Distribution of conformal contact pressure in spherical plain bearings considering friction and free-edge effects

Abstract

The pressure distribution of conformal contact in spherical plain bearings is studied adopting both theoretical methods and finite element simulations. The effects of normal loads and friction coefficients on the distribution of both axial and circumferential contact stress are investigated. The results show that the circumferential stress can be exactly described with the complete spherical conformal contact theory while the axial one presents strong free-edge effects, mainly caused by the compressive strain. In addition, the distribution of contact stress tends to be uniform with the increase of the load and the friction coefficient, referring to a decrease of contact pressure in the central region and a rise on both edges of the outer ring, which can be attributed to the obstruction effects of friction on the deformation of bearings and the corresponding alteration of contact area.

Contact pressure distribution of Multi-cone friction pair considering capsizing moment and stress singularity at the interface end

“…When the capsizing moment is less than the critical moment, the contact interface is in complete contact, and the undetermined coefficients a 0 and a 1 are calculated through equations ( 9) and ( 10); when the capsizing moment is greater than the critical moment, the contact interface is in receding contact, and the contact length is determined by equation (15) or FE model, and then the undetermined coefficients are calculated by equation ( 16).…”

“…Receding contact occurs on the Int-1 and Int-6 whose contact length decreases apparently as compared to the complete contact due to the capsizing moment and bending deformation, and another significant feature is that the contact pressure is vanishing at the corner points of the cone root, while the concentrated stress near the cone tip increases obviously. However, since the increase of axial load will increase the concentrated force and capsizing moment together, the contact length will not change significantly with the axial load, as shown in equation (15).…”

“…Belhocine and Abdullah 14 used the FE analysis to study the contact phenomenon between the brake disk and pads. Yuan et al 15 studied the conformal contact pressure distribution of spherical plain bearing by adopting FE simulations. For the experimental method, Dreher et al 16 investigated the interfacial pressure distribution and contact area internal to a lap joint through the use of an electronic pressure film.…”

Tilting Pad Journal Bearing Ball and Socket Pivots: Experimental Determination of Stiffness

“…A new universal approximate model for frictionless conformal and nonconformal spherical contacts, obtained by combining analytical and numerical methods, is proposed in [7] and adopted in [8], focusing on the free-edge effect in spherical plain bearings, and in [9] to investigate the effects of external load, radius clearance values, and material parameter on the contact mechanics of spherical fixed ring roller cone drill bits journal bearings. The effects of normal loads and friction coefficients on the distribution of both axial and circumferential contact stress in spherical plain bearings are studied, adopting both theoretical methods and FE simulations, in [10]. A generic contact mechanics analytical approach for the determination of sub-surface stresses, which is applicable to both highly conforming as well as concentrated counter-forming contacts, is presented in [11].…”