Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts

BO T O R S T E N F E L T

Link6ping Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Division of Solid Mechanics and Strength of Materials, S-581 83 Link6ping, Sweden
BILLY FREDRIKSSON

SAAB-SCANIA AB, Aircraft Division, Stress Department, S-581 88 Link6ping, Sweden

The fatigue life of a roller bearing is heavily influenced by the crowning profile of the rollers. The pressure distribution for different types of crowning has been studied. For solving this threedimensional contact problem a numerical procedure for analysis of general elasto-static contact problems has 'been used. The method is based on an incremental and iterative algorithm applied to a set of linear equations established with f'mite element technique. The contact surfaces are assumed to be perfectly smooth, dry and frictionless. The pressure distribution between the bodies has been compared with results obtained from other methods. The influence on the pressure distribution by the free boundary at the end of the finite cylinders has also been investigated. It is also shown that it is possible to use the same f'mite element model to study different types of crowning, thus making it efficient to perform parameter surveys. A method of obtaining required or 'optimal' pressure distribution is suggested. Key Words: pressure distribution, roller bearings, crowned rollers, crowning, pressure control, optimal pressure

INTRODUCTION

and

The design of cylindrical rolling dements in roller bearings is critical. The fatigue life of a bearing is heavily influenced by the crowning profile of the rollers. The contact pressure distribution and the location of stress concentrations are nonlineafly dependent on the load level. Thus, the optimal crowning profile varies with the applied load level. The global stiffness of a roller bearing is also effected by the crowning profile. Since Hertz presented his classical work on contact between elastic bodies geometrically expressed by quadratic functions many researchers have published work done in this field. When studying crowned rollers Hertz' solution is no longer accurate and does not give the possibility to study the important area at the end of the roller. The contact area departs from the Hertzian ellipse. Several authors have put attention to the non-Hertzian eases occurring in roller bearings. One of the first works presented in this field was by Lundberg. 1 He solved the integral equation under the assumptions that the contact pressure distribution will be constant along the roller and acting on a rectangular contact area. The stiffness was taken from the halfspaee. The main result was the weU-known Lundberg crowning profile. Equll.brium and continuity equations for three-dimensional contact problems could be stated as follows:

w l ( x , y ) - w2(x,y) +zl(x,y) --z2(x,y) = A on ~2e / wl(x,y)-- w2(x,y) + zl(x,y) z2(x,y) > A outside ~2e J

(2)
where F is the force, p the pressure, wt and w2 the deformation of bodies 1 and 2 respectively, zt and z2 define the boundary of the bodies. A is the global approach of the two bodies and (x,y); (~, *7) are cartesian coordinates in the contact surface ~2e. Many researchers 1-7 utilise the Boussinesq forcedisplacement relationship as a constitutive relation for a cylinder with a finite length:
1 -- v 2 / '

w(x,y)=

p(~, ~) d~ dr/

(3)

~2 c Other authors, s'9 have performed various modifications of the Boussinesq force-displacement relationship. Another assumption most commonly used is to assume that the pressure distribution perpendicular to the direction of the roller is an ellipse: p(w, y) = p(x, 0)(1 -- (y2/b2(x)))l/2 (4) Several solution methods, for instance mathematical programming techniques, have been used to solve the integral equation problem. The Boussinesq flexibility relation seems to have caused ill-conditioning of the linear system of equations arising. There is also a singularity problem when calculating the influence of the displacement in a point from a force in the same point. The pressure has to be integrated over a surrounding area and the displacement is then 0264-682X/84/010032-08 $02.00 1984 CML Publications

f P(~, n) d~ d n - - F = 0
~2e

(1)

Received May 1983. Written discussion closes May 1984.

