VIBRATION ANALYSIS METHOD

INTRODUCTION
Vibration analysis is widely used in predictive maintenance programs involving pumps, motors,
gearboxes, turbines, fans, and compressors, as well as all types of vehicles, heavy machinery,
bridges, and civil engineering structures. Excessive vibration of equipment under load can be
caused by wear, corrosion, or even forces of nature, and is a major cause of equipment or
structure failure. In many cases, excessive vibration causes excessive noise.
Perhaps one of our earliest encounters with vibration and sound was in an elementary school
music class when the teacher showed us a set of tuning forks and struck them one at a time on a
solid object. Each tuning fork produced a different tone as it vibrated at its natural or resonant
frequency. By touching both tines of the fork, the teacher dampened the vibration and stopped
the sound. We learned that sound and vibration are closely related.
Vibration testing is the shaking or shocking of a component or assembly to see how well it will
stand up to everyday use and abuse. Vibration analysis is a broad subject involving many
techniques. Applications include the testing of airplanes, appliances, bridges, buildings, circuit
boards, computers, instruments, rotating equipment, spacecraft, satellites, and vehicles.
Equipment used in vibration testing includes climate-controlled chambers, controllers, data
analyzers, instruments, sensors, and impulse and vibration exciters.
In general, we must shake the structure and sense the amplitude and frequencies of vibration.
With heavy rotating equipment like engines, motors, turbines, and compressors, we want the
main rotor to turn smoothly and quietly. When you listen to vibrations in bearing housings, you
may hear periodic thumping sounds instead of a smooth whirling sound, indicating potential
bearing problems.
Vibration analysis is an important consideration in many industries. Automobiles are
protected against shock, vibration, wind, and rain by their structural design, pneumatic tires,
gaskets, shock absorbers, motor mounts, springs, and protective finishes. Military equipment
and components must be “hardened” or protected against shock, vibration, dust, sand storms,
high temperatures, and moisture. Individual components and complete assemblies are often
tested using “shakers” or “shaker tables” capable of generating variable but controlled shock
and vibration loads.
Shakers can be mechanically, electro-hydraulically, or electromagnetically driven over
frequency ranges of 10 to 55Hz, 0 to 500Hz, and 5 to 2 KHz, respectively. Mechanical shakers are
the easiest to maintain and the least expensive, but they cannot produce random vibrations.
Electromagnetic shakers produce the purest sine waves, but they are more difficult to maintain
and the most expensive. Mechanical shakers are limited to a stroke of about 0.1 in., whereas the
other shakers have stroke ranges of several inches. Reaction masses are typically used with both
mechanical and electrohydraulic shakers, but not electromagnetic shakers.
PRINCIPLES/THEORY
Modes of Vibration
Almost everything from relatively simple molecules to some of the world’s largest buildings
vibrates at what is known as fundamental or resonant frequencies. A string fixed at both ends,

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as shown in Figure .1, illustrates simple transverse modes of vibration. The fixed ends of the
string are nodes and the wavelength and frequency of the string for the fundamental and first
two harmonic modes of vibration are shown in Eqs. 1–3 below.
ν
λ=2 L; f 1= ( Fundamental Mode ) (1)
2L
ν st
λ=L ; f 2= ( 1 Harmonic ) (2)
L
2L 3 ν nd
λ= ; f 3= ( 2 Harmonic ) (3)
3 2L
Notes:
• An infinite number of harmonics, odd and even, can be developed for a vibrating string.
• The nodes and antinodes of vibrating strings are opposite to those of air columns.
• Tension and mass are additional factors affecting the velocity of string vibration.
• Mode shape—the relative position of all points on a structure at a given natural frequency.
Mode shapes are frequently exaggerated for illustration purposes.
Resonance
Resonant frequency is a natural frequency of vibration determined by the physical parameters
of a vibrating object. Objects resonate when the frequency of the driving force coincides with
the natural frequency of the driven system. Physically determined natural frequencies apply
universally to the fields of modern physics, mechanics, electricity, and magnetism. Increasing
loads at resonant frequencies can increase stress and even cause catastrophic failures. Soldiers
keeping cadence while marching across a bridge could be an example of this. Some
characteristics of resonance are:

Figure.1 Modes of vibration showing frequency relationships.

