Vibration Analysis and Signal Processing in LabVIEW

Publish Date: Jan 22, 2016 | 23 Ratings | 3.83 out of 5 | Print

Overview
Dynamic data acquisition has always been at the heart of every sound and vibration
application. However, it is not enough to simply be able to acquire data, you also have to be
able to analyze, process, and interpret the raw data into meaningful content.
Webcast: Advanced LabVIEW Signal Processing Algorithms and Architectures for Sound
and Vibration
Table of Contents
1.

Introduction

2.

Frequency Analysis

3.

Order Analysis

4.

Time Frequency Analysis

5.

Quefrency Analysis

6.

Wavelet Analysis

7.

Model Based Analysis

8.

National Instruments Tools to Perform Analysis Techniques

9.

Conclusion

1. Introduction
Sound and vibration transducers produce complex time series waveforms, within which are
many specific signatures. It is important to understand these different vibration signatures
and how to properly extract them for trending analysis. With proper signature information, it
becomes possible to tabulate specific metrics which can drive plant maintenance or
production schedules. There are a variety of different types of signal complexities,
corresponding to different sound and vibration phenomena as represented in Figure 1 from
top to bottom:
1.

Some signals have a long time duration but narrow bandwidth such as rub & buzz
noise.

2.

Some signals have a short time duration but wide bandwidth such as impacts or
transients.

3.

Some signals have a short time duration and narrow bandwidth such as decayed
resonance.

4.

Some signals have a time-varying bandwidth such as an imbalanced shaft generating

noise dependent on RPM or machine speed.

Figure 1. Various vibration signal complexity types

The first step in any sound and vibration application is to understand the system you are
trying to monitor and the sound and vibration signals present in it. After this has been
defined, the next step is to choose the correct algorithm for extracting the signal feature of
interest from the raw signal. Figure 2 shows the different types of signals and the algorithm
that National Instruments provides for extracting those features.

Figure 2. Different analysis algorithms and which signals they are ideal for use with.
National Instruments provides a range of algorithms such as standard frequency analysis;
order analysis for monitoring rotating components such as a gearbox; time-frequency analysis
for time varying sound and vibration signals; quefrency analysis for detecting harmonics; and
wavelet and model based analysis for transient detection. This complete collection of
algorithms provides users the ability to properly analyze and monitor their specific machine
or device.
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2. Frequency Analysis
Frequency analysis is the most commonly used method for analyzing a vibration signal. The
most basic type of frequency analysis is an FFT, or Fast Fourier Transform, which converts a
signal from the time domain into the frequency domain. The product of this conversion is a
power spectrum and shows the energy contained in specific frequencies of the overall signal.
This is quite useful for analyzing stationary signals whose frequency components do not
change over time.

Despite its common use, there are many downfalls to just using frequency analysis because
its results, such as a power spectrum or total harmonic distortion, contain only the frequency
information of the signal. They do not contain time information. This means that frequency
analysis is not suitable for signals whose frequencies vary over time. This idea can even be
extended further to imply that there are an infinite number of signals that could produce the
same power spectrum. As an example, in Figure 3 we have two chirp signals. The top
signals frequencies increase with time while the bottom signals frequencies decrease with
time. Although the frequency behavior of the two signals is different, their frequency spectra
(left) computed by the FFT are identical because the energy at individual frequencies in each
signal is the same. There are a number of completely different signals that can produce this
same spectrum.

Figure 3. A signal and its reverse both produce the same frequency spectrum because there is
no time data associated with the signals.
The second limitation of the FFT is that it cannot detect transients or short spikes in the
signal. Transients are sudden events that last for a short time in a signal and usually have
low energy and a wide frequency band. When transients are transformed into the frequency
domain, their energy is spread over a wide range of frequencies. Since transients have low
energy, you might not be able to recognize their existence in the frequency domain. In Figure
4, two similar signals can be seen, with Signal 2 containing a transient. Despite the presence
of the transient, the power spectra of both signals are identical because the energy of this
transient is spread over a wide range of frequencies.

