Learn · 101
Track 01 · Vibration Foundations

Vibration 101 — Foundations

Machines shake while they run. This course teaches you to read the shake.

20 lessons Self-paced 25-question exam Badge: Vibration Foundations
Start course Back to catalog

Free · self-paced · your pass is saved on this device.

Free Vibration 101 — Foundations cover
What you'll leave knowing

Outcomes for this primer.

Short, interactive and self-paced. Every idea is shown with a live instrument, then checked in the exam.

Describe any vibration with the three numbers that matter — amplitude, frequency and phase.

Read a time waveform and the spectrum the FFT builds from it.

Choose the right lens — displacement, velocity or acceleration — for the job.

Name unbalance vs misalignment from their orders, and rate severity with ISO 20816.

The curriculum

20 lessons, in order.

Each lesson is one focused screen — a concept, an interactive graphic, and a plain-language read. Climb the chain, then sit the exam.

01
The core idea
What vibration is: a mass swinging about its rest point.
02
The raw signal
The time waveform — the shake drawn against time.
03
How big is the shake?
Amplitude — peak, peak-to-peak, RMS, true peak & crest factor.
04
Case study 1 of 2
The pump the overall number said was fine — but wasn't.
05
How often it repeats
Period & frequency — measured in hertz.
06
Speaking the field's units
Hz, CPM, RPM and order — one rhythm, four names.
07
The timing clue
Phase — when in the turn the motion happens.
08
One motion, three lenses
Displacement, velocity, acceleration — the triad.
09
Choosing the right lens
Which quantity, which band — and the big pitfall.
10
Building the spectrum · 1 of 4
Building the spectrum — one pure sine is one clean bar.
11
Building the spectrum · 2 of 4
Add a second sine — the wiggle gets complex, the bars don't.
12
Building the spectrum · 3 of 4
Add several sines — a jumble in time, a neat row of bars.
13
Building the spectrum · 4 of 4
A real machine, and the FFT — Fourier's sorting engine.
14
Sample fast enough
Sampling, Nyquist and aliasing — the wagon-wheel trap.
15
Reading a real spectrum
Unbalance and misalignment — the orders that name a fault.
16
Tell them apart
A clean read — 1× unbalance vs 2× misalignment.
17
Case study 2 of 2
The fan that shook once per turn.
18
How bad is it?
Overall level & ISO 20816 — the traffic light.
19
Build the skill safely
Practise on a rig — then take it to the plant.
20
Recap
The whole language, on one page.
Finish all 20 lessons and pass the 25-question exam to earn your completion certificate — issued on the spot.
Where it fits

Part of the Vibration Foundations badge.

Vibration Foundations badge
Badge 01 of 03

Vibration Foundations

1Vibration FoundationsYou are here

No prerequisite — open to everyone.

See how badges work

A primer — not ISO 18436 certification

TIERA 101 gives you working fundamentals. It is not equivalent to, nor a substitute for, ISO 18436 Category I–IV vibration-analyst certification.

TIERA's formal ISO 18436 Category I–IV programme is separate and paid. Ask us about the certified track when you're ready to go pro.