• Most objects have multiple resonant frequencies.
• Any object composed of an elastic material will vibrate at its own set of natural or resonant
frequencies when disturbed.
• It is easy to get an object to vibrate at its resonant frequencies and extremely difficult to get
them to vibrate at other frequencies.
• Objects will resonate at their resonant frequencies even when they are excited by a complex
source of multiple frequencies. The resonant frequencies tend to filter out other frequencies.

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• The greatest amplitude of vibration will take place when the frequency of the driving force
coincides with the natural frequency of the driven system.
For building vibrations, the natural frequency for each mode of vibration can be calculated
using Eq.4:

Where fn = natural frequency in Hertz

f n=
1
2π √ k
m
(4)

K = stiffness factor associated with this mode

M = mass of the building associated with this mode
Therefore, buildings have lower natural frequencies when they have heavier masses or lower
stiffness factors. As might be expected, tall buildings tend to have lower stiffness factors than
short buildings.
With lighter and stronger machine designs today, mechanical resonance is a growing problem.
Since resonance occurs at frequencies where damping is very low, every mechanical system
requires some damping. There are only two things that can be done when a machine is vibrating
due to resonance— remove the source or the response in the mechanical system.
Degrees of Freedom
If an object or system has one degree of freedom (DOF), it has one mode of vibration and one
natural or resonant frequency. However, if the system has 2, 3, 4, or 5 degrees of freedom, it
will have 2, 3, 4, or 5 modes of vibration and the same number of resonant frequencies. A
continuous system has an infinite number of modes of vibration.

SOURCES OF VIBRATION
Rotating equipment, which is subject to excessive vibration and wear, are motors, gearboxes,
pumps, blowers, fans, compressors, and turbines. Individual components within this type of
equipment that are most subject to wear, vibration and noise are bearings, couplings, rotors,
gears, and impellers. Correct alignment and balance of new rotating equipment is a key to
preventing early component failures. Original equipment manufacturers often supply detailed
information on installation, alignment, and balance of new, heavy industrial equipment.

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE
In the case of rotating machinery, the first step is to create a custom database using vibration
sensors and vibration analysis software. The initial database should include complete machine
identification, running speeds of the motor and all driven components, vibration analysis data
for every bearing, and every bearing measuring position that can be recorded.
The next step is to evaluate the individual spectra for each bearing in the machine to
determine if there are any problems noted for a specific rotating unit. The numeric amplitude of
vibration for each bearing can then be compared to ISO tolerances to determine when bearing
replacement is justified.
Absolute bearing vibrations using velocity transducers in addition to accelerometers can be an
integral part of the program. Similar records should be kept for each new piece of rotating
equipment.

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FAILURE ANALYSIS
Failure analysis attempts to explain what happened to cause an unexpected, premature, or
catastrophic structural failure. All contributing factors must be examined to determine the root
cause.
Structures, large and small, fail because of fatigue damage caused by restrained thermal
expansion, repetitively applied external loads or forces, and internal vibration sources. Failure
analysis uses stress analysis and strain gauge testing to determine the stress state in the region
of failure initiation. Based on the material’s properties, it can be determined if the failure was
initiated by low cycle failure, high cycle failure, or if a crack grew to critical size and
catastrophically failed due to repetitive stress and other factors such as corrosion.
When applied to rotating and reciprocating equipment, failure analysis can be used to
identify contributing premature component failures such as bearing breakage or reduced
bearing life. When combined with strain gauge testing, failure analysis identifies the source of
the fatigue damage that caused a pressure vessel to fail or a fan blade to break. Visual and
microscopic examinations of failed components can also provide valuable insights as to the
causes and modes of failure.

IMPACT TESTING AND FREQUENCY RESPONSE

An impact test involves hitting the test object with a loaded or automated impact hammer and
studying the modal and dynamic stiffness characteristics. From the dynamic acceleration plot, it
can be determined if there was a double hit or if the force of response was too high or too low.
Acceptance criteria are shown at the top. The second plot shows the phase response and the
third plot shows coherence. A coherence of 1.0 indicates perfect data, but the value will drop
slightly as more averages are acquired. Figure4 shows impact test responses.