Figure 4. The transient in Signal 2 cannot be seen in the frequency analysis of the signal
because its energy is spread over a wide range of frequencies.
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3. Order Analysis
When performing vibration analysis many sound and vibration signal features are directly
related to the running speed of a motor or machine such as imbalance, misalignment, gear
mesh, and bearing defects. Order analysis is a type of analysis geared specifically towards
the analysis of rotating machinery and how frequencies change as the rotational speed of the
machine changes. It resamples raw signals from the time domain into the angular domain,
aligning the signal with the angular position of the machine. This negates the effect of
changing frequencies on the FFT algorithm, which normally cannot handle such phenomena.
To better understand this analysis, examine the power spectrum in Figure 5. There are two
large peaks in this power spectrum. The first peak at 60 Hz corresponds to the shaft
rotational speed of a machine. The second peak, which is the 4th harmonic of the rotational
speed, corresponds to the bearings of the machine. If we would like to monitor the health of
the bearings it is important that we follow this 4th harmonic.

Figure 5. Power spectrum of a rotating wind turbine gearbox at 60 Hz.

However, as the speed changes downward to 50 Hz, the 4th harmonic of the power spectrum
shifts downward. The peaks in a power spectrum of a rotating device are all related to the
fundamental rotational speed of that device. So, even if the FFT is able to clearly analyze the

data and show the power spectrum for the machine, it is not capable of easily tracking speed
driven harmonics.

Figure 6. Power spectrum a rotating wind turbine gearbox at 50 Hz.

In order analysis, instead of taking the FFT of the time domain data, the signal is first
resampled into the angular domain. Resampling combines the speed measurements taken
from a tachometer on the machine with the vibration measurements and interpolates the
vibration measurements into a data point per fraction of angular rotation. The vibration
measurements are now in the angular domain as compared to the former time domain. Once
in the angular domain, an FFT can be performed on the angular domain vibration
measurement to produce what is known as an order spectrum. Figure 7 shows the order
spectra of the same shaft at both 60 Hz (top) and 50 Hz (bottom).

Figure 7. Order spectra of the wind turbine rotating at 60 Hz (top) and 50 Hz (bottom).
Notice that the 4th harmonic is no longer in terms of frequency but harmonics, or orders of the
fundamental rotational speed of the machine, where the first order corresponds to one times

the rotational speed of the machine and the fourth order corresponds to four times the
rotational speed. The 4th harmonic no longer shifts as the rotational speed of the machine
changes, making it much easier to monitor the harmonics of a rotating system.
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4. Time Frequency Analysis
One of the drawbacks of frequency analysis was that, with no time domain data associated
with the signal, it was only useful for static signals. Time-Frequency Analysis (sometimes
called Joint Time-Frequency Analysis or JTFA) allows a work around to this problem. Timefrequency Analysis is the process of taking multiple FFTs of small portions of data, or rather
data that was taken over a short period of time. If the FFTs are taken of small enough
portions of data the frequencies will not have had time to change, these FFTs can then be
combined to see how the power spectrum of a signal changes over time. Time-frequency
Analysis results are usually displayed in a spectrogram, which shows how the energy of a
signal is distributed in the time-frequency domain. A spectrogram is an intensity graph with
two independent variables: time and frequency. The x-axis is time, and the y-axis is
frequency. The color intensity shows the power of the signal at the corresponding time and
frequency.
As a simple example, consider a constant amplitude sound measurement whose frequency
changes over time. This chirp sound has a frequency that linearly changes with time. Similar
to the transient impact of Figure 4, the FFT has trouble distinguishing between frequency and
time. However, the spectrogram clearly shows how the frequency changes with time. If you
recall we earlier examined two chirp signals with frequency analysis and noted that they
produced the same power spectrum, making the two signals indistinguishable. If we instead
use Time-Frequency Analysis of the signals we can see how they differ as demonstrated in
Figure 8.

