Strength Properties of Lubricated Bearings with Defective Coatings

Abstract

To identify the strength properties of a block structure including a bearing pair cage and the lubricated bearing itself, a model of a bearing with a defect is considered. The cage is a deformable base with a thin coating having defects. The coating is under the influence of a lubricant, which under operating conditions loses viscosity and can be modeled by a thin layer of an ideal incompressible fluid, on which the vertical external pressure from the bearing is applied. To study the local properties of the bearing in the vicinity of the defect, the base of the cage is considered as deformable layer with a defective coating containing on top a layer of ideal incompressible fluid. It is assumed that the coating has the most complex latent defect described by a crack, the plane of which is perpendicular to the boundary of the coating. The described block structure is investigated by the block element method, and the features of bearing behavior are revealed.