32

EngineeringAnalysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

obtained, s The assumption of using the Boussinesq constitutive relation is appropriate in the centre of the contact area. It will, however, overestimate the stiffness at the end of the roller and the method fails when the problem becomes interesting. This severe restriction has been removed by, for instance, Reusner 9 and Kalker. s Reusner is treating the rollers as rollers with finite length. The stress boundary condition at the end of the rollers is approximately fulfilled through a superimposing technique. Kalker presents a solution which seems to give good results. It is based on the basic assumption that the contact area must be slender. It has the requirements that the crowning radius of the roller must be several times as large as the local radius of the roller and cut-off of the area is not allowed. This means then that the method fails at the end of the roller where edge effects are interesting. In the present work none of the above mentioned assumptions are made. A combined incremental iterative algorithm based on the minimisation of the potential energy, which is established by using the finite element displacement method. The edge effects could then be studied. The solution is approximate due to the approximate fulfilment of the stress boundary conditions by the finite ele. ment displacement method. The finite element model is automatically generated and the grid size may be chosen arbitrarily in different parts of the contact area. This minimisation of the potential energy under inequality constraints has to be performed in an iterative way. The f'mite element discretisation is such that each of the nodes in the candidate contact area has a neighbour in the other body. These node pairs are treated as contact node pairs throughout the iterative procedure. The inequality constraints corresponding to a node pair inside the contact area arise as equality an d implies that the set of linear equations is overdetermined. A linear transformation is performed in each iteration aimed at reducing the number of equations and making the system determined in a certain iteration. Introducing the transformation matrix M we obtain:

M(i)tKoM(i)u(O = M(i)t(Po -- Ko~ (i))

(13)

After each iteration inactive constaints are checked and node pairs inside the contact area are checked for tensile forces. The transformation matrix M has an attractive feature. It does include only zeros and unities. This fact makes it possible to perform this transformation faster than a general linear transformation by making use of boolean operations. It is rational to utilise a standard stiffness matrix assembly routine. The system of equations solved gives the consistent nodal contact forces which should be transformed to contact pressure. This is done in the following way. Consider the consistent contact force vector F e for a contact surface element. Using the surface element interpolation function N e we can write: Fe = ( N t e p ( x , y ) d ~
12e

SOLUTION METHOD The method used in this work is presented by Fredriksson 13 and Torstenfelt 14 and it will only be briefly reviewed. The basic equilibrium, continuity and constitutive elasticity relations for small strains and displacements: Oil,/+ Xi = 0 (5) (6) (7)

(14)

Using the same interpolation function for the pressure p(x, y ) we obtain:

Fe=[f
F~e

NteNed~2] pe=CePe

(15)

ell = (ui,/ + ui, i) eli = hiiklOkl

should be solved taking surface traction and displacement equality boundary conditions into account. For contact problems it is further required to fulfil the inequality conditions described below. Bodies A and B are in contact at a point i, the contact pressure is Pi and the initial gap or interference is 8i. We thus require:

Summation of all contact element forces means an assemblage according "to surface element topology and we obtain: R = Cp where R = ERe, p = Epe and C =
C e

(16)

Api- Bpi =
Api < 0

(8)

AUi - BUi - 8 i = 0

(9) (10)

In the general case with an unknown contact area the solution of the problem has to be done in an iterative manner. The present method is based on the finite element method. Forming the total potential energy II for a problem without friction we obtain:

fl

2 f (oiieii)dV - f I v v

(Xiui) dV--

f (qiui) dS Sq

(11)

Utilising the finite element method for calculation of these integrals we arrive at equation .(12) in matrix notations: Min(II(u) = utKu -- PtulAu -- 8/> 0} (12)

The matrix C is recognised being the 'mass matrix' of the surface element with unit density. C is positive definite and well-conditioned and the pressure is thus obtained by solution of equation (16). It has shown to give good results when using the 'lumped' mass matrix in equation (15) which also means a very fast solution of equation (16). The method presented in this paper is implemented in the general purpose finite element computer routine library ASKA. Is This routine library, working with a data base, is a useful and flexible tool to utilise as a basic tool for writing additional computer routines. The procedure for elastostatic contact problems shall be looked upon as a special solver in the t'mite element system. For each load increment iterations are performed until convergence is obtained. The solution in each iteration is obtained by the direct elimination equation solver. An iterative solver for solving the linear system of equations would be an effective extension of the procedure. After the first solution there will be a good start vector available for the further iterations.