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 Figure 4 Impact test results. Courtesy of HEM Data Corporation.

USING VIBRATION THEORY TO MACHINERY FAULT DETECTION

In Figure 12, a common machinery train is depicted. It consists of a driver or a prime mover,
such as an electric motor. Other prime movers include diesel engines, gas engines, steam
turbines and gas turbines. The driven equipment could be pumps, compressors, mixers,
agitators, fans, blowers and others. At times when the driven equipment has to be driven at
speeds other than the prime mover, a gearbox or a belt drive is used.
Each of these rotating parts is further comprised of simple components such as:
 Stator (volutes, diaphragms, diffusers, stators poles)
 Rotors (impellers, rotors, lobes, screws, vanes, fans)
 Seals
 Bearings
 Couplings
 Gears
 Belts.

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When these components operate continuously at high speeds, wear and failure is imminent.
When defects develop in these components, they give rise to higher vibration levels.
With few exceptions, mechanical defects in a machine cause high vibration levels.
Common defects that cause high vibrations levels in machines are:
a) Unbalance of rotating parts
b) Misalignment of couplings and bearings
c) Bent shafts
d) Worn or damaged gears and bearings
e) Bad drive belts and chains
f) Torque variations
g) Electromagnetic forces
h) Aerodynamic forces
i) Hydraulic forces
j) Looseness
k) Rubbing
l) Resonance.
To generalize the above list, it can be stated that whenever either one or more parts are
unbalanced, misaligned, loose, eccentric, out of tolerance dimensionally, damaged or reacting to
some external force, higher vibration levels will occur.
Some of the common defects are shown in Figure 12. The vibrations caused by the defects occur
at specific vibration frequencies, which are characteristic of the components, their operation,
assembly and wear. The vibration amplitudes at particular frequencies are indicative of the
severity of the defects.
Vibration analysis aims to correlate the vibration response of the system with specific defects
that occur in the machinery, its components, and trains or even in mechanical structures.

LIMITS AND STANDARDS OF VIBRATION

As mentioned above, vibration amplitude (displacement, velocity or acceleration) is a measure
of the severity of the defect in a machine. A common dilemma for vibration analysts is to

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determine whether the vibrations are acceptable to allow further operation of the machine in a
safe manner.
To solve this dilemma, it is important to keep in mind that the objective should be to
implement regular vibration checks to detect defects at an early stage. The goal is not to
determine how much vibration a machine will withstand before failure! The aim should be to
obtain a trend in vibration characteristics that can warn of impending trouble, so it can be
reacted upon before failure occurs.
Absolute vibration tolerances or limits for any given machine are not possible. That is, it is
impossible to fix a vibration limit that will result in immediate machine failure when exceeded.
The developments of mechanical failures are far too complex to establish such limits.
However, it would be also impossible to effectively utilize vibrations as an indicator of
machinery condition unless some guidelines are available, and the experiences of those familiar
with machinery vibrations have provided us with some realistic guidelines.
We have mentioned earlier that velocity is the most common parameter for vibration analysis,
as most machines and their defects generate vibrations in the frequencies range of 10 Hz to 1
kHz

ISO 2372
The most widely used standard as an indicator of vibration severity is ISO 2372 (BS
4675).The standard can be used to determine acceptable vibration levels for various classes of
machinery. Thus, to use this ISO standard, it is necessary to first classify the machine of interest.
Reading across the chart we can correlate the severity of the machine condition with vibration.
The standard uses the parameter of velocity-RMS to indicate severity. The letters A, B, C and D
as seen in Figure 2.13, classify the severity.

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Class I Individual parts of engines and machines integrally connected with a complete machine
in its normal operating condition (production electrical motors of up to 15 kW are typical
examples of machines in this category).
Class II Medium-sized machines (typically electrical motors with 15–75 kW output) without
special foundations, rigidly mounted engines or machines (up to 300 kW) on special
foundations.
Class III Large prime movers and other large machines with rotating masses mounted on rigid
and heavy foundations, which are relatively stiff in the direction of vibration.
Class IV Large prime movers and other large machines with rotating masses mounted on
foundations, which are relatively soft in the direction of vibration measurement (for example –
turbo-generator sets, especially those with lightweight substructures).