Figure 8. Joint Time-Frequency Analysis of a two chirp signals. One with frequency
increasing over time (left) and the other with frequency decreasing over time (right).
Because time-frequency analysis represents a signal in the time-frequency domain, the results
shown in the spectrogram reveal how the frequency components of a signal change over
time. It can therefore be seen that Time-Frequency Analysis is suitable for analyzing timevarying signals.
Some signals might have a narrow frequency band and last for a short time duration. These
signals can have a good concentration in the time-frequency domain. Noise signals usually
are distributed in the entire time-frequency domain. So the time-frequency representation
might be able to improve local signal-to-noise ratio in the time-frequency domain. That

means you might recognize the existence of a signal that might not be recognized in another
domain.
A common use case of Time-Frequency Analysis is production testing for speakers. In
typical production testing, speakers typically play a log chirp from 10Hz to 20kHz. Operators
listen to the speaker and judge the quality of the speakers.
You can use Time-Frequency analysis algorithms to analyze the sound generated by a speaker
to automate a speaker quality test, replacing a human analyzer. In Figure 9, you can see the
good speaker generates the expected frequency components (log-chirp) with the exception of
a few harmonics and yields a clean spectrogram. Conversely, the spectrogram of the failed
speaker contains many abnormal components.

Figure 9. Joint Time-Frequency Analysis of a bad speaker, with many abnormal components,
compared to that of a good speak with a clean spectrogram
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5. Quefrency Analysis
A Cepstrum Analysis, also called quefrency analysis, is the FFT of the log of a vibration
spectrum. Cepstrum gets its name by reversing the first four letters of spectrum. The
independent variable on the x-axis of an FFT or power spectrum is frequency. The
independent variable of a cepstrum is called quefrency. The name quefrency is derived
from frequency by replacing the first three letters of frequency with the second three letters
of frequency.
Quefrency is a measure of time but not in the sense of time domain. While a frequency
spectrum or FFT reveals the periodicity of a time domain measurement signal, the cepstrum
reveals the periodicity of a spectrum. A cepstrum is often referred to as a spectrum of a
spectrum. Figure 10 depicts the relationship between a spectrum and a cepstrum.

Figure 10. The relationship between a spectrum and a cepstrum.

Cepstrum Analysis is especially useful for detecting harmonics. Harmonics are periodic
components in a frequency spectrum and are common in machine vibration spectra. With the
cepstrum, it is possible to detect vibration harmonics such as those exhibited by a faulty roller
bearing.
A roller element bearing is composed of an outer ring, an inner ring, and several roller
element balls. When a failure develops in the outer or inner ring, the measured vibration
signal will exhibit larger frequency energy around the fault frequency of the inner or outer
race. These characteristic frequencies are related to the geometries of the bearing including
the number of balls, size of races, and the rotational speed of the machine.
Figure 11 provides an example of bearing faults and cepstrum analysis. The power spectrum
of the bearing vibration signal with an outer ring fault has a spectrum peak at 90Hz along
with several harmonics. The power spectrum of the bearing vibration signal with an inner
ring fault has a spectrum peak at 120Hz along with several harmonics. There is also a
significant 90Hz peak in the power spectrum of a good bearing. In other words, it is not
always possible to differentiate between good bearings and faulty bearings with a power
spectrum alone. Looking at all three power spectrum in Figure 11, harmonics are visible, just
not easily noted without the aid of additional analysis.
A cepstrum is a good way to detect harmonics in the spectrum. The cepstrum of the bearing
with a fault in its outer ring has an obvious peak at 11.2ms corresponding to harmonics of
90Hz. The cepstrum of the bearing with a fault in its inner ring has an obvious peak at 8.3ms
corresponding to 120Hz. The cepstrum of the good bearing does not have obvious peaks.

Figure 11. Power spectra and cepstrums of a bearing with an outer ring fault (top), an inner
ring fault (middle), and a no fault (bottom)
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6. Wavelet Analysis
Wavelet analysis is appropriate for characterizing machine vibration signatures with narrow
band-width frequencies lasting for a short time period. For example, a cooling tower during a
speed change may produce a transient vibration measurement signal from its bearings,
footing, shaft or other mechanical components. Another area where wavelet analysis is used
is testing and monitoring of low RPM gear boxes such as those in wind turbines and
locomotives.
Wavelets are used as the reference in wavelet analysis and are defined as signals with two
properties: admissibility and regularity. Admissibility means that a wavelet reference, or
mother wavelet, must have a band-pass-limited spectrum. Admissibility also means that
wavelets must have a zero average in the time domain which implies that wavelets must be
oscillatory. Regularity means that wavelets have some smoothness and concentration in both
the time and frequency domains, which means that wavelets are oscillatory and compact
signals.
As comparison, sine waves oscillate along the time axis forever in time without any decay,
which means they are not compact. In other words, sine waves do not have any concentration
in the time domain. On the other hand, sine waves have extreme concentration in frequency
domain. Sine waves have maximum resolution in frequency domain but no resolution in time
domain.
Wavelets have limited bandwidth in the frequency domain and compact bandwidth in the
time domain. So, wavelets have a good concentration and resolution trade-off between the
time and frequency domain. Figure 12 depicts the differences between a sine wave and a
wavelet in both time and frequency domains.

