Pumps vibrations limits as per international

standards
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All rotating machines, pumps included, vibrate to some extent due to various
reasons, the most common of which are typically the following:

Improper installation at site

Improper balancing of pump rotor

Excessively turbulent fluid flow

Pressure fluctuations

Cavitation or internal recirculation in pumps

Normal pump wear after prolonged operation.

Therefore, process and design engineers should not be so much interested as to
whether or not a pump vibrates but concerned and instead ask themselves the
following questions:

Is the amplitude and frequency of the pump vibration sufficient to cause

damage to any of the pump components.

Is the pump vibration a symptom of some other more worrying phenomena

occurring within the pump, like for example - pump cavitation?

Pump vibration monitoring instruments

Large sized centrifugal pumps are generally recommended to be equipped with
typically two (2) vibration measurement instruments per bearing, one at the x-axis
and the second at the y-axis. These instruments are typically programmed with two
threshold values: an alarm point and a trip point. When the alarm point is reached,
operator is notified at the control room in order to take measures to verify and limit
the vibration level. In case the trip point is reached, the pump is tripped in order to
avoid any further sustained damage which could be catastrophic to the pump and
operating personnel.
Vibration monitoring instruments for pumps are generally characterised as
velocimetric type. Velocimetric type instruments have a measuring range typically in
inches/sec or mm/sec. Accelerometric (in inches/sec2 or mm/sec2) or distance-type
(typically in microns) vibration readings are usually taken at bearings and shafts of
more high-tech equipments like turbines.

Damage due to excessive pump vibration

There are basically three (3) international standards setting limits on pump
vibrations. Goal of these standards is to help pump users avoid excessive levels of
vibration and catastrophic failures caused by pump vibrations, which could include
severe damages to pump bearings, shaft distortion etc.
In general, bearing lifetime (L10) decreases rapidly with even small increments of
vibration value. Taking an example mentioned in ANSI/HI 9.6.4 standard, assuming
that a vibration intensity of 0.1 inches/sec corresponds to 100% of nominal bearing
lifetime, simply increasing the vibration level to 0.2 inches/ sec could reduce
bearing lifetime to 60-70% of nominal bearing lifetime.

Standards for pump vibration limits

- Hydraulic Institute (HI), namely with ANSI/HI 9.6.4 standard
- American Petroleum Institute (API), namely with API 610 standard
- International Standards Organisation (ISO), namely with ISO 10816 standard

Figure - 1 Typical pumps vibration levels in accordance with ANSI/HI and API
standards

Figure - 2 Typical pumps vibration levels in accordance with ISO 10816 standards
(Category A is typically required for newly-manufactured pumps