Internal Loading Distribution in Statically Loaded Ball Bearings Subjected to an Eccentric Thrust Load

Rolling-element bearings are simple machine elements of greatutility used both in simple commercial devices as in complexengineering mechanisms. Because of being a very popular machineelement, there is a lot of literature on the subject. With regardto the behavior of internal loading distribution, elasticdeformations at point or line contacts, and geometric parametersunder loading, although there are many works describing theparameters variation models, few works show such variations inpractice, even under simple static loadings. In an attempt tocover this gap some studies are being developed in parallel.Particularly in this work, a new, iterative computationalprocedure is introduced which calculates internal normal ballloads in statically loaded single-row, angular-contact ballbearings, subjected to a known thrust load which is applied to avariable distance (lever arm or eccentricity) from the geometricbearing center line. Numerical examples results for a 218angular-contact ball bearing have been compared with those fromthe literature. Fifty figures are presented showing geometricalfeatures and the following parameters variations as functions ofthe thrust load and eccentricity: contact angle, contact ellipseparameters, normal ball loads, distances between groove curvaturecenters, normal and axial deflections, and loading zones