Abstract
An important part of Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) is the component testing of faulted articles. The University of South Carolina’s CBM test facilities have accumulated thousands of hours of component testing of faulted articles and as a result, gained invaluable testing experience. Faulted articles can fall into two categories: seeded and natural faults. Each has their benefits and drawbacks. Component testing of faulted articles can serve multiple purposes such as verifying or improving existing condition indicators or creating new ones. Faulted articles undergo a tear down analysis after testing in order to determine the actual condition of components. Three case studies are presented showing seeded fault and natural faulted testing with different drive train components. Experience shows that naturally faulted articles add significant value to CBM practices since they are closely related to actual component failures in the field. The use of seeded faults can be informative but experience has shown that it is difficult to choose an appropriate seeded fault to represent the desired failure mode. As such, care needs to be taken to choose seeded faults that have the necessary fidelity to meet test objectives.