Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Bearings are critical components in the transmission systems of rotating machinery such as wind turbines and railway systems, and their operational condition directly affects the safe operation of the entire equipment. During actual service, bearings are subjected to harsh operating conditions including low-speed heavy-load, alternating loads, poor lubrication conditions, and contact friction with other components, making them highly susceptible to failure. When a bearing develops defects or incurs damage due to friction with other elements, periodic impulses are generated in the vibration signals during repeated passes over the damaged area. 1 These impulses serve as the primary basis for identifying rolling bearing faults.
Under actual operating conditions, the fault characteristics exhibited by vibration signals differ from those of laboratory-simulated periodic pulse faults, demonstrating non-stationary, nonlinear, and strongly coupled properties. 2 The key to fault diagnosis lies in rapidly extracting fault features from such non-stationary, nonlinear, and strongly coupled vibration signals.
In response to this, scholars have investigated signal decomposition methods based on the nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics of vibration signals, and proposed an empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method capable of decomposing a signal into the sum of multiple intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and a trend component. 3 However, scholars have identified that the application of EMD to signal decomposition may result in modal aliasing and end effects.4,5 Therefore, Lei et al. 6 proposed an ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method, which utilizes the properties of white noise to assist in decomposing vibration signals. The method combining EEMD with diagnostic models has been adopted by numerous scholars.7–9 However, with the application of EEMD, scholars have found that although it can effectively suppress the aliasing phenomenon, it is essentially a recursive modal decomposition method and thus cannot avoid the end effect and modal aliasing phenomenon after all. To address this, Dragomiretskiy and Zosso 10 proposed a non-recursive adaptive variational mode decomposition (VMD) method. By constructing a constrained variational solution approach, VMD transforms the signal decomposition problem into an optimization problem, thereby decomposing the target signal into multiple component signals. Thus, some scholars have conducted reconstruction analysis based on VMD-decomposed signals,11,12 or carried out relevant diagnostic work by combining with machine learning.13,14
Although VMD is an effective method for analyzing nonlinear, non-stationary, and complex vibration signals and can effectively suppress mode mixing, it is necessary to determine the number of decomposition modes
To address the aforementioned issues, incorporates the time-frequency domain statistical indicators of vibration signals and constructs multiple models targeting the optimal solution, thereby reducing the error of single-indicator evaluation. In this paper, a comprehensive rule for constructing a multi-model fitness function integrating time-frequency domain statistical indicators was designed. An improved genetic algorithm (IGA) was utilized to optimize the parameters {
It comprehensively considers the influence of statistical indicators and parameters of time-frequency domain signals on signal diagnosis, thereby avoiding the limitations imposed by a single indicator.
Through improvements to crossover and mutation operations, the IGA enhances the diversity of population iteration and mutation, overcoming the tendency of the traditional GA to fall into local optima.
It employs a multi-objective optimization model to define the fitness function of the optimization algorithm, and improves the reliability of the optimization objective through comprehensive indicators.
After optimizing VMD via the IGA, signal reconstruction and analysis are not performed directly. Instead, an additional BIC-based source identification layer is incorporated to filter out irrelevant signals, thereby improving the accuracy of the target signal.
Brief introduction of VMD, MOA, and BIC
Variational modal decomposition (VMD)
As a powerful tool in the field of signal processing, VMD is used to decompose a real-valued input signal
From the above derivations, the signal decompose can be converted to selection of the parameters {
Multi-model optimization algorithm (MOA)
In the most real-world optimization problems may involve more than one objective, these objectives are possibly conflict. In order to solve these objectives, numerical simulation methods are usually used. However, different from ordinary multi-objective optimization problems, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the time-frequency domain statistical indicators 19 in the process of solving, such as: fault feature ratio (FFR), the index of orthogonality (IO), and the index of energy conservation (IEC) in the process of solving.
Where, in equation (4),
Where, in equations (5) and (6),
Where, in equation (7),
Where, in equation (8),
When solving the optimal solution for signal decomposition, we integrate the characteristic indicators of the aforementioned signals to establish a multi-objective optimization model. This model comprises two sub-models (
Where,
To further elaborate on the multi-objective optimization model, equation (9) is further explained herein. Firstly, the objective of the algorithm is to find the intersection corresponding to
Multi-model optimization algorithm.
Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC)
Vibration signals are typically composed of multiple sources. To accurately analyze fault information in vibration signals, a clear understanding of their composition is essential. Therefore, this study employs the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for signal source analysis. First, the signal
Where,
Proposed MOA–VMD–BIC for extracting fault impulses signal
Analysis of VMD parameters
To demonstrate why multi-model is introduced to solve the problem of vibration signal feature extraction, a simulated signal 22 which can be as the research object to analyze the influence of parameter selection of VMD. The simulated signal can be expressed as equation (11):
Where, these four parts in equation (11) stand for bearing fault impulses signal
Multi-model optimization algorithm.
The simulated signal

