Verification of numerical determination of carrying capacity of large rolling bearings with hardened raceway

For the purpose of the numerical analysis of the actual carrying capacity of rolling contacts in large rolling bearings with surface-hardened raceways, an elasto-plastic constitutive model was used which links the mechanics of material damage with the isotropic and kinematic hardening or softening. A damage material model, implemented into a commercial finite element program, allows us to monitor the elastic strain, plastic strain increase, stress changes and material damage growth, which are closely related to the number of load cycles. In this way, the location and the time of occurrence of bearing raceway damage can be determined along with the growth of damage up to the point when a microcrack is formed. In other words, low cycle life of rotational rolling connection can be assessed. The paper presents the material model, numerical analysis of the actual carrying capacity of the rolling contact in single-row ball bearings and the verification of the numerical material model with experimental results of low cycle carrying capacity. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.