An analytical formulation for rotational fretting based on the minimum rolling energy

Rotational fretting is defined as the localised wear produced in a reciprocating rolling motion of low amplitude. The current techniques used for the analysis of this damage are reduced to experimental tests, which involve high costs in specimens and equipment, and to simulation through finite element (FE) models, which involves high mesh density in contact zones and thus drastically increases the computational cost. The main objective of this work is to develop an analytical model for the analysis of rotational fretting. To achieve this aim, the sliding motion of the rolling ball is analysed, and a novel iterative method based on rolling energy minimization is proposed for the calculation of the kinematics and the transient effects are solved. The proposed methodology is applied to the case of study of a thrust bearing and validated in two different stages: first, a numerical validation of tangential stresses is conducted using an FE model where a maximum difference of 10% with respect to the numerical results as well as a massive time reduction of more than 5000 times are achieved; and second, an experimental tests rig is designed and tests are performed showing a mean relative error of 13% in the measured damaged areas.

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