ISSN 2303-4521 Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences Original Research Vol. 9, No. 4, October 2021, pp.767-777 © The Author 2021. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) that allows others to share and adapt the material for any purpose (even commercially), in any medium with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 767 Characterization of mechanical vibrations in a metal structure using the transform Cepstrum C. L. Sandoval-Rodríguez 1 , E. A. Correa Quintana 2 , B. E. Tarazona -Romero 1 , A.D. Rincón-Quintero 1 , J. G. Maradey-Lazaro 2 1 College of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Unidades Tecnológicas de Santander. Bucaramanga, Colombia 2 Collage of Engineering, Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia ABSTRACT This work adequately characterizes and correlates the effects generated by inducing mechanical vibrations on a metallic structure as a means of determining or predicting potential alterations or failures in bodies used in civil and industrial works of a static nature. Vibration sensors (piezoelectric), experimental information capture software (Labview) and the application of signal processing and classification tools were used for this. Various previous works have used signal processing techniques such as Fourier and Wavelet. These show indications about the relationship between the processed signals and the structural alterations of the different tests. On this occasion, through the use of Cepstrum analysis as an alternative tool for the processing of mechanical vibrations and complementary to the use of a dissimilarity technique (Euclidean distance) for the assessment of the ability to differentiate between classes grouped according to the anomaly studied and The use of statistical indicators to evaluate the homogeneity of the data has made it possible to show deviations that can be linked to structural defects (perforation, welding, denting and shear) of a metallic armor at the laboratory level. Finally, it was evidenced that the use of Cepstrum coefficients as characteristic information of the anomaly, at an experimental level, broadens the knowledge base and undoubtedly allows the implementation of the bases to encourage the academic and commercial development of tools or techniques for remote inspection of static equipment that is of great use to society. Keywords: Detection of structural alterations; Cepstral coefficients; Mechanical vibrations Corresponding Author: Camilo Leonardo Sandoval Rodriguez College of Natural Sciences and Engineering Unidades Tecnologías de Santander Students Street No. 8-92 E-mail: csandoval@correo.uts.edu.co 1. Introduction Mechanical vibration analysis has been used in different contexts. In some as a predictive maintenance tool on rotating equipment [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Studies range from the use of multi-sensors and multidimensional time series analysis [7] [8], up to multiple regression models focused on monitoring the condition in rotating machines [9]. Various transformations of the time series have been used (Fourier,Cepstrum,Wavelet) to characterize the behavior of the machines in different modes of operation [10] [11], where the objective is to extract relevant information that allows classifying each mode of operation [12]. In other contexts, mechanical vibrations have focused on making non-destructive evaluations of structures in different materials [13] [14] [15] [16]. Advances focus both on the use of various sensors to obtain vibration signals [17] [18], the management of remote structural health monitoring systems [19] [20], and the use of transformations to the data obtained and artificial vision methods [21] [22] that allow contrasting. On the subject of vibration analysis and its correlation with structural failures of equipment or systems, the bases have been established