A review of vibration analysis and its applications

Abstract

Vibration Analysis (VA) is the most commonly used technique in predictive maintenance. It allows the diagnosis of faults, especially those in the early stages. The use of VA is important for maintenance costs and downtime savings, making decisions about repair and total replacement. The method has been applied in many industries and proven to be effective. It is applicable to rotating, non-rotating equipment, continuous processes or even construction structure. In this paper, vibration analysis fundamentals as well as many studies on the method's application are reviewed. The purpose is to give an overview of how vibration analysis is used in many industries including petroleum to show its potential in petroleum industry. VA has been used in many areas from transportation, refinery to drilling and production. However, there are still rooms for improvement and implementation. One potential application is detecting faults in Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) system. ESP is located downhole making it susceptible to faults and defects that could be difficult to detect using conventional methods. These faults and defects could lead to reduced pump performance or even complete failure that require replacement. Thus, it is important to monitor and analyze vibration of ESP components, specifically pump and motor. Different studies on the topic are also reviewed and discussed. Some studies have been conducted showing that analyzing ESP vibration data helps predict early problems and identifying the causes. Vibration data were also used in principal component analysis models to predict and identify problems as presented in some works. However, principal component analysis could discharge the data models to be unable to correctly predict and determine the faults. VA is a practical technique to monitor and diagnose machine's health. It is important to research VA further and apply it more in petroleum industry, especially in production system. Applications of VA could increase machine's lifespan, reduce maintenance cost and would be useful in optimization.

Keywords: Predictive maintenance; Review; Vibration analysis.