Fatigue lives of rolling element bearings exhibit a wide scatter due to the statistical nature of the rolling contact fatigue failure process. Empirical life models that account for this dispersion do not provide insights into the physical mechanisms that lead to this scatter. One of the primary reasons for dispersion in lives is the stochastic nature of the bearing material. Here, a damage mechanics based fatigue model is introduced in conjunction with the idea of discrete material representation that takes the effect of material microstructure explicitly into account. Two sources of material randomness are considered: (1) the topological randomness due to geometric variability in the material microstructure and (2) the material property randomness due to nonuniform distribution of properties throughout the material. The effect of these variations on the subsurface stress fields in rolling element line contacts is studied. The damage model, which incorporates cyclic damage accumulation and progressive degradation of material properties with rolling contact cycling, is used to study the mechanisms of subsurface initiated spalling in bearing contacts. Crack initiation as well as propagation stages are modeled using damaged material zones in a unified framework. The spalling phenomenon is found to occur through microcrack initiation below the surface where multiple microcracks coalesce and subsequent cracks propagate to the surface. The computed crack trajectories and spall profiles are found to be consistent with experimental observations. The microcrack initiation phase is found to be only a small fraction of the total spalling life and the scatter in total life is primarily governed by the scatter in the propagation phase of the cracks through the microstructure. Spalling lives are found to follow a three-parameter Weibull distribution more closely compared to the conventionally used two-parameter Weibull distribution. The Weibull slopes obtained are within experimentally observed values for bearing steels. Spalling lives are found to follow an inverse power law relationship with respect to the contact pressure with a stress-life exponent of 9.35.
Skip Nav Destination
e-mail: nraje@purdue.edu
e-mail: sadeghi@ecn.purdue.edu
e-mail: richard.rateick@honeywell.com
Article navigation
October 2008
Research Papers
A Statistical Damage Mechanics Model for Subsurface Initiated Spalling in Rolling Contacts
Nihar Raje,
Nihar Raje
Research Assistant
School of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: nraje@purdue.edu
Purdue University
, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Search for other works by this author on:
Farshid Sadeghi,
Farshid Sadeghi
Professor
School of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: sadeghi@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue University
, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Search for other works by this author on:
Richard G. Rateick, Jr.
Richard G. Rateick, Jr.
P.E.
Engines, Systems and Services,
e-mail: richard.rateick@honeywell.com
Honeywell Aerospace
, South Bend, IN 46620
Search for other works by this author on:
Nihar Raje
Research Assistant
School of Mechanical Engineering,
Purdue University
, West Lafayette, IN 47907e-mail: nraje@purdue.edu
Farshid Sadeghi
Professor
School of Mechanical Engineering,
Purdue University
, West Lafayette, IN 47907e-mail: sadeghi@ecn.purdue.edu
Richard G. Rateick, Jr.
P.E.
Engines, Systems and Services,
Honeywell Aerospace
, South Bend, IN 46620e-mail: richard.rateick@honeywell.com
J. Tribol. Oct 2008, 130(4): 042201 (11 pages)
Published Online: August 6, 2008
Article history
Received:
January 18, 2008
Revised:
March 18, 2008
Published:
August 6, 2008
Citation
Raje, N., Sadeghi, F., and Rateick, R. G., Jr. (August 6, 2008). "A Statistical Damage Mechanics Model for Subsurface Initiated Spalling in Rolling Contacts." ASME. J. Tribol. October 2008; 130(4): 042201. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2959109
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Static Characteristics of Hybrid Water-Lubricated Herringbone Groove Journal Bearing
J. Tribol (April 2025)
Related Articles
A Voronoi FE Fatigue Damage Model for Life Scatter in Rolling Contacts
J. Tribol (April,2010)
A Numerical Model for Life Scatter in Rolling Element Bearings
J. Tribol (January,2008)
A 3D Finite Element Study of Fatigue Life Dispersion in Rolling Line Contacts
J. Tribol (October,2011)
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Chapters
A Fracture Mechanics Method for an Advanced Evaluation of Inclusions and the Prediction of Fatigue Life of Rolling Element Bearings
Bearing and Transmission Steels Technology
Increase of Readiness Level of a Powder Metallurgy Steel for Aerospace Applications
Bearing and Transmission Steels Technology
A Study on the Damage Behavior of Hybrid 60 and 52100 Steel during Rolling Contact Fatigue
Bearing and Transmission Steels Technology