An approach for adaptive observer-based fault estimate for nonlinear system is proposed.H-infinity theory is applied to analyzing the design method and stable conditions of the adaptive observer,from which both system state and fault can be estimated.It is proved that the fault estimate error is related to the given H-infinity track performance indexes,as well as to the changing rate of the fault and the Lipschitz constant of the nonlinear item.The design steps of the adaptive observer are proposed.The simulation results show that the observer has good performance for fault estimate even when the system includes nonlinear terms,which confirms the effectiveness of the method.