The Energy-Dispersion Index (EDI) and Cross-Domain Archetypes : Towards Fully Automated VMD Decomposition for Robust Fault Detection
Bagri, Ikram ; Touil, Achraf ; Oucheikh, Rachid LU
; Mousrij, Ahmed
; Hraiba, Aziz
and Tahiry, Karim
(2026)
In Vibration
9(1).
- Abstract
Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) is a powerful formalism for the time-scale analysis of vibration signals from rotating machinery. However, its performance is often compromised by complex parameter configuration, where subjective manual tuning leads to mode mixing or information loss. In this study, we present a physics-guided framework that generalizes VMD optimization across diverse operating conditions. We utilized a meta-dataset combining three distinct sources (CWRU, HUST, UO) to validate the approach. Through a shaft-normalized segmentation strategy and K-Means++ clustering, we identified six distinct signal archetypes based on spectral morphology. Central to this framework is the Energy-Dispersion Index (EDI), a novel... (More)
Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) is a powerful formalism for the time-scale analysis of vibration signals from rotating machinery. However, its performance is often compromised by complex parameter configuration, where subjective manual tuning leads to mode mixing or information loss. In this study, we present a physics-guided framework that generalizes VMD optimization across diverse operating conditions. We utilized a meta-dataset combining three distinct sources (CWRU, HUST, UO) to validate the approach. Through a shaft-normalized segmentation strategy and K-Means++ clustering, we identified six distinct signal archetypes based on spectral morphology. Central to this framework is the Energy-Dispersion Index (EDI), a novel physically interpretable metric designed to differentiate between structured fault transients and stochastic noise. Extensive validation via a full-factorial Design of Experiments (8640 trials) confirmed the statistical superiority of EDI over benchmarks like kurtosis and envelope entropy, yielding an 8.3% improvement in modal fidelity. Furthermore, a rigorous ablation study demonstrated that the proposed archetype-based parameterization is highly efficient. This strategy achieved a (Formula presented.) speedup over online optimization while maintaining statistically equivalent diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, by generalizing parameters from high-quality archetype representatives, the framework reduced spectral leakage (Orthogonality Index) by 51.4% compared to instance-wise optimization. The resulting framework provides a mathematically rigorous, real-time solution for automated vibration signal decomposition.
(Less)
- author
- Bagri, Ikram
; Touil, Achraf
; Oucheikh, Rachid
LU
; Mousrij, Ahmed
; Hraiba, Aziz
and Tahiry, Karim
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- adaptive signal decomposition, bearing fault diagnosis, physics-informed signal processing, vibration signal analysis
- in
- Vibration
- volume
- 9
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 16
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105034351033
- ISSN
- 2571-631X
- DOI
- 10.3390/vibration9010016
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 779fd62d-28da-475d-936a-805b12844a8c
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-10 15:15:32
- date last changed
- 2026-06-10 15:15:51
@article{779fd62d-28da-475d-936a-805b12844a8c,
abstract = {{<p>Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) is a powerful formalism for the time-scale analysis of vibration signals from rotating machinery. However, its performance is often compromised by complex parameter configuration, where subjective manual tuning leads to mode mixing or information loss. In this study, we present a physics-guided framework that generalizes VMD optimization across diverse operating conditions. We utilized a meta-dataset combining three distinct sources (CWRU, HUST, UO) to validate the approach. Through a shaft-normalized segmentation strategy and K-Means++ clustering, we identified six distinct signal archetypes based on spectral morphology. Central to this framework is the Energy-Dispersion Index (EDI), a novel physically interpretable metric designed to differentiate between structured fault transients and stochastic noise. Extensive validation via a full-factorial Design of Experiments (8640 trials) confirmed the statistical superiority of EDI over benchmarks like kurtosis and envelope entropy, yielding an 8.3% improvement in modal fidelity. Furthermore, a rigorous ablation study demonstrated that the proposed archetype-based parameterization is highly efficient. This strategy achieved a (Formula presented.) speedup over online optimization while maintaining statistically equivalent diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, by generalizing parameters from high-quality archetype representatives, the framework reduced spectral leakage (Orthogonality Index) by 51.4% compared to instance-wise optimization. The resulting framework provides a mathematically rigorous, real-time solution for automated vibration signal decomposition.</p>}},
author = {{Bagri, Ikram and Touil, Achraf and Oucheikh, Rachid and Mousrij, Ahmed and Hraiba, Aziz and Tahiry, Karim}},
issn = {{2571-631X}},
keywords = {{adaptive signal decomposition; bearing fault diagnosis; physics-informed signal processing; vibration signal analysis}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{Vibration}},
title = {{The Energy-Dispersion Index (EDI) and Cross-Domain Archetypes : Towards Fully Automated VMD Decomposition for Robust Fault Detection}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vibration9010016}},
doi = {{10.3390/vibration9010016}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2026}},
}