Abstract: A method to detect the rub location in a rotor-bearing system is presented. This method is based on the data sampled by acoustic emission (AE) sensors, which are placed at different bearing support positions. Usually the point where rubbing occurs cannot be detected using the method of cross-correlation directly to the data, due to the complex situation of rub. Through wavelet analysis, signals are decomposed into a series of time-domain signals, each of which covers a specific octave frequency band. Then the method of cross-correlation is applied to the decomposed signals to detect the rub location. The method is found very effective based on both the simulation and experimental data.

Key words: AE sensor, Rub, Wavelet analysis