase shift.

Page 6
 Belt Drive Problem
Mismatched, Worn, or Stretched Belts
Mismatched, worn, or stretched belts, especially Vee belts, will
generate vibration at the fundamental belt pass frequency and
harmonics of it. Usually the second harmonic is dominant if
there are two sheaves in the system. The Fundamental Belt
Frequency FBF is given by the following formula. It is always
sub-synchronous, meaning it is lower in frequency than 1X.

Fundamental Belt Frequency (FBF) = π*D*RPM/L

FBF
10

3.1

1
Where
WhereDD==Sheave
SheaveDiameter
Diameter
LL==Belt
BeltLength
2x FBF
Length
0.31 RPM
RPM==Turn
Turnspeed
speedof
ofsheave
sheaveDD

Page 7
 Belt Drive Problem Cont.
Sheave Misalignment
Sheave misalignment will generate strong axial 1X components and
axial harmonics of the fundamental belt frequency.

Angular Parallel Both

Page 8
 Belt Drive Problem Cont.
Eccentric Sheaves, Sheave Runout
Eccentric sheaves will generate strong 1X radial components, especially in the direction parallel to
the belts. This condition is very common, and mimics imbalance. This can be checked by removing
the belts and measuring again. 1X vibration of an eccentric sheave or a sheave with runout will
usually also show up at the other sheave.

10

3.1

0.31

Fan Motor
RPM RPM

• Center of rotation different from

geometrical center
•Vertical an horizontal Phase
either equal or 180 ° different

The Eccentric rotor will produce high vibration at the rotation speed.
The Phase will be the same in both horizontal and vertical direction.
If you try to balance an eccentric rotor, you may reduce the vibration
readings in one direction, but the readings will increase in the other

Page 9
 Looseness
mm/s

Loose Foundation
10
2X often high
Sub-harmonics 3.1

0.31

.5X 1X 1.5X 2X 3X

Loose shaft mm/s

Often series
of sub harmonic 10

components 3.1
½, 1/3, ... 1/n
1

0.31

.5X 1X 1.5X 2X 3X

Mechanical looseness produce a strongly distorted signal. The inter

harmonics (½, 1/3 etc.) are attributable to the fact that the loose part
bounces and thus does get excited every 2nd or 3rd revolution of the
shaft.

Looseness between a machine and its foundation will increase the 1X

vibration component in the direction if the least stiffness. This is usually
the horizontal direction, but it depends on the physical layout of the
machine. Low-order 1X harmonics are also commonly produced if the
looseness is severe. It is often hard to tell imbalance from foundation
looseness or flexibility, especially in vertical machines. If 1X tangential
is much greater than 1X radial, looseness is suspected. If 1X tangential
is lower than or equal to 1X radial, then imbalance is suspected.
Foundation flexibility or looseness can be caused by loose bolts,
corrosion, or cracking of mounting hardware.

Page 10
 Rotor Rub

mm/

10

3.1

0.31

.5X 1X 1.5X 2X 3X

Truncated Wave form

• Symptoms same as Mechanical

Looseness
• Subharmonics ½ ,1/3 etc.
• Strong Harmonic pattern
Caused by truncation

The characteristics of Rotor Rub are very similar to mechanics

looseness.

Page 11
 Shaft Crack
X/Y Position History
Shaft
ShaftCracks
Cracksmay
maybe bedetected
detected
by
bymonitoring
monitoringof of
••Amplitude
Amplitudeand andPhase
Phaseofof
1X
1Xfirst
firstand
and2X2Xand
and
second
secondharmonic
harmonicof ofRPM.
RPM.
Longitudinal Crack ••Monitoring
Monitoringof ofCoast
Coastdown
down
and
andRun
Run- -up
upcharacteristics
characteristics
when passing through
when passing through
resonance
resonance

Radial Crack

Nyquist Bode

1X Run Up

Shaft Cracks have been detected by continuously monitoring of 1st and

2nd harmonics, or by comparing run ups and coast down, where a
cracked shaft will change the characteristic curve as it passes through
the resonance.
Shaft Cracks are often mistaken for the far more common
misalignment.