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vot 1, No. 1

33

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL The contact problems analysed in this study is defined by Fig. 1. A crowned roller with a certain length and radius is pressed between two other identical non-crowned rollers with parallel centre lines. Because of triple-symmetry oneeighth of the arrangement is modelled with finite elements (see Fig. 2). The surface on the symmetry plane between the two big cylindrical rollers through the crowned roller is forced to remain flat when the load P is applied. The model is generated semi-automatically. The refinement of the mesh in the vicinity of the contact area is obtained in a repetitive manner. Three different 'unit cubes' are used for this purpose (see Fig. 3). These 'unit cubes' are piled into each other in three levels in the small roller and in four levels in the big roller. A computer routine has been developed with the purpose of generating all required input data for different meshes designed under certain requirements. The mesh pattern in the candidate contact surface can be rather arbitrarily chosen with refinements in different areas of interest. The discretisation in the roiling direction of the contact area are fixed to four or ten node pairs from the centre line to the border line of the candidate contact zone (see Fig. 4). Solid elements with a linear or bilinear shape function are used in the discretisation of the bodies. A hidden line mesh of the small roller is shown in Fig. 5. The total number of degrees of freedom has varied between 4000-8000 in the different applications and the number of candidate contact freedoms involved in the iterative process varied between 400-600 approximately.
z

Figure 2.

Idealisation of the geometry

Figure 3.

The 'unit cubes'

RESULTS FROM EXAMPLES STUDIED The f'trst geometry investigated was that given by the Lundberg crowning profile:

Figure 1.

Three aligned rollers

l--v 2 P 2 h(x) = - In IrE Lo 1--(x/Lo) 2

(17)

34

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

with c = 10 or 20 we then obtain for geometries studied in this work approximately:
X X

L--~(c = 1 0 ) < 0 . 9 8 7 4 o r - - ( c = 2 0 ) < 0 . 9 9 7 4 6 (21) Lo If then the loading is such that we will have contact to the very end (x = Lo) of the roller we observed that there will be a pressure peak at x =Lo. Nodes with x-coordinates greater than the limits given by equation (20) will give very low or even zero pressure. It is suggested to add an interpolation for the gap between the limit for equation (17) given by equation (20) and the value given by equation (19) a t x =Lo. In the finite element calculation the two bodies were treated as cylinders with a finite length. The ratio between the length of the smaller crowned roller and the length of the bigger cylinder simulating the inner ring was chosen in accordance with practical bearing applications. The result of the calculations is presented in Fig. 6 and compared to the Lundberg solution. In this diagram the pressure profiles are plotted both along the roller and in the rolling direction. The finite element solution shows as expected a weaker behaviour at the end of the contact area compared to the Lundberg solution.By equilibrium reasons the maximum pressure has to increase towards the centre of the contact area. For x-values close to zero and at 0.7Lo oscillations are observed. This has been studied in detail and it has been confh'med that this is due to the transition from a f'me to a coarse mesh in the finite element model as seen in Fig. 4. It will not influence the result if a mean value is used. The variation of the semi-contact width is also plotted and normalised to the contact width calculated according to the Lundberg theory. This curve is extra- and interpolated through the candidate contact node pairs. The result shows which pairs are in contact and which are not. Pressure values at nodes in contact are used to extrapolate to zero which gives the contact width at the x-value. The contact boundary curve is then interpolated in the x,y-

V -4i

.=t
~

I
I

I [ i
[

I /

I l

I I i

I i

I ] ,

I [

I i

f i

I i

I i

I I IIImlll! i i iiiillll[

F
I

II i [ I i I ,I

I [ I I I

I i I I I

tqgure 4.

A part of the surface of a small roller mesh

Figure 5.

