Investigation of the individual load distribution of a blade bearing test rig by means of finite element simulation

Abstract

To carry out fatigue tests on the blade bearing test rig used in this work, knowledge of the maximum contact pressure and position of the contact ellipse in each rolling contact is necessary. Since these cannot be measured directly, a detailed FE-model of the blade bearings and the test rig components is set up. Previous studies use non-linear spring to simplify the raceway ball interaction. In this paper each rolling contact is modelled with a surface to surface interaction. This allows the evaluation of the maximum contact pressure and the distance between the contact area and the edge of the raceway. Furthermore, measurements of the relative displacement between the outer and inner ring for different load steps were carried out and show a good correlation with the simulation results.