Page 12
 Journal Bearings
wo= 0 mm/s

Oil Instability
10
• normally 42 %- 47 % of
running speed 3.1
wo= ws
• May appear from 0.3 -0.7X 1

in some occasions 0.31

• Non Synchronous
wo ~ 0.3 - 0.5 ws 0.43X 1X 2X

mm/s

Wear 10

Clearance Problems 3.1

• Harmonic Series 1

of Rotation Speed 0.31

1X 2X 3X 4X 5X 6X 7X 8X 9X 10X...

Oil Whirl
Simplified explanation.
In a journal bearing the shaft is “surfing” on an oil wave.
Let us look at the speed profile of the oil film.
At the boundary of the shaft the oil film has the same speed as the
shaft.
At bearing boundary the oil film is stationary.

Some bearing designs may develop instability at certain conditions of

oil viscosity and bearing load. In such cases the oil film will pump
around the shaft with about the average speed of the oil film speed
profile.
The speed of such pumping normally appears around 42 % - 47% of
the shaft speed though instability has been reported in the range 30%
to 70 % of shaft speed.

Clearance Problems
In a worn journal bearing harmonics up to 10 or 20 times the running
speed may be seen.

Page 13
 Rolling Element Bearings
Faults in Rolling Element Bearings
are Detected with CPB in the High
frequency range

Envelope Spectra can be used both

for Detection and Diagnosis of
Rolling Element Bearing Faults

No Defects on Rolling Element

Bearing

“Flat” Envelope Spectrum.

Rolling element bearing faults normally start with small cracks or spalls,
which produce very hard impacts by the passing of the balls.

As the bearing impacts are very short, they will contain energy in very
high frequencies - the resonances of the force path will be excited and
ring.

Detection of bearing wear is done by seeing increases of the

resonances of the bearing and the machine structure in the 2kHz -
14 kHz frequency range.

Using Envelope analysis the modulation of the high frequency can be

analyzed. Envelope analysis provides thus an excellent tool for both
detection and diagnosis of bearing signals.

If no modulation is present in the signal. There will be no peaks in the

envelope spectra.

Page 14
 Rolling Element Bearing Frequencies

D1 D2

D1 + D 2
PD =
2
n = number of balls

f r = rotation frequency

The rolling element bearing can be considered as a planetary gear with

the inner ring as the sun weal and the balls as planets. Different
defects will be repeated at frequencies which can be calculated with
above formulas. The Ball Diameter and the Race diameters, as well as
the contact angle beta is normally given by the manufacturer. The
number of balls is given in newer literature from the bearing
manufacturers. You may use the mounting diameters of the bearing for
calculating the Pitch Diameter if the Outer and Inner Race diameter is
not available.
It is general experience that these frequencies show up in a FFT
spectrum at a very late stage of bearing wear.
With envelope analysis the bearing frequencies are seen at a very early
stage of fault development however. The envelope analysis can be
used for accurately predicting the breakdown of a bearing.
It should be noted that the balls will slip few percents in the bearings
specially when lightly loaded.

Page 15
 Typical Bearing Defects
Development Envelope Analysis
1. Outer Race Faults
• Lead Time Month’s
• Ball Pass Frequency Outer Race
( BPFO) and Harmonic BPFO

RPM
2. Inner Race Faults
• Lead Time Days - Weeks
• Ball Pass Frequency Inner Race
(BPFI) With Side bands BPFI

of Rotation speed

3. Ball Defects
• Requires Immediate action
• Ball Spin Frequency
BSF with Harmonics. BSF
• Often in combinations with
above with various inter-harmonics.

The typical bearing fault start as a crack or spall in the outer race.
Depending on bearing load a rolling element bearing can “survive”
long time with an outer race fault.

An outer race spall will eventually develop to a wear. This can be seen
in the envelope spectrum by the reduction of harmonics of the BPFO
and an increase of the BPFO itself.

At as certain stage the balls off tracked by the outer race fault will
cause a fault in the inner race. As the fault in the inner race is rotating
into and out of the load zone, the fault frequency will be modulated
with the rotation speed, and thus produce side bands with RPM
spacing.
An inner race fault is often faster growing than an outer race fault.
In the end of a bearing fault, often faults and the balls are seen as well
as inter modulation frequencies between the different fault types.

