Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of Rolling-Element Bearings

Large rolling bearings are mainly used in occasions of low speed and heavy load due to its desirable properties such as large-scale structure and high bearing capacity. Currently, the research emphases of large rolling bearings are focussed on the load distribution, load carrying capacity, fatigue life and structure optimization. Bearings used in heavy vehicles belong to large bearings, whose reliability is also very important. In this paper, the characteristics of the structures of four point angular contact ball bearings and three row cylindrical roller bearing are analyzed. Finite element (FE) model is used to simulate the load distribution and angle variation in the actual working process of a large rolling bearing. In order to analyze the impact of the constraints, the stiffness and the local hard point of the supporting structure on the mechanical properties of large rolling bearings, a series of simplified FE models of large rolling bearing with different constraints and supporting structure has been carried out.