Analytical model and spectral characteristics of acoustic emission signal produced by localized fault of rolling element bearing

Abstract

The accurate description of acoustic emission signals produced by the localized fault of a rolling element bearing plays an important role in its feature extraction and analysis. This paper analyzes the excitation mechanisms and develops the analytical model of acoustic emission signals produced when the rolling element bearing passes across the localized fault on the inner or outer race. Based on the analytical model, the spectral characteristics are discussed substantially. Simulations and experiments are carried out to validate the efficacy of the model developed in the paper. The experimental results show that the response signal thus produced has two parts. The first one is produced by the entry of the rolling element bearing, while the other is produced by the departure of the rolling element bearing. The energy of both parts is concentrated around the resonance frequency of the acoustic emission transducer. Generally, the interval of adjacent acoustic emission events is not equivalent to each other and the corresponding spectrum is continuous in the high frequency band.