Page 16
 Bearing Mounting Defects
Analyzed With Envelope Analysis
Rotor Misalignment
1*RPM
Rotor Unbalance
RPM

Radial Tension 2*RPM

of Bearing
2*RPM

Misalignment of
2*BPFO
outer Race (Cocked)
2*BPFO

Slip of Race in Harmonics

the Mounting Seat of RPM
RPM

Increase of
Lubrication Defect Background
level

The earliest detection of bearing fault is done by placing the envelope

filter on a resonance of the bearing. By doing so however, one miss the
opportunity of classifying the defect depth, by the height of the peaks
in the envelope spectrum.
Also one misses the opportunity of being able to analyze above defects
in the envelope spectra.

For getting the best information about modulations of random noise

produced by a rolling element bearing, it is recommended to place the
envelope filter in the high frequency at a place where signal is
available, but not amplified by resonances. (There should be maximum
10dB variation across the envelope filter range).

Page 17
 Electrical Motor:
Cracked Rotor Bars
Broken Rotor Bars Lin freq.
Stator
Stator Rotors
Rotors Cracked Rotor Bar
spacing

Bars
Bars Bars
Bars Loose Rotor Bar
Shorted Rotor Laminations
Poor End Ring Joints 1X 2X RBPF

• Side bands of Slip Freq Loose

LooseRotor
RotorBars
Barsmay
may
around 1X, 2X 3X etc. also
alsocause
causeSidebands
Sidebandsofof
< - 35 dB = Serious Line
Line frequency aroundRotor
frequency around Rotorbar
bar
passing
passingfrequency
frequencyand
and2*RBPF
2*RBPF
> - 45 dB = OK.

35 dB
45 dB
Pole
PolePass
PassFreq.
Freq.==Slip
SlipFreq.*
Freq.*No.
No.ofofPoles
Poles
Slip
SlipFreq.
Freq.==Synch
SynchSpeed
Speed - -RPM
RPM
Rotor
RotorBar
BarFreq.
Freq.==No.
No.ofofrotor
rotorBars
Bars**RPM
RPM

(1X- n*Slip Freq) 1X (1X+n*Slip Freq) Zoom

Zoom
Spectrum
Spectrum

A motor with loose, broken or shortened rotor bars will produce

modulation of the rotation speed with the slip frequency.
An efficient way of analyzing this fault is making zoom FFT around the
motor rotation speed of the motor current.
The motor current can be analyzed using a current probe on one of the
motor current supply lines.

If the side bands appear less than 45 dB below the RPM component,
alert caution should be taken.
Side bands appearing less than 35 dB below the RPM component
should be regarded as shut down criteria.

Please refer to the application note BO 0269 “ Vibration Diagnostics for

Industrial Electric Motor Drives” for a detailed description of diagnostics
of electrical motors.

Page 18
 Electrical Motor Problems
mm/s

Stator Eccentricity 10

Looseness of Stator Support 3.1

Shored Stator Laminations 1

• 2nd Harmonic 0.31

of line frequency
1X Line 2x 2*Line freq.

mm/s

Eccentric Rotor (Statical) 10

• 2 * Line frequency and 3.1

Sidebands of Pole Pass Freq. 1

around 2 * line frequency 0.31

1X Line 2X 2*Line freq.

Pole
PolePass
PassFreq.
Freq.==Slip
SlipFreq.*
Freq.*No.
No.ofofPoles
Poles
Slip
SlipFreq.
Freq.==Synch
SynchSpeed
Speed - -RPM
RPM

The electrical magnets of an electric motor are contracting twice for

every period of the net frequency. Thus electrical faults are appearing
at twice the net frequency.
The slip frequency is the difference between the rotation frequency of
the rotor and the net frequency.
The pole pass frequency is the number of poles times the slip
frequency.

An eccentric electric motor will produce side spaced with the pole pass
frequency around twice the net frequency.
Zoom is required to analyze these faults.

Page 19
 Synchronous Motors, DC Motors
Synchronous Motors
1 RPM
Loose Stator Coils spacing

• RPM spaced Sidebands

around Coil Pass Frequency.

1X 2X Coil Pass Freq.