The simulated signal

Frequency spectrum, squared envelope spectrum of simulated signal.
It can be seen from Figure 1 that in the simulated signal (5), bearing fault impulses signal (1) has been submerged by Gaussian noise (4). The rotational frequency and gear meshing frequency can be accurately identified in Figure 2, but the bearing fault frequency cannot be identified from frequency spectrum and SES. The value of envelope entropy can represent signal sparsity. And the lower the signal entropy value, the higher the sparsity of the signal, and the more periodic components the signal contains. So, the signal is decomposed to study the characteristics of IMF of VMD. Taking the envelope entropy of the IMF as an indicator, the signal entropy values for different values of

Envelope entropy trend diagram under different {

Minimum envelope entropy for different
As illustrated in Figure 4, the minimum envelope entropy value is 5.167, with the optimal parameter combination {

VMD decomposition and spectrum analysis of signal
Multi-model optimization algorithm (MOA) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC)
To address the aforementioned issues, this paper proposes a multi-model optimization algorithm based on signal characteristic parameters. The optimization algorithm employs a multi-model optimization approach (as detailed in Section 2.2) to obtain the VMD parameters {

Flow chart of MOA–VMD–BIC model algorithm.
Note that the optimization algorithm
Where,
Since the {
The solutions of

The solutions of
After applying the optimal decomposition parameters (
Eigenvalue of matrix
In Section 3.1, the simulated signal
Parameter
Consequently, the intrinsic mode functions {

Envelope spectrum analysis results based on MOA–VMD–BIC model.
Applications in fault diagnosis of bearings
Bearing experiment description
The dataset used in this study was sourced from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU).
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As shown in Figure 9, the experimental setup in the CWRU Bearing Test Rig contains 6205-2RS JEM SKF deep groove ball bearings installed at both the fan end and drive end of the motor. The bearing dimensions are illustrated in Figure 10. In the experimental, outer race fault diameter is 0.1778 mm (0.007 inches) and depth is 0.2794 mm (0.011 inches) at the drive-end bearing. In addition, the motor speed is 1797 rpm (

Schematic diagram of bearing test bench at Case Western Reserve University.

SKF6205 JEM SKF.
6205-2RS JEM SKF deep groove ball bearing outer ring fault characteristic frequency calculation formula is as follows:
Where,

The time domain, frequency domain, and envelope spectrum signals of 6205-2RS JEM SKF.
Vibration signal analysis of 6205-2RS JEM SKF
Introduction of comparison algorithm
To validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, we adopted widely recognized methodologies in academia as benchmark comparisons.
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The implementation process is structured as follows, first the minimum envelope entropy of the signal was utilized as the fitness function for the optimization algorithm to determine the optimal decomposition parameters {
Where, μ represents the average value of the component signals. σ
2
represents the variance of the signal component data.
In the comparative algorithm, the optimization algorithm, data preprocessing method (DC component removal), and filter are identical to those employed in the proposed method. The distinction between them lies in the fitness function of the optimization algorithm and the signal reconstruction method. For brevity, the comparative algorithm is abbreviated as CA, and its flowchart is illustrated Figure 12.

Flow chart of CA.
Vibration signal analysis results
Through computational, the MOA–VMD–BIC algorithm obtained the optimal VMD decomposition parameters as {

Vibration signal VMD decomposition results of MOA–VMD–BIC.