Figure 12. The frequency domain of a sine wave is very compact while the time domain is
not. A wavelet is compact in both the time and frequency domain.
Wavelet Analysis then makes use of thousands of predefined wavelets. The vibration signal
is then run through pattern matching algorithms which compares the signal to the known
library of wavelets representing different phenomena such as knocks and spikes of different
frequencies, amplitudes and durations. The pattern matching algorithms will then return a
coefficient indicating the goodness of the match. A high coefficient indicates a good
wavelet match and thus can be used to indicate a transient or noise impulse.
An example use of wavelets is the detection of engine knock in a diesel engine. Diesel
engines can develop engine knock based on poor fuel, improper timing, or low engine
compression. Engine knock can result in poor fuel efficiency, excessive engine vibration, or
damage to the piston.
Measuring the combustion signature with an accelerometer or dynamic pressure transducer
allows for examination of the combustion waveform. However, as engine knock is a nonstationary transient event, it is hard to distinguish in the time waveform or the typical FFT
spectrum. However, the wavelet filter isolates the knock signature so that it is more easily
detected in the time domain.
Figure 13 shows the time waveform of the diesel combustion cylinder of a normal engine and
that of an engine with engine knock malfunctions. With the use of the wavelet filter, the
engine knock is isolated and available in the time domain. Limits can then be used in the
time domain to identify and count engine knocks. As the frequency of engine knocks
increases, corrective action may be justified.

Figure 13. In the time domain the good motor is indistinguishable from the faulty motor, but
using wavelet analysis the faults readily become apparent.
Wavelets are also finding use in monitoring of industrial gearbox such as those in helicopter
or wind energy applications. Wavelets in these applications enhance the impact phenomena
of cracked, broken, and missing gear teeth.
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7. Model Based Analysis
Model based analysis compares the vibration signal to a linear model of the signal and returns
the error between the two which makes it useful for detecting transients. Autoregressive
modeling analysis is the use of a linear model, the AR model. The AR model represents any
sample in a time series as the combination of the past samples in the same time series. The
linear combination ignores any noise and transients in the signal. When comparing a new
measurement signal to the AR model, the modeling error corresponds to the noise and
transients not recorded in the linear combination model.
Autoregressive Model analysis is useful for detecting transients in a machine vibration
signal. Such transients can occur when a machine changes states, experiences variances in
load, or begins to develop a fault vibration that is non-periodic. The difference between the
current vibration measurement and the AR model, also known as the modeling error,
indicates transient vibrations in the measured signal, Figure 14.

Figure 14. AR modeling error indicating transients in the original measured signal
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8. National Instruments Tools to Perform Analysis Techniques
This whitepaper describes in detail many different analysis techniques that can be performed
for sound and vibration transducers. Since acquisition of acoustic and vibration signals is
critical in a variety of industries, NI has combined industry-leading 24-bit dynamic signal
acquisition hardware with ready-to-run analysis in NI LabVIEW software to provide a unique
solution for prototyping and deploying sound and vibration analyzers. NI tools include readyto-run examples that feature the flexibility of LabVIEW so you have the acoustic and
vibration acquisition and analysis you need for your application.
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9. Conclusion
By capturing dynamic measurements from operating machines such as vibration, electrical
power, and dynamic pressure; it is possible to extract key component signature features.
With this feature information, it is possible to tabulate specific metrics which drive plant
maintenance and production schedules.
Component features are best extracted from sound and vibration signals when the appropriate
signal analysis technique is used. By understanding the time-frequency characteristics of the
raw signal, the algorithms that are most important can be identified. Figure 2, as listed
earlier, provides a guideline to the selection of analysis methods for a range of timefrequency characteristics of the sound and vibration signature.