Influence of the balls kinematics and ball/race contact models on quasi-static approaches for ball bearing

The frictional power dissipated within dry lubricated ball bearings is a prime concern, especially for high speed applications. Nevertheless, the exact balls behavior is still a source of interrogations. Firstly, a comparison of several ball/race contact models has been performed by prescribing the kinematical variables. This has been done by using an existing quasi-static approach to reach the ball bearing equilibrium. Secondly, a parametric study has been carried out on the ball kinematics. This time the contact model remained fixed. The results demonstrate the predominance of the kinematics on the ball bearing behavior with an emphasis on the dissipated power within ball/race contacts. This shows that the kinematics must be rightly computed. On the other hand, the ball/race contact model doesn’t necessitate a high refinement in order to evaluate the ball bearing equilibrium. Conversely, this refinement is essential for a precise evaluation of the power losses.