DC Motors
Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR)
SCR firing frequency increase may show:
• Bad SCR
•Loose Connections
•Broken Field Windings

1X 2X SFC Freq.= 6*Line freq. 2*SCR

Loose stator coils in synchronous motors may generate high vibration

at the coil passing frequency which is the number of stator coils times
the RPM.
Modulation is often present and can be seen as side bands spaced with
RPM.

DC motors are often controlled by Silicon Controlled Rectifiers ( SCR ).

At the SCR frequency which is usually 6 times the line frequency,

increases will show problems with the SCR.

Page 20
Spectrum Example on DC Motor

Page 21
 Pumps Problems
Centrifugal Pumps Cavitation is caused by the collapse of small bubbles that occurs
during local boiling at certain condition of the fluid (low dynamic
The following spectrum, containing pressure) The Collapses are short in time and thus wide in Frequency.
broadband high-frequency noise,
indicates cavitation in a centrifugal
-The resonances are exited throughout the spectrum
pump due to low inlet pressure.
-Specially high Frequencies are exited

- In Envelope Spectra an increase of the background

level with no distinct lines are seen.

Constant Percentage Bandwidth Spectrum Envelope Spectrum

The faster a fluid travels by an object the lower the pressure will be,
this phenomenon is well known as Bernoulli's law, and it is the reason
that aero planes can fly and turbo machines are working.
The lower the pressure, the lower the boiling temperature of water.
In some instances the water of a pump may start boiling locally as a
result of the local fluid speed will decrease local dynamic pressure and
hence decreased the boiling point below the fluid temperature.
When the local pressure increases again the small bubbles formed in
the boiling process collapses very rapidly. The rapid collapse causes
shock pulses which may be strong enough to break apart fragments of
metal on the location it occurs - cavitation wear.
The collapsing bubbles also induce shock waves which are transferred
through the structure. Since the pulses are very short, they have a very
high frequency content, and they will excite resonances throughout the
spectrum range.

Page 22
 Pumps Problems Cont.
Gear Pumps
Gear pumps are commonly used for pumping lube oil, and they almost always have a strong
vibration component at the tooth mesh frequency, which is the number of teeth on the gear
times the RPM. This component will be highly dependent on the output pressure of the
pump. If the tooth mesh frequency changes significantly, such as the sudden appearance of
harmonics or sidebands in the vibration spectrum, it could indicate a cracked or otherwise
damaged tooth.

Typical Gear Pump Spectrum

Page 23
 Pumps Problems Cont.

Screw Pumps

The screw type pump can generate a multitude of frequency components in the
vibration spectrum. Thread wear or damage will usually produce strong harmonics of
the thread rate, which is the number of threads times the RPM.

Page 24
 Gear Boxes
Gear Boxes Produce Complex Spectra

Cepstrum Analysis and Time Domain

averaging greatly simplifies the job of
the analysis in assessment of Gear
Box faults.

TMF 2*TMF

Gear
GearBox
BoxSpectrum
Spectrum Gear
GearBox
BoxCepstrum
Cepstrum
• •Faults
Faultsproduce
produceSide
SideBand
Band families
families • •The
TheEnergy
Energyofofeach
eachSide
SideBand
Band
around
aroundtooth
toothmesh
meshfrequency
frequency(TMF)
(TMF) Family
Family(fault)
(fault)isiseasily
easilyassessed.
assessed.
and
andharmonics
harmonicsTMF.
TMF.

Gear box spectra contains a range of frequencies of the different tooth

mesh and its harmonics.
The tooth mesh frequency itself, is generally dependent of gearbox
load, whereas gear box wear can be diagnosed as an increase of the
2nd and 3rd harmonic.
Side bands around the tooth mesh frequency and its harmonics, are
quite common and contains information about gearbox faults.
As a general rule a distributed faults such as runout and gear
misalignment will produce side bands which have high amplitudes
close around the fault, whereas distributed faults produce side bands
which are spread more widely.
Cepstrum analysis produce an excellent tool for analyzing the energy in
each side band family.
With signal enhancement analysis you may collect the vibration
spectrum from a single shaft inside a gear box.

Use of Order analysis will eliminate smearing the many components

together due to small speed variations.

Page 25