Rolling element bearings are essential components of rotating machinery. The spherical roller bearing (SRB) is one variant witnessing increasing use because it is self-aligning and can support high loads. It is becoming increasingly important to understand how the SRB responds dynamically under a variety of conditions. This study introduces a computationally efficient, three-degree-offreedom, SRB model that was developed to predict the transient dynamic behaviors of a rotor-SRB system. In the model, bearing forces and deflections were calculated as a function of contact deformation and bearing geometry parameters according to the nonlinear Hertzian contact theory. The results reveal how some of the more important parameters, such as diametral clearance, the number of rollers, and osculation number, influence ultimate bearing performance. One pair of calculations looked at bearing displacement with respect to time for two separate arrangements of the caged side-by-side roller arrays, when they are aligned and when they are staggered. As theory suggests, significantly lower displacement variations were predicted for the staggered arrangement. Following model verification, a numerical simulation was carried out successfully for a full rotor-bearing system to demonstrate the application of this newly developed SRB model in a typical real world analysis.

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