What is Vibration?

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Principles of vibration-based CM

• Changes in the health, or condition, of a machine often

produce changes in the machine’s vibration.
• Even a perfectly healthy machine produces some degree
of vibration.
• Condition monitoring monitors for change in the vibration
that a machine problem normally produces.

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Basic Motions

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 What is vibration?

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 What is vibration?

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 What is vibration?

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What is vibration?

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Vibration concepts

• A structure will vibrate only if a force is applied.

• Once the force is removed, the vibration will decay through friction
and damping to zero at the neutral position.
• The vibration amplitude, or magnitude, is proportional to the amount
of force applied – more force, higher vibration.
• No machine can be represented accurately by a single mass and
spring.

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For every action…

Three basic types of forces

• Impact – loose parts, hammering in a piping system, rolling element in a
bearing hitting a spall

• Periodic – repetitive force such as unbalance or misalignment

• Random – varies with time, for example, turbulence in piping, pump
cavitation

ƒ Each type of force produce a different reaction in the machine.

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Sine wave basics

One cycle

Peak Displacement

Peak to Peak
Displacement

Period

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Frequency and period

• Most vibration analysis is performed using frequency rather than

period.
• Frequency (cycles per second) = 1 / Period (in seconds)
• Period (in seconds) = 1 / Frequency (cycles per second)
• If the period is 0.5 seconds, the frequency in Hertz is 1/0.5, or 2
Hertz. The frequency in CPM is 2 (Hertz) x 60 (seconds per minute)
= 120 CPM.

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Orders

One cycle
=
1st order

Peak Displacement

Peak to Peak
Displacement

Period

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A multitude of sources…

• Even simple machines produce vibration from a variety of sources

• Many of the sources are not at running speed but at some multiple
above or below running speed
• Some frequencies are not even related to running speed

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…Yield a multitude of frequencies

• Each source produces its own unique frequency or pattern of

frequencies
• Know the machine, know the frequencies it is producing, know the
source
• 1/3 of vibration analysis is knowing frequencies and sources
• 2/3 of vibration analysis is knowing the history of the machine

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Sources combine

q.
f re
h
hig

y
e nc
tim qu
e q. fre
fre
low

individual vibration signals

combine to form a complex
time waveform

complex time waveform

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Extracting the frequencies

q.
re
i ghf
h

y
e nc
tim qu
e q. fre
fre
low

amplitude

frequency

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Amplitude and frequency

• Vibration frequency indicates the potential source of the

problem – also “how often” a problem repeats itself

• Vibration amplitude indicates the severity of the problem

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 Vibration measurement types

• Displacement is the change in

distance or position of an object
relative to a reference a reference 0 90 180 270 360
point Acceleration Velocity Displacement

• Velocity is the rate of change of

displacement or the speed of the
vibrating part
• Acceleration is the rate of change
of velocity
Time

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Measurement units

Displacement (distance)
• mils or micrometers, μm
Velocity (speed - rate of change of displacement)
• in/sec or mm/sec
Acceleration (rate of change of velocity)
• G’s or in/sec2 or mm/sec2

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Measurement unit relationships

100
Displacement (mils)
10 Acceleration
(g's)

Amplitude
1.0
(mils, in/sec, g’s) Velocity (in/sec)

0.1
Common Machinery
1 Operating Range
0.01
10 100 1,000 10,000
Frequency (Hz)

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 Scale factors

When comparing overall vibration signals, it is imperative that both signals

be measured on the same frequency range and with the same scale factors

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The missing link - Phase

• Vibration frequency indicates the potential source of the problem –

also “how often” a problem repeats itself
• Vibration amplitude indicates the severity of the problem
• Phase indicates how a machine is moving

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 Phase…

• The relationship of the movement of part of a machine to a reference –

for example the position of the shaft as it rotates
• The relationship of the movement between one or more points on a
machine

In-Phase Motion Out-of-Phase Motion

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Phase

• Once we know “how” a machine is moving, we know WHY

• Amplitude and frequency provide 80% accuracy when performing a
diagnosis or analysis – adding phase increases accuracy to better
than 95%

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Vibration and the proactive mechanic

• It is important to have a basic understanding of the principals of

vibration
• Mechanics should be able to take basic overall vibration readings on
a machine
• It is desirable to have the vibration analyst at the machine site to
record readings on a start-up of a new or recently maintained
machine

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Quick review

QUESTIONS ?

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