Bearing spall detection and predicting its size are great challenges. Model-based simulation is a well-known traditional approach to physically model the influence of the spall on the bearing. Building a physical model is challenging due to the bearing complexity and the expert knowledge required to build such a model. Obviously, building a partial physical model for some of the spall sizes is easier. In this paper, we propose a machine-learning algorithm, called Probability-Based Forest, that uses a partial physical model. First, the behavior of some of the spall sizes is physically modeled and a simulator based on this model generates scenarios for these spall sizes in different conditions. Then, the machine-learning algorithm trains these scenarios to generate a prediction model of spall sizes even for those that have not been modeled by the physical model. Feature extraction is a key factor in the success of this approach. We extract features using two traditional approaches: statistical and physical, and an additional new approach: Time Series FeatuRe Extraction based on Scalable Hypothesis tests (TSFRESH). Experimental evaluation with well-known physical model shows that our approach achieves high accuracy, even in cases that have not been modeled by the physical model. Also, we show that the TSFRESH feature-extraction approach achieves the highest accuracy.
Keywords: bearing diagnosis; hybrid model; machine learning.