Investigation on the angular contact ball bearings under low speed and heavy load with coupled mixed lubrication and quasi-dynamic analysis

In this paper, the angular contact ball bearings under low-speed and heavy-load conditions is studied with a coupled numerical method of mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) and quasi-dynamic analysis. Compared with the quasi-dynamic analysis without consideration of the mixed lubrication characteristics, the present coupled method reveals a smaller minimum film thickness and a larger frictional coefficient in ball-race contact interface, leading to increases in the normal contact load, slide-to-roll ratio, and relative sliding velocity. Effects of operation condition (eg, rotational speed) and structural parameter (eg, inner raceway curvature coefficient and initial contact angle) on the contact and lubrication performances are discussed. The results show that a larger inner raceway curvature coefficient results in a smaller average film thickness and film thickness ratio, a larger frictional coefficient, and maximum contact pressure, while the increase in the initial contact angle has an opposite effect on these parameters.