The detection and tracking of the damage process between surfaces in contact, together with an estimation of the remaining service life, are significant contributions to the efficient operation of hydraulic components.
The commonly used approach of analyzing vibration signals in terms of spectral distributions, while being very effective, has some shortcomings. For example, the results are sensitive to both load and speed variations.
The approach presented in this paper is based on the fact that the asperity distribution of surfaces in good condition have a near normal probability distribution. Deviation from this can be tracked using statistical moments. The Beta probability distribution provides a number of shapes, including normal, under the control of two positive numbers, α and β. Unlike the normal distribution, which indicates defects by kurtosis values higher than 3.0, the Beta distribution provides more flexibility.
This paper discusses the results of analysis and testing carried out on damaged bearings, typical of those common to hydraulic equipment, using this approach.