Observations of a naturally degrading slow-speed shaft

Abstract Acoustic emission (AE) technology applied to condition monitoring is gaining acceptance as a useful monitoring tool. This study presents an experimental investigation for incipient fault detection of low-speed shafts with the AE technology. In addition to continuous AE measurements, traditional AE parameters, the energy index, kurtosis, information entropy and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test were employed to detect and monitor natural defect initiation and propagation in slow-speed rotating shafts. A low-speed test-rig was employed to accelerate natural shaft breakage. Throughout the life of the shaft, AE measurements were acquired. It is concluded that crack initiation and subsequent fracture can be detected using a range of data analysis techniques on AEs generated from natural degrading shafts. Keywords: condition monitoringacoustic emissionnatural breakage and slow-speed shaftsenergy indexkurtosisinformation entropy and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test