Slip and Cage Forces in a High-Speed Roller Bearing

A roller bearing model, which includes the effects of full film lubrication at the race contacts, was developed for use in estimating cage slip, roller slip, film thickness, and cage forces for a given bearing geometry and operating condition. The model includes churning loss, cage pilot surface friction, roller pocket friction, cage unbalance as well as the drag due to the unloaded rolling elements. Roller skew and misalignment have been neglected, however these effects could be introduced if desired. The description of the lubricant film thickness, traction, and pressure forces are based upon assumptions introduced by Dowson, which reduce the complex numerical procedure required for a rigorous solution to the isothermal elastohydrodynamics problem to a set of nonlinear equations. A parametric study on a 1907 basic roller bearing is included to illustrate the use of such a model as a design tool.