Vibration Monitoring

What this topic covers

How vibration magnitude, frequency content and trends reveal changes in rotating machinery.

Core ideas

Rotating machines generate characteristic vibration related to speed, load, alignment, balance, bearings and structure.

Trend changes can indicate developing problems before a shutdown occurs.

Diagnosis requires correct sensor placement, operating context and competent interpretation.

Program tradeoffs

Load, speed and operating state can change signals even when machine condition is unchanged.

What good evidence looks like

Diagnosis should combine vibration, temperature, lubrication, process and maintenance history where appropriate.

Lifecycle perspective

Monitoring should produce actionable work or engineering review rather than accumulating alarms without response.