CHAPTER 5: BEARINGS

Topics:
1. Introduction.
2. Classifications.
3. Types of Ball & Roller bearings.
4. Types of Sliding Contact Bearings.
5. Nomenclature.
6. Petroff’s Equation.
7. Advantages & Disadvantages of Rolling Contact Bearings
over Sliding Contact bearings.
8. Bearing load life at rated reliability.
9. Bearing Survival: Reliability versus Life.

10. Relating Load, Life, and Reliability.

11. Combined Radial and Thrust Loading.

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 1. INTRODUCTION
 A bearing is a machine element which support another moving machine
element (known as journal).

 They are also used as a mechanical component to transfer the power and to
move a certain part, and this is done by utilizing the small frictional force of
the bearings, which makes them rotate easily (or move in one direction
easily), all the while withstanding the force and weight load acting against
them.

 It permits a relative motion between the contact surfaces of the members,

while carrying the load.

 A little consideration will show that due to the relative motion between the
contact surfaces, a certain amount of power is wasted in overcoming
frictional resistance and if the rubbing surfaces are in direct contact, there
will be rapid wear.

 In order to reduce frictional resistance and wear and in some cases to carry
away the heat generated, a layer of fluid (known as lubricant) may be
provided.

 The lubricant used to separate the journal and bearing is usually a mineral
oil refined from petroleum, but vegetable oils, silicon oils, greases etc., may
be used.

2. CLASSIFICATIONS
1. Depending upon the direction of load to be supported:

The bearings under this group are classified as:

(a) Radial bearings, and (b) Thrust bearings.

In radial bearings, the load acts perpendicular to the direction of motion of the
moving element as shown in Fig.1 (a) and (b).

In thrust bearings, the load acts along the axis of rotation as shown in Fig.1 (c).

Note: These bearings may move in either of the directions as shown in Fig. (1).

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2. Depending upon the nature of contact:

The bearings under this group are classified as:

(a) Sliding contact bearings, and (b) Rolling contact bearings.

In sliding contact bearings, as shown in Fig. 2 (a), the sliding takes place along the
surfaces of contact between the moving element and the fixed element.

The sliding contact bearings are also known as plain bearings.

In rolling contact bearings, as shown in Fig. 2 (b), the steel balls or rollers, are
interposed between the moving and fixed elements.

The balls offer rolling friction at two points for each ball or roller.

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 3. Types of Ball & Roller bearings.

The ball bearings are classified into following types.

 Single row deep groove
 Filling notch
 Angular contact
 Double row
 Self-aligning

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The Roller bearings are classified into following types.
 Cylindrical
o high radial load
o cannot withstand axial load
o are used for high speed service
 Spherical
o Tolerate angular misalignments up to ± 1.5ᵒ
 Needle
o Is used where there is heavy load with an oscillatory & reversal
motion.
 Tapered
o Radial and Thrust loads.

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4. Types of Sliding Contact Bearings.

The sliding contact bearings in which the sliding action is guided in a straight line
and carrying radial loads, as shown in Fig.1 (a), may be called slipper or guide
bearings. Such type of bearings are usually found in cross-head of steam engines.

The sliding contact bearings in which the sliding action is along the circumference
of a circle or an arc of a circle and carrying radial loads are known as journal or
sleeve bearings. When the angle of contact of the bearing with the journal is 360°
as shown in Fig. 5 (a), then the bearing is called a full journal bearing. This type of
bearing is commonly used in industrial machinery to accommodate bearing loads
in any radial direction.

When the angle of contact of the bearing with the journal is 120°, as shown in Fig.
5 (b), then the bearing is said to be partial journal bearing. This type of bearing has
less friction than full journal bearing, but it can be used only where the load is
always in one direction. The most common application of the partial journal
bearings is found in rail road car axles.

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The full and partial journal bearings may be called as clearance bearings because
the diameter of the journal is less than that of bearing.

When a partial journal bearing has no clearance i.e. the diameters of the journal
and bearing are equal, then the bearing is called a fitted bearing, as shown in Fig.
5 (c).

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5. Nomenclature.

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 6. Petroff’s Equation.

The phenomenon of bearing friction was first explained by Petroff on the

assumption that the shaft is concentric.

Let us now consider a vertical shaft rotating in a guide bearing. It is assumed that
the bearing carries a very small load, that the clearance space is completely filled
with oil, and that leakage is negligible (Fig. 7).

Let = Radius of the shaft.

= Radial clearance.
= Length of the bearing.
= Speed of the shaft in Rpm and Surface velocity =2

Since the shearing stress in the lubricant is equal to the velocity gradient times the
viscosity, we have
= = --------- (1)

Where the radial clearance has been substituted for the distance h. The force
required to shear the film is the stress times the area. The torque is the force times
the lever arm r. Thus
= ( )( ) = (2 )( )= --------- (2)

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Let be a small force acting on the bearing in Newtons, then the pressure P, in
Newtons force per square meter of projected area, is = 2 .

The frictional force is , where the coefficient of friction is, and so the frictional
torque is

= = ( ) (2 )( )=2 --------- (3)

From equations (2) & (3), and solving for co efficient of friction, we find

=2 -------- (4)

The above equation is called Petroff’s equation.

The bearing characteristic number, or the Somerfeld number, is defined by the
equation

= -------- (5)

The Sommerfeld number is very important in lubrication analysis because it

contains many of the parameters that are specified by the designer.
Note that it is also dimensionless. The quantity is called the radial clearance
ratio. If we multiply both sides of Eq. (4) by this ratio, we obtain

=2 = 2

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7. Advantages & Disadvantages of Rolling Contact Bearings over
Sliding Contact bearings.

