Analysis of Triaxial Vibration Data for Health Monitoring of Helicopter Gearboxes

Research on the nature of the vibration data collected from helicopter transmissions during flight experiments has led to several crucial observations believed to be responsible for the high rates of false alarms and missed detections in aircraft vibration monitoring systems. This work focuses on one such finding, namely, the need to consider additional sources of information about system vibrations. In this light, helicopter transmission vibration data, collected using triaxial accelerometers, are explored in three different directions, analyzed for content, and then combined using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to analyze changes in directionality. The frequency content of the three different directions is compared and analyzed using time-synchronously averaged vibration data. To provide a method for analysis and monitorin purposes, the triaxial data are decorrelated using a mathematical transformation, and compared to the original axes to determine their differences. The benefits of using triaxial data for vibration monitoring and diagnostics are explored by analyzing the changes in the direction of the principal axis of vibration formed using all three axes of vibration. The statistical variation introduced due to the experimental variables is further analyzed using an Analysis of Variance approach to determine the effect of each variable on the overall signature. The results indicate that triaxial accelerometers can provide additional information about the frequency content of helicopter gearbox vibrations, and provide researchers and industry with a novel method of capturing and monitoring triaxial changes in the baseline vibration signatures.