Mathematical Morphology-Based Fault Diagnosis for Rotating Machinery: A Review

Rotating machinery is a crucial element of mechanical equipment, and during serving life, failures are inevitable due to human and non-human factors. Signal processing techniques serve as essential tools for diagnosing such faults. Among them, mathematical morphology (MM) has attracted considerable research interest in this domain owing to nonlinear filtering, simple computation rules and well-established theoretical foundation. Thus, numerous papers have been published in academic journals and conference proceedings. This review paper attempts to outline the morphological framework and to summarize these applications focusing on rolling element bearings and gears. Finally, it provides an analysis of the relevant discussions on MM, and suggests several potential prospects.