Hidden line finite element idealisation

This formula was obtained from the assumption of a constant pressure profile along the roller. This means that the contact area is a perfect rectangle with a contact width determined by the two-dimensional Hertzian relation between the maximum contact pressure Po and the contact width be.

be = CoPe

(18)

Equation (17) is not valid for x = Lo. Lundberg then gives: h(Lo)= E "~o 1.1932 + I n (19)

There is then an area at the end of the roller where the crowning is not properly defmed. Introducing an arbitrary constant c the limit of applicability of equation 0 7 ) may be written:

/y Figure 6. The pressure distribution Lundberg crowning obtained with

Lo

\Lol

(20)

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

35

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

plane. This has shown to be an accurate enough method because in areas with high gradients we use a fine mesh and in other areas it is acceptable to use a coarser mesh. Figure 7 shows the candidate contact node pair pattern and which node pairs are inside or outside the contact area. In order to investigate the influence of the free boundary at the end of the rollers on the pressure distribution a number of calculations with different lengths of the rollers has been performed. In Fig. 8 the results are plotted for an additional three cases. The results has been normalised in the same manner as in Fig. 6. In the case with two rollers of equal length the pressure profile and the semicontact length show a decreasing tendency at the end of the roller. The boundary conditions at the end of the roller show an important influence at least for values LolL1 > 0.8. A second study on the influence of the free boundaries has been performed. In this case the smaller crowned roller has been extended to the same length as the big roller. Nothing else has been changed compared to the ftrst calcuP/Po

[z

h/bo
0 |.~

O0000I~IID

1,

,
0

. ,on,..
nO C O 0 | | t ~

Figure 9. The pressure distribution obtained with Lundberg crowning and with an extended small roller
I.

x/Io
l~gure 7. The candidate contact node pair pattern and contact width for Lundberg crowning

P/Po

,2_:.

" "!
I "

1''"31 L

k FEM ]/~n~R3 /

.5
.25

,,....

2 -] ,,i

.2

.4

.6

x/Lo

.8

Figure 10. A pressure distribution comparison along the semi-contact length

h/bo/y
Figure 8. The pressure dis~ibition obtained with Lundberg crowning and with different length of the big roller

lation, Fig. 6. Stiffness has been added to the end of the crowned roller. The results are shown in Fig. 9. This comparison demonstrates a better agreement with Lundberg. The assumptions made by Lundberg are here better fulfilled because of the material added. A comparison with the Reusner method 9 has also been performed. Reusner does take the free end boundary conditions approximately into account. The crowning profile used for this comparison is defined in Fig. 10. It could be seen: that the agreement is rather good but the finite

36

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

element result indicates a weaker model than the Reusner model. As we are using the displacement finite element formulation it could with rather good confidence be stated that even though Reusner takes the end boundary condition into account his model is still a little bit too stiff at the very end. This indicates then that the Reusner pressure peak might be non-conservative. Introduce now a prescribed displacement 8i -t-h/which is caused by ehahging the geometry of the solid structure studied. The volume is changed from V to V +AV. We then obtain the new load vector: P, + A P / = ( f ( B t D B j ) d V ) ( S j + h j )
V+AV

(27)

As long as AV,~ V we may write:

GEOMETRY INFLUENCE ON THE PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION

Numerical methods like the finite element method are tools with which it is theoretically possible to perform analysis on this complex three-dimensional problems. It is, however, very expensive to perform three-dimensional anslysis. It would then be very beneficial if it were possible to use the same model to study different crownings. The classical Hertz problem and the Lundberg solution to crowned roller contacts both assume infinite bodies with 'artificial' curved boundaries approaching each other. The FEM models approximate the real geometry. If we have some deviations from the exact geometry this is, of course, with the same reasons as for other methods, acceptable. It is not necessary to change the f'mite element model when the crowning is changed. It is enough to input the new gap due to the new crowning. This could be concluded either by studying a simple one-dimensional example or by studying the basic finite element equations. Assume a one-dimensional bar with cross-sectional area A, Young's modulus E and with length L. When the bar is compressed a distance A a contact force: P =

Pi + AP, ~ ( f B~DB] dV)(Sj-t-hj)

V

(28)

and we can thus use the same finite dement model as before by changing the geometry. For Lundberg and circular crowning we performed calculations both with modelling the correct geometry and without taking change in geometry due to the crowning into account. The result is shown in Fig. 11. Circular crowning is defined by Fig. 12. The differences are very small. It is only at the very end the deviation exceeds 1%. For the circular crowning it is also a very high pressure-peak at the end. The pressure along the asymmetry line (y = 0) is shown in Fig. 12. It is thus fully acceptable to perform a parameter survey using the same FE-model. If the interesting result is to study the pressure this is especially efficient because you only need to do the reduction to contact degrees of freedom once.

