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Observations and Location of Acoustic Emissions for a Naturally Degrading Rolling Element Thrust Bearing

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Abstract

Acoustic Emission (AE) technology applied to condition monitoring is gaining acceptance as a useful complimentary tool. This article demonstrates the use of traditional AE parameters, the Enegry Index and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (KS-test) to detect, locate, and monitor natural defect initiation and propagation in a conventional rolling element thrust bearing. To undertake this task a special purpose test-rig was built to allow for accelerated natural degradation of a bearing race. It is concluded that sub-surface initiation and subsequent crack propagation can be detected using a range of data analysis techniques on AE’s generated from natural degrading bearings. The article also investigates the source characterization on AE signals associated with such a bearing while in operation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK

    Mohamed Elforjani & David Mba

Authors
  1. Mohamed Elforjani
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  2. David Mba
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Correspondence to Mohamed Elforjani.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table A1 Bearing life calculations for case presented in Fig. 5
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Appendix B

Table B1 KS test, Energy Index (EI), and AE-Energy (AEE) results for case presented in Fig. 5
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Appendix C

Table C1 Results of attenuation analysis
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Elforjani, M., Mba, D. Observations and Location of Acoustic Emissions for a Naturally Degrading Rolling Element Thrust Bearing. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 8, 370–385 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-008-9141-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-008-9141-x

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