Vibration signal VMD decomposition results of CA.
In the MOA–VMD–BIC algorithm, the covariance matrix
Eigenvalue of matrix
The
Prior to envelope spectrum analysis of the vibration signals

Envelope spectrum analysis by MOA–VMD–BIC, CA, and no algorithm.
As shown in Figure 15, the spectral analysis of the results from CA and no algorithm shows that both methods can extract low-order frequency components of rotor rotation and fault (1× and 2×). However, by using the MOA–VMD–BIC method, it is possible to obtain higher-order rotor rotation and fault frequency components compared to CA and no algorithm. The analysis results show that there is a deviations exist between the extracted frequency and their object frequency. The percentage deviation between the extracted and object frequency is calculated using equation (16), and the calculation results are summarized in the Table 8 below.
Analysis results of rotor frequency extraction.
The term error in Table 8 denotes the relative error, which can be calculated using the following equation (16):
Where,
As illustrated in the spectrum map shown in Figure 15, the fault frequencies are more readily identifiable in the results obtained from the MOA–VMD–BIC algorithm. In contrast, the spectrum generated by the CA algorithm exhibits challenges in fault frequency detection, as these frequencies may be obscured by neighboring frequency components. To systematically address this issue, we conducted a statistical analysis comparing the spectral amplitudes of fault characteristic frequency harmonics between the two algorithms. The statistical results of harmonic components and their corresponding amplitudes for MOA–VMD–BIC and CA algorithms are summarized in the Table 9 below.
Fault frequency and frequency amplitude analysis results.
As shown in Table 9, the relative errors between the harmonic frequencies identified by the two algorithms and the target harmonic frequencies range from 0.04% to 0.3%. The spectral analysis of the results from CA and no algorithm shows that both methods can extract low-order fault frequencies (1× and 2×). However, the fault frequencies obtained through CA are significantly more accurate than those obtained without using the algorithm. The spectral analysis of the results from MOA–VMD–BIC and CA reveals that the reconstructed signal
In conclusion, based on the analysis of reconstructed signals using MOA–VMD–BIC and CA algorithms, the identification of rotational frequencies and fault characteristic frequencies demonstrates that the MOA–VMD–BIC algorithm is more suitable for vibration signal-based fault feature extraction.
Conclusions
To address the challenges of multi-source vibration signals masking fault-induced components and low fault recognition rate in vibration signal analysis, a novel multi-objective optimization algorithm-based variational mode decomposition with Bayesian Information Criterion (MOA–VMD–BIC) method was proposed for bearing vibration signal analysis. The following conclusions were drawn:
In this paper, a multi-objective optimization model algorithm is proposed. This model comprises two sub-models (
In the multi-objective optimization model algorithm, the characteristic parameter set of vibration signals (e.g. FFR, IO, IEC, envelope entropy,
Taking simulated signals as the research object, this study elaborates on the application of MOA–VMD–BIC in vibration signal fault identification. The simulation results demonstrate that MOA–VMD effectively decomposes signals and reconstructs vibration signals using the BIC-based source number identification capability. Subsequent envelope spectrum analysis of the reconstructed signals enables accurate identification of fault characteristics.
To validate the practical applicability of the proposed MOA–VMD–BIC algorithm, experimental verification was conducted using the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) bearing dataset, with CA as the comparative algorithm. Throughout the analysis, identical optimization algorithms, data preprocessing methods (including DC component removal), and filters were employed. The key distinctions lie in the fitness function and signal reconstruction methodology of MOA–VMD–BIC compared to CA. From the identification results of rotor frequency, it can be seen that both MOA–VMD–BIC and CA algorithms can identify the 1×, 2×, and 3× frequency components of rotor rotation. However, deviations exist between the extracted frequency and their object frequency. Specifically, in terms of rotational frequency extraction for rotor systems, the MOA–VMD–BIC method maintains a relative error within 0.5%, whereas the CA method exhibits significantly larger deviations exceeding 5% in all scenarios. From the identification results of fault frequency, it can be seen that the relative errors between the harmonic frequencies identified by the two algorithms and the target harmonic frequencies range from 0.04% to 0.3%. However, spectral analysis of the results from MOA–VMD–BIC and CA reveals that the reconstructed signal
In future research, we will further simplify the research results presented in this paper, apply them to industrial scenarios, and achieve experience accumulation and result transformation in this field. Meanwhile, we will strengthen the comparative study of algorithms related to VMD and EMD, and introduce the application research of emerging technologies such as machine learning in fault diagnosis.
