Frequency response analysis is one of the best methods to diagnose mechanical defects in the power transformer winding. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of four components of the transfer function (TF), i.e., amplitude, phase, real and imaginary components of TF is investigated for different defects. The classification of type, location, and extent of different defects is carried out using support vector machine with cubic polynomial kernel. The accuracy of different indices and four different components of TF are investigated. Moreover, a new index based on fitting performance is defined. The results show that despite widespread use and popularity of amplitude of TF, the phase, imaginary, and real components of TF, have more sensitivity to the defects respectively and are more accurate for classification. Also, compared with the results of some high usage indices, the proposed index has the best classification accuracy.
