Vibration analysis of a rotating system due to the effect of ball bearing waviness

This research presents an analytical model to investigate vibration due to ball bearing waviness in a rotating system supported by two or more ball bearings, taking account of the centrifugal force and gyroscopic moment of the ball. The waviness of rolling elements is modelled by the sinusoidal function, and it is incorporated into the position vectors of the race curvature center. The Hertzian contact theory is applied to calculate the elastic deflection and non-linear contact force, while the rotor has translational and angular motions. Both the centrifugal force and gyroscopic moment of the ball and the waviness of the rolling elements are included in the kinematic constraints and force equilibrium equations of a ball to derive the non-linear governing equations of the rotor, which are solved by using the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg algorithm to determine the new position of the rotor. The proposed model is validated by the comparison of the results of the prior researchers. This research shows that the centrifugal force and gyroscopic moment of the ball plays the important role in determining the bearing frequencies, i.e., the principal frequencies, their harmonics and the sideband frequencies resulting from the waviness of the rolling elements of ball bearing. It also shows that the bearing vibration frequencies are generated by the waviness interaction not only between the rolling elements of one ball bearing, but also between those of two or more ball bearings constrained by the rotor. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.