An investigation of rolling element vibrations caused by local defects

In this paper, a shaft-bearing model is developed in order to investigate the rolling element vibrations for an angular contact ball bearing with and without defects. The shaft-bearing assembly is considered as a mass-spring system. The system shows a nonlinear characteristic under dynamic conditions. The equations of motion in radial and axial directions were obtained for shaft and rolling elements, and they were solved simultaneously with a computer simulation program. Additionally, the effect of localized defects on running surfaces (i.e., inner ring, outer ring, and ball) on the vibration of the balls is investigated. Vibration of rolling elements in the radial direction is analyzed in time and frequency domains. Characteristic defect frequencies and their components can be seen in the frequency spectra of rolling element vibrations. Comparison of the obtained results with similar studies available in literature showed reasonable qualitative agreement.