Condition-based maintenance threshold determination for gearbox fault progression using vibration envelope features and accelerated life testing

Asokan Vasudevan
Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Nilai 71800, Malaysia
Suleiman Mohammad
Department of Business Administration, Business School, Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq 25113, Jordan; Research Fellow, INTI International University, Nilai 71800, Malaysia
Mohammad Ahmmad Hunitie
Department of Public Administration, School of Business, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Gui Jie
Faculty of Psychology, Shinawatra University, Pathum Thani 12160, Thailand
Jonathan Lee
Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Nilai 71800, Malaysia
Mbiatke Andrew
Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Nilai 71800, Malaysia

Article ID: 4490

Keywords: gearbox fault progression; vibration envelope analysis; condition-based maintenance; health index; maintenance thresholds; accelerated life testing

Abstract

Gearbox failures represent a critical problem faced by industrial machines, considering the impacts of such failures on machine reliability, efficiency, and maintenance cost. Despite the well-established use of vibration-based condition monitoring techniques for diagnosing the presence of faults, few attempts have been made in transforming information about fault progression into thresholds that could be used in making condition-based maintenance (CBM) decisions. In this work, a CBM system for analysing gearbox fault progression based on vibration envelope features is presented, alongside accelerated life testing. An experimental approach has been adopted, whereby accelerated life testing was performed to induce gearbox degradation progressively. Then, vibration data were analysed through the envelope technique, out of which six vibration envelope features, namely RMS Envelope, Kurtosis, Crest Factor, Peak Amplitude, Envelope Energy, and Sideband Energy Ratio, were derived and analysed based on their sensitivity through correlation, monotonicity, trendability, and separability tests. Thereafter, a composite health index based on the most sensitive features was formulated, and a multilevel maintenance threshold system consisting of Alert, Warning, and Critical levels was created. The findings show that Envelope Energy, Sideband Energy Ratio, and Kurtosis have the highest sensitivity to degradation and can accurately represent the evolution of gearbox faults. The composite health index shows a strong correlation with the extent of degradation (R² = 0.962) and successfully discriminates between different health states of the gearbox. The developed framework for determining maintenance thresholds achieves an accuracy of 94.9%, which allows accurate identification of maintenance intervention phases.

Published

2026-07-27

How to Cite

Vasudevan, A., Mohammad, S., Hunitie, M. A., Jie, G., Lee, J., & Andrew, M. (2026). Condition-based maintenance threshold determination for gearbox fault progression using vibration envelope features and accelerated life testing. Sound & Vibration, 60(5). https://doi.org/10.59400/sv4490

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Vol. 60 No. 5 (2026): In Progress

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Article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Condition-based maintenance threshold determination for gearbox fault progression using vibration envelope features and accelerated life testing

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