CONTACT PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION CONTROL

In a design situation it would be valuable to be able to design for a pressure distribution that is optimal in some sense, for instance to minimise the maximum contact

EA
L

(22)

will arise. Assume now that the bar has been shortened causing an initial gap eL before the compression. The contact force would then be: *' =
or

EA
L(1 -- e)

(Z~ - eL)

(23)

.005
P = - - (A -- eL)(1 + e + 0(e2)) L

EA

(24)

I
,

if e < 1 we obtain approximately: P ---

---,.,0

EA
L

Lundberg circular crowning

(ZX-- eL)

(25)

gl.

/
O_
i q m l m m
lu --

i
_~

which is the same result as obtained when not changing geometry but only introducing the new gap. In a general finite element application this is seen from the following. Assume a prescribed displacement 8/. Introducing the element stiffness matrix:

'
~

I
;

jJ

f BIoBidV
v~ the following force vector Pi arises:
(26)

J
.2 .4 .6

.8
X/Lo

Ve

Figure 11. The relative pressure deviation fi)r two cases. Po stands for values from exact geometry and p fi~r values from the approximation Engineering Analysis, 1984, Iiol. 1, No. 1
37

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson

1.e
P/P,

L4

1.2

wx and w2 respectively were then introduced as a gap, equation (29), and the contact problem solved with the contact algorithm. We then obtained with excellent agreement the requested pressure distribution as shown in Fig. 13. In the three-dimensional example we used the roller contact problem described previously. We applied on both the rollers the consistent nodal forces obtained from the Lundberg pressure distribution, i.e. elliptic in y-direction and constant in x-direction. The contact area was rectangular. Applying these forces to both the rollers we obtained the displacements Wl and w2, these values were then giving the gap on the centreline of the rollers. It is not possible to introduce the complete gap Wl(X, y) - w2(x, y) because there is the requirement on the rollers to be cylinders. The gap was then changed accordingly. The contact problem was then solved. We obtained the pressure distribution on the centreline shown in Fig. 14, which is

.6 - - - -

iI
.4 . . . .
Lo

I J

p~
Prsq/O'o
Contu~ solution for 2D problem
. . . .

.2

[]

.25

.5

.75
x/Lo

1.

Figure l2. crowning

The pressure distribution for a circular

~l 111 0+o

pressure. Optimisation problems in elastic contacts have been formulated and solved by Kikuchi and Taylor. x~ As an application the maximum pressure in a two-dimensional contact problem is minimised. We will here present another, simpler method of obtaining pressure distribution control. Assume that a pressure distribution Preq(X,y) is required on ~2c. Applying this pressure on both the elastic bodies in contact we obtain the displacements Wl(X, y) and w~(x, y) respectively. If we now crown the bodies in such a way that the total gap h(x,y) is:

I
0

i .25

.5

.75

N 1 x/ao

Figure 13. Required and calculated pressures in a twodimensional punch problem

h(x,y) = w-z(x,y) -- w2(x,y) -- A

and apply the external load:
P = f Preq(X,y) d[2
.1

(29)
P/Po

1.2

(30)

1.'

*js

I s** *~

~qe

we will obtain the pressure distribution Preq(X,y) as a result of the contact solution. This requires, however, that the contact surface [2e is known a pr/or/. If this is not the case we could apply the procedure iteratively. The procedure proposed could be concluded and formulated from the reciprocity theorem of elasticity problems. We have applied this approach to a two- and a threedimensional problem. In the two-dimensional case we applied a series of pressure prot~flesas shown in Fig. 13 to a t'mite punch and an infinite halfplane. The displacements

.8 . . . . . .

j'

Preq/Po Contact solutioofor 30 roller problem I il

--

: .6 ]

.25

.5

35
x/to

1.