Advantages
 Low starting and running friction except at very high speed
 Ability to withstand momentary shock loads
 Accuracy of shaft alignment
 Low cost of maintance, as no lubrication is required while in service
 Small overall dimensions
 Reliability of service
 Easy to mount and erect and Cleanliness

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 Disadvantages
 More noisy at very high speeds
 Low resistance to shock loading
 More initial cost
 Design of bearing housing is complicated
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8 Bearing load life at rated reliability.

When the ball or roller of rolling-contact bearings rolls, contact stresses occur on the
inner ring, the rolling element, and on the outer ring. Because the curvature of the
contacting elements in the axial direction is different from that in the radial direction.

If a bearing is clean and properly lubricated, is mounted and sealed against the
entrance of dust and dirt, is maintained in this condition, and is operated at reasonable
temperatures, then metal fatigue will be the only cause of failure.

The life measure of an individual bearing is defined as the total number of revolutions
(or hours at a constant speed) of bearing operation until the failure criterion is
developed.

Common life measures are:

 Number of revolutions of the inner ring (outer ring stationary) until the first
tangible evidence of fatigue.

 Number of hours of use at a standard angular speed until the first tangible
evidence of fatigue.

When nominally identical groups are tested to the life-failure criterion at different
loads, the data are plotted on a graph as depicted in Fig. 8 using a log-log
transformation.

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From the above graph we can write that = ------- (1)
The result of many tests for various kinds of bearings result in
 a = 3 for ball bearings
 a = 10/3 for roller bearings (cylindrical and tapered roller)

A bearing manufacturer may choose a rated cycle value of 10 revolutions or

otherwise, as declared in the manufacturer’s catalog to correspond to a basic load
rating in the catalog for each bearing manufactured, as their rating life. We shall call
this the catalog load rating and display it algebraically as .

From equation (1), = ------- (2)

& associate load F₁ with , Life measure with , and write

= Where the units of L are revolutions.

Further we can write

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9. Bearing Survival: Reliability versus Life.

At constant load, the life measure distribution is right skewed as depicted in Fig (9).
Candidates for a distributional curve fit include lognormal and Weibull. The Weibull is
by far the most popular, largely because of its ability to adjust to varying amounts of
skewness. If the life measure is expressed in dimensionless form as = , then the
reliability can be expressed as:

= − ------ (1)
Where R = Reliability

= Life measure dimensionless variate,

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 = Guaranteed, or "Minimum" value of the variate
θ = Characteristic parameter corresponding to the 63.2121 percentile
value of the variate.
b = Shape parameter that controls the skewness.

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10. Relating Load, Life, and Reliability.

For a constant reliability contour =

⇒ = ------ (1)

Let us assume that a constant load is acting then = −

⁄
⇒ = + ( − ) ln -------- (2)

Substitute Eq (2) in Eq (1) which will gives,

⁄

= = ⁄
( )

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 ⁄

However, = , so = ⁄ -------- (3)

( )

Now ln = ln = ln 1 + +⋯ = =1−

Where is the probability for failure. Equation (3) can be written as

⁄
∴ = ( )( ) ⁄
≥ 0.90 -------- (4)

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Example 1:
The design load on a ball bearing is 413 lbf and an application factor of 1.2 is
appropriate. The speed of the shaft is to be 300 rev/min, the life to be 30 kh with a
reliability of 0.99. What is the catalog entry to be sought (or exceeded) when
searching for a deep-groove bearing in a manufacturer’s catalog on the basis of 10
revolutions for rating life? The Weibull parameters are
= 0.02, ( − ) = 4.439, = 1.483.

( )
Sol: = = = = 540

Thus the design life is 540 times the life. For a ball bearing a = 3, then from Eq (4)
above:
⁄
= ⁄
+ ( − ) (1 − )
⁄
540
⇒ = (1.2)(413) = 6696
0.02 + 4.439 (1 − 0.99) ⁄ .

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11. Combined Radial and Thrust Loading.

A ball bearing is capable of resisting radial loading and a thrust loading. Let and
to be the axial thrust and radial loads respectively, and to be the equivalent radial
load that does the same damage as the combined radial and thrust loads together.
Let be the rotation factor such that = 1 when the inner ring rotates and = 1.2
when outer ring rotates.
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Two dimensionless groups can be formed: and .

When these two dimensionless groups are plotted as in Fig. 10, the data fall in a gentle
curve that is well approximated by two straight-line segments. The abscissa e is
defined by the intersection of the two lines. The equations for the two lines shown in
Fig. 10 are:

=1 ℎ ≤ -------- (1)

= + ℎ > -------- (2)

Where, as shown, X is the ordinate intercept and Y is the slope of the line for > .
It is common to express Eqs. (1) & (2) as a single equation,

= + -------- (3)

Where = 1 when ≤ and = 2 when > . The following table 1 lists

values of , , , which in turn is a function of

where is the bearing static load catalog rating.

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Example 2:
An SKF 6210 angular-contact ball bearing has an axial load of 400 lbf and a
radial Load of 500 lbf applied with the outer ring stationary. The basic static
load rating is 4450 lbf and the basic load rating is 7900 lbf. Estimate the
life at a speed of 720 rev/min.

Sol: Given that v = 1 and = = 0.090. Interpolate For e in table 1:

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From Eq (3) = + ⇒ +
= 0.56 (1) 500 + 1.527 (400) = 890.8
With = = , solving the equation gives

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