Multi-body modelling of rolling element bearings and performance evaluation with localised damage

Condition-based maintenance is an extended maintenance approach for many systems, including rolling element bearings. For that purpose, the physics-based modelling of these machine elements is an interesting method. The use of rolling element bearings is extended to many fields, what implies a variety of the configurations that they can take regarding the kind of rolling elements, the internal configuration and the number of rows. Moreover, the differences of the applications make rolling element bearings to take different sizes and to be operating at different conditions regarding both speed and loads. In this work, a methodology to create a physics-based mathematical model to reproduce the dynamics of multiple kinds of rolling element bearings is presented. Following a multi-body modelling, the proposed strategy takes advantage of the reusability of models to cover a wide range of bearing configurations, as well as to generalise the dimensioning of the bearing and the application of the operating conditions. Simulations of two bearing configurations are presented in this paper, analysing their dynamic response as well as analysing the effects of damage in their parts. Results of the two case studies show good agreement with experimental data and results of other models in literature.