Figure 14. Required and calculated pressures along the semi-contact length in the three-dimensional roller problem

38

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

Pressure distribution in crowned roller contacts: B. Torstenfelt and B. Fredriksson considered to be a good fulfilment o f the request. The oscillations shown are still due to the transition from coarse to f'me meshes. CONCLU~ONS Different types o f crowning were studied and compared to other solutions. The general purpose contact algorithm was shown to be efficient to use for this study. It was shown that to study pressure distribution it is important to properly take end boundary conditions into account. The Reusner solution seems to give a too stiff model at the end and thus a non-conservative pressure in the centre. It was shown that it is possible to use the same f'mite element model to study different types o f crowning. It was also shown that it is possible to control the pressure distribution by applying forces compatible with the pressure distribution required on b o t h the contacting bodies separately. The difference o f the displacements thus obtained is used as the initial gap. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work was partly supported b y SKF Engineering Research Centre, ERC, in the Netherlands. Mr Jan de Mul at ERC is greatly acknowledged for his support in this study. 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 Oh, K. P. and Trachman, E. G. A numerical procedure for designing profiled rolling elements, ASME, J. Lubrication Techn. 1976, 00, 547 Nayak, L. and Johnson, K. L. Pressure between elastic bodies having a slender area of contact and arbitrary profiles, Int. Z Mech. Sci. 1979, 21,237 Nayak, L. Singularity consideration in numerical solution of contact stress problems, ASME, J. Lubrication Techn. 1981, 00, 1 Hartnett, M. J. The analysis of contact stresses in rolling element bearings, ASME, J. Lubrication Techn. 1979, 101, 105 Hartnett, M. J. and Kannel, J. W. Contact stresses between elastic cylinders: a comprehensive theoretical and experimental approach, ASME, J. Lubrication Techn. 1981, 103, 40 Kalker, J. J. An asymptotic method for the calculation of the contact stress in roller bearings, 1975. Presented in connection with a seminar on SKF European Research Centre, Jutphaas, The Netherlands, 1975 Reusner, H. Druckfl~chenbelastung und Oberfliichenverschiebung im W~lzkontakt yon Rotationsk6rpern, SKR Kngellagerfabriken GmbH, 1977 Ahmadi, N., Kcer, L. M. and Mttra, T. Non-hertzian contact stress analysis for an elastic half space- normal and sliding contact,Int. J. Solids Struct. 1983, 19 (4), 357 Malmberg, P. Contact stresses in roller beating rollers - comparison between the Kalker aysmptotic method and some other theories, SKR Engineering & Research Centre B.V., 1977, NL76D002. Kikuehi, N. and Taylor, J. E. Shape optimimtion for unilateral elastic contact problems, Num. Meth. Coupled Probl., Proc. Int. Conf. held at Univ. College, Swansea, 7-11 September, 1981,430--441 Fredriksson, B. On elastostatic problems with friction. Diss. No. 6, Link~ping Stuaies in Science and Technology, Link6ping Institute of Technology, Link~ping, Sweden, 1976 Torstenfelt, B. Contact problems with friction in general purpose finite element computer programs, Comp. & Struct. 1983, 16 (1-4), 487 ASKA Part I - Linear static analysis, user's reference manual, ASKA UM 202, lnstitut tilt Statik und Dynamik, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 1979

9 10 11

13 14 15

REFERENCES
Lundberg, G. Elastische Bertihtung zweier Halbr~iume, Forschungs auf dem Gebiete des Ingenieurwesens 1939, l0 (5), 201 2 Singh, K. P. and Paul, B. Stress concentration in crowned rollers, J. Engn. Ind. 1974, 3, 5 1

Engineering Analysis, 1984, Vol. 1, No. 1

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