This document sets out guidelines for the specific procedures to be considered when carrying out vibration diagnostics of various types of gas and steam turbines with fluid-film bearings.


This document is intended to be used by condition monitoring practitioners, engineers and technicians and provides a practical step-by-step vibration-based approach to fault diagnosis. In addition, it gives examples for a range of machine and component types and their associated fault symptoms.


The approach given in this document is based on established good practice, put together by experienced users, although it is acknowledged that other approaches can exist. Recommended actions for a particular diagnosis depend on individual circumstances, the degree of confidence in the fault diagnosis (e.g. has the same diagnosis been made correctly before for this machine), the experience of the practitioner, the fault type and severity as well as on safety and commercial considerations. It is neither possible nor the aim of this document to recommend actions for all circumstances.