Maintenance and Reliability
Rotating Equipment
Vibration Analysis and Practical Solutions
Reading a vibration spectrum well enough to name the fault, and to rule out the three faults that look like it.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
Vibration analysis goes wrong in two ways. The data is collected badly, from an inconsistent point with the wrong setup, so the spectrum answers a different question each month. Or the data is good and the diagnosis stops at high vibration, which recommends a balance on a machine whose real problem is a bearing, a coupling or a foundation. This week concentrates on diagnosis: what each fault looks like, what else looks like it, and what confirms which. Delegates work on real spectra, their own where they can bring them.
Who should attend
Condition monitoring and reliability technicians and engineers, rotating equipment and maintenance engineers, and planners who commission the work and act on the reports.
What you will be able to do
- Set up a measurement so the data is comparable month to month.
- Read a spectrum, a waveform and a phase measurement together.
- Separate unbalance, misalignment, looseness and bearing defect.
- Confirm a diagnosis before recommending an intervention.
- Write a recommendation a planner can schedule and justify.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
Getting data worth analysing
- Transducer selection and mounting, and what each one hides
- Measurement points, direction and repeatability
- Frequency range, resolution and averaging
- Speed, load, and the conditions a reading depends on
Day 2
Reading the data
- Spectrum, time waveform and phase, used together
- Orders against absolute frequency
- Harmonics, sidebands, and what generates each
- Baselines, trends and alarm limits that mean something
Day 3
The common faults
- Unbalance, and what it does not explain
- Misalignment, angular and parallel
- Mechanical looseness, and its stages
- Bent shaft, soft foot and foundation problems
Day 4
Bearings, gears and the rest
- Rolling element defect frequencies and progression
- Gear mesh, and reading a damaged tooth
- Blade pass, electrical faults and resonance
- Lubrication problems that present as something else
Day 5
From diagnosis to action
- Confirming before recommending
- Severity, and how long the machine has
- Writing a recommendation a planner can schedule
- Verifying the repair worked, and closing the loop
What you leave with
- A measurement standard for the delegate's own machines, with points and setup fixed.
- A worked diagnosis of a real fault, with the confirming evidence recorded.
- A reporting format stating the fault, the severity and the required action.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Lagos, Nigeria | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Cairo, Egypt | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.