More Realistic Bearing Simulation: Including Bearing Ring Flexibility in a System Model Using Romax Spin

Simulating all component effects and interactions is critical for understanding system performance. In complex transmission systems, many components act on one another, and, from gear misalignment to shaft deflection, the effects ripple through throughout the whole powertrain system. Bearings are often the most complex part of the system to simulate, but accurate prediction of bearing stiffness and distortion may impact all other structural components. Whilst some software tools analyse bearings under the assumption that the races are rigid, this type of simulation may be unrealistic, especially for bearings which:

• Have a proportionally narrow cross section
• Are subject to extreme loads
• Are housed within flexible structures
• Have a significant amount of preload applied
• Transfer axial load

In these situations, bearing ring flexibility must be taken into account in order to ensure realistic bearing simulation. However, this is challenging from a simulation perspective, since a full FEA simulation is likely to be hugely challenging, not completely accurate for contact analysis and almost impossible to use for a complete complex transmission system.

Romax Spin offers a combined simulation approach (analytical and FE) which allows you to account for race flexibility without dramatically increasing the computation time (up to 15 times faster than full FEA). The method creates a mesh to represent the bearing race, and generates connections between the bearing elements and the races and between the race and the shaft/housing.

This consideration is combined with Romax’s industry-leading bearing stiffness model, which quickly and accurately considers many aspects of bearing design, including load, manufacturing or mounting clearance, internal details, roller and race profiles, varying contact angles between the rolling elements and the raceways, mounting fit, temperatures, and more.

This allows for realistic conditions to be simulated as part of Romax’s advanced bearing analysis, including advanced fatigue life methods, accurate prediction of element and raceway stresses, rib contact, edge stress, and contact truncation, to give you the insight required to design and select bearings for optimum performance and durability, as part of a system model.

What attendees will learn:

• When it is important to account for bearing ring flexibility
• Different ways to set up the simulation model
• The implications of including bearing ring flexibility within a full system analysis
• How Romax Spin’s method for simulating bearing ring flexibility provides an optimal balance between speed and accuracy

Who should attend?

Bearing experts, analysts, application engineers