Main Bearing Analysis

and crossheads too!

 Main Bearing Analysis
•Many Analysts say they quit taking main bearing data
because they never found or failed a bad main on the large
integral machine.
•Just because we take data on the main bearings, doesn’t
mean we are just looking for bad main bearings.
•Any excessive looseness in the mains, connecting rods
bearings, pin and bushings, piston hanger assemblies,
loose compressor pistons, will transfer the vibration
through the connecting components, through the
crankshaft and out to the side of the block through the
main bearing saddle.
Minimal Test Equipment

Encoder or OPT

Sync Light

Indicator / Storage device

Accelerometer
 Main Bearing Test Points

• Locate a good
vibration path
from the mains
to the outside
of the unit
• Crank-angle
related or FFT

High Frequency and

Raw vibration and/or fft
acceleration
Vibration Test Points At Each Main Brg
Sensor Point Setup

Auto Generate
 Sensor Point Setup

Make sure they 1 for High speed

are phased to the
reference
cylinder
(TDC=0)

Manual
 Collection Points

Use 2 here
if you want
the 9 single
samples

Auto Generate or Manual

Waukesha L7042 GSI

V-12, seven main bearings

Main Bearing Vibration
Main Bearing Vibration
Rod Bearing Impact
 Time Waveform of Impact

Jennings C-9-E brg prob Eng Mn Brg 5 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 Time Waveform at 16.7 Hz 01
Overall = 1.411
7.1

5.5

3.9

2.3

0.7
g's

-0.9

-2.5

-4.1

-5.7

-7.3
0 100 200
Time (milliseconds)
 FFT – Acceleration data
Jennings C-9-E brg prob Eng Mn Brg 5 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FF
Overall = 1.411
0.5
X: 3198.242
Y: 0.21384
3.198 KHz

191,880 CPM
g's

Wide bottomed, bell

shaped curve

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Frequency (Hz)
#2 bearing impacts

Abnormal impacts seen in data for #2 main bearing

15
 FFT Data
Tee drilled Crank shaft
Eng Mn Brg1.21 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPMEng
08/23/2011
Mn Brg1.216:12
2 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPMEng
08/23/2011
Mn Brg1.216:13
3 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPMEng
08/23/2011
Mn Brg1.216:14
4 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPMEng
08/23/2011
Mn Brg1.216:15
5 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPM 08/23/2011 16:16

1.0 Ov erall = 2.908 g (rms) 1.0 Ov erall = 1.313 g (rms) 1.0 Ov erall = 0.8434 g (rms) 1.0 Ov erall = 0.8843 g (rms) 1.0 Ov erall = 0.8106 g (rms)

0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

0 0 0 0 0
0 200000 400000 0 200000 400000 0 200000 400000 0 200000 400000 0 200000 400000
CPM CPM CPM CPM CPM

Eng Mn Brg 1 Accel

28 Run 1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at Eng
1200.0
MnRPM
Brg 08/23/2011
29 Run16:12
2 Accel 1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at Eng
1200.0
MnRPM
Brg 08/23/2011
3 Accel Run16:13
1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at Eng
1200.0
MnRPM
Brg 08/23/2011
4 Accel
11 Run16:14
1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at Eng
1200.0
MnRPM
Brg 08/23/2011
5 Accel
12 Run16:15
1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at 1200.0 RPM 08/23/2011 16:16
24 25 7.2 10
21 9
20 5.6
17 7 8
16 4.0
13 6
12 9 5
2.4 4
8 5 3
4 1 0.8 2

g
-0. -3 -0.8 1
-0.
-4 -7 -2.4 -1 -2
-8 -11
-15 -4.0 -3 -4
-12
-19 -5.6 -5 -6
-16 -23
-20 -7.2 -7 -8
-27
-24 -31 -8.8 -9 -10
0 100 200 0 100 200 0 100 200 0 100 200 0 100 200
Time (milliseconds) Time (milliseconds) Time (milliseconds) Time (milliseconds) Time (milliseconds)

Eng Mn Brg1.26 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPMEng

08/23/2011
Mn Brg1.216:16
7 Accel Run 1 Channel 1 FFT at 1200.0 RPM 08/23/2011 16:17

1.0 Ov erall = 0.6266 g (rms) 1.0 Ov erall = 0.5893 g (rms)

Clear once per revolution seen in waveform data

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

00 200000 400000 00 200000 400000

CPM CPM

Eng Mn Brg 6 Accel

13 Run 1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at Eng
1200.0
MnRPM
Brg 08/23/2011
7 Accel
6.8 Run16:16
1 Channel 1 Time Wav eform at 1200.0 RPM 08/23/2011 16:17
11
9
7
6.0
5.2
4.4
3.6
However the Spectrum does not show
2.8
5
3
1
-1
2.0
1.2
0.4
-0.4
excessive energy, and should be trended over
-1.2
-3
-5
-7
-2.0
-2.8
-3.6
-4.4
-5.2
time
-9 -6.0
-11 -6.8
0 100 200 0 100 200
Time (milliseconds) Time (milliseconds)

16
Bearing Damage
Can we perform the same
analysis with crossheads?
The End