# Composite Fault Feature Index-Guided Variational Mode Decomposition with Dynamic Weighted Central Clustering for Bearing Fault Detection

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for detecting bearing faults in rotating machinery by combining a composite fault feature index with advanced signal decomposition techniques.

## Contribution

The novel approach integrates a composite fault feature index with dynamic clustering to improve fault detection accuracy and stability.

## Key findings

- The proposed method achieved a spectral energy retention rate of 0.21356, with a 4.9% relative error compared to the actual signal.
- CFFI-guided optimization enhances impulsive and periodic fault components while maintaining stable feature-band retention.
- The method shows strong engineering applicability for real-world equipment monitoring.

## Abstract

To address the periodic impacts and amplitude-modulated high-frequency resonance phenomena caused by bearing faults in rotating machinery, this paper proposes a detection method. The core innovation lies in: firstly, constructing a composite fault feature index (CFFI) that integrates normalized kurtosis and fuzzy entropy, which synchronously quantifies the fault impact intensity and periodic structure, and serves as an optimization objective; secondly, definining a spectral energy retention rate (SERR) that includes both the full spectrum and characteristic frequency bands to evaluate the denoising effect and fault feature retention, respectively. Based on this, the method adaptively determines the Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) parameters through the Triangular Topology Aggregation Optimizer (TTAO), and uses Dynamic Weighted Center Clustering (DWCC) to screen key IMFs containing fault-envelope information. On the IMS bearing dataset, the SERR of the reconstructed signal is 0.21356, which is higher than the actual collected signal value of 0.22465, with a relative error of 4.9%, indicating a higher reconstruction accuracy. These quantitative results indicate that CFFI-guided optimization enhances impulsive and periodic fault components while maintaining stable feature-band retention. This approach is suitable for real-world equipment monitoring and exhibits strong engineering applicability.