Abstract
Comparing to signals such as speech or seismic, the vibration generated by oscillations of a mechanical
system in exploitation is quite regular. At a glance, good models of vibration can be designed, without
special precautions. However, some basic characteristics of this signal should be considered when constructing
the model. For example, vibration can serve to search for faults threatening a system. In this case, the main
properties of mechanical vibration yielding identification and isolation of faults have to be a priori known.
The paper goal is to overview these properties and to present the most used models that allow performing
the automatic fault diagnosis.
