Rotating machinery is used in a variety of essential engineering systems, including motors, pumps, compressors, and gearboxes. The gas, oil, power, manufacturing, and process industries rely heavily on rotating machines. Their failures can be very expensive and lead to a decrease in production so proper maintenance is essential. Condition based maintenance is a relatively new strategy of performing maintenance on equipment when signal processing of sensor signals indicates a failure may be imminent. The most popular sensors for condition based maintenance measure the vibration of the rotating machine. These sensors provide information about the overall state of the machine and point to potential faults. This thesis studies the effectiveness of analyzing vibration data to determine the state of operation of rotating machine systems. Specifically, research and experiments are performed to discover if vibration signatures can determine if a system has certain faults, such as shaft misalignment, unbalance, or deformation in shaft couplings. The presence or absence of these faults can lead to the determination of the health of operation of a rotating machine system.
