Experimental studies for bearings degradation monitoring at an early stage using analysis of variance

This work presents a procedure for bearing degradation monitoring at an early stage. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) coupled with Tukey’s test is used to single out the suitable parameters to follow the fault size evolution ranging from 50 µm to 150µm. The Tukey's criterion is adopted in this case to study the ability of time and frequency indicators. The rotational speed, centrifugal load and fault size are considered as independent variables while the time and frequency indicators are taken as dependent variables. The experiments are performed on bearings having a fault on outer race. Based on the results of this study, the Kurtosis and Skewness show a good ability to assess the evolution of degradation in the bearings at an early stage. The paper discusses the weakness of the time and frequency indicators.