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CHAPTER 11
ROLLING-CONTACT BEARINGS

This chapter deals with the design and analysis of rolling-contact bearings, also
named as rolling and antifriction bearings.

11-1 Bearing Types

Bearings are manufactured to take pure radial load (normal to the shaft) or pure thrust
load (along the shaft), or combination of these two loads. Rolling-contact bearings
generally fall into two types: ball and roller bearings.

Ball Bearings: The name comes from the fact that the rolling element is of ball shape.
Technical terms of a ball bearing are shown in Figure 11-1, and various types of ball
bearings are shown in Figure 11-2, on p. 551 of the textbook. There are four essential
parts for a ball bearing, which are: 1) outer ring, 2) inner ring, 3) balls, and 4)
separator (or retainer).

Roller Bearings: These bearings can usually take heavier loads than the ball bearings
due to greater contact of cylindrical or tapered roller elements. But they are more to
difficult to manufacture because they require almost perfect geometry for their
raceways and rollers. Different types of roller bearings are illustrated in Figure 11-3,
p. 552 of the textbook.

11-2 Bearing Life

Contact stresses occur on the inner and outer rings, and on the roller element. Under
normal operating conditions, the metal fatigue is usually the main concern of failure.
Common bearing life measures are

- Number of revolutions of the inner ring (the outer ring is stationary) until the first
evidence of fatigue. Typically, a cycle value of 106 (a million) revolutions is chosen.
- Number of hours of use at a standard angular speed until the first evidence of
fatigue.

The bearing rating life used by the American Bearing Manufacturers Association
(ABMA) is defined as the number of revolutions (or number of hours at constant
speed) that 90% of a group of bearings will achieve before the failure occurs. Hence,
a reliability of 90% is assumed in this definition. The terms minimum life, L10 life and
B10 life are also used for the rating life. Median or average life is the 50% life of a
group of bearings. The median life is 4 to 5 times the L10 life.

11-3 Bearing Life at Rated Reliability

At an assumed reliability of 90% the bearing load F and life L are related to each
other through an equation of the form given as FL1/a = constant, where a = 3 for ball
bearings and a = 10/3 for roller bearings. This relation is illustrated in a log-log scale
in Figure 11-4, p. 554 of the textbook. With C10 being the catalog load rating (found
from bearing catalogs) in kN corresponding to 106 revolutions, this relation can be re-
written as

C10 L101/a = F L1/a

Or,
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C10 (LR nR 60)1/a = FD (LD nD 60)1/a

where LR nR 60 = L10 = 106 revolutions (for Timken and SKF), FD is the desired or
design load in kN, LD is the desired life in hours and nD is the desired speed in
rev/min.

Note: Review Example 11-1, p. 555.

11-5 Bearing Load, Life and Reliability

The previous section assumed a fixed reliability of 90% for the bearing life. But, the
desired expectation in reliability may be higher than this value. Hence, we have to
bring the factor of reliability into equations. This is done through equation (11-7), p.
558 in the textbook given as
xD
C10 = af FD [ ]1 / a
for R  0.9
xo + ( - xo )(1 - R D )1 / b
where RD is the desired (or design) reliability, x = xD = L/L10 is the desired
dimensionless life, xo is the minimum value for x,  is the parameter corresponding to
63.2121% value for x and b is the shape parameter. An application factor af is also
added to the formula above to account for the variation in FD. Some common values
of af can be found in Table 11-5, p. 563 of the textbook.

Note: Review Example 11-3, p. 558.

Usually shafts have 2 bearings, say A and B. If the reliability R is defined for the
combination, then R = RA RB. Furthermore, if RA = RB, then RA = RB = R . Hence:
RA, RB  R.

11-6 Combined Radial and Thrust Loading

If both the radial load (Fr) and thrust load (Fa) are present, then an equivalent load Fe
is defined as
Fe = XiVFr + YiFa

Fa Fa
where i = 1 when  e and i = 2 when  e; V = rotation factor = 1 when the
VFr VFr
inner ring of the bearing rotates and V = 1.2 when the outer ring rotates. Other factors
in the equation: X1, Y1, X2, Y2 and e are all given in Table 11-1, p. 560 of the textbook.
In this Table, Co is the bearing static load catalog rating. The ABMA has established
standard dimensions for bearings such as: bearing bore, outside diameter (OD), width
and fillet sizes. This covers all the ball and straight roller bearings in metric sizes.
These bearings are identified with 2 digit numbers such as 02, 31 and so on, where the
1st digit stands for the width of the bearing and the 2nd digit for the OD. See Figure
11-7, p. 560 for the illustration. For a particular bore, a variety of bearings can be
picked up from the tables. Properties for 02 class of ball bearings are given in Table
11-2, p. 561. Also see Figure 11-8, p. 562, for the illustration of the shoulder and
housing diameters (dS and dH) for a ball bearing. Moreover, Table 11-3, p. 562, lists
properties for the cylindrical roller bearings. Bearing life recommendations and load
application factor (af) values can be found in Tables 11-4 and 11-5, p. 563.
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Note: Review Example 11-4, p. 564.

11-8 Selection of Ball and Cylindrical Roller Bearings

There is a good example, Example 11-7, on pgs. 568-571 of the textbook, that needs
to be read to understand the selection process.

11-10 Design Assessment

A design assessment for a rolling-contact bearing includes, at a minimum:
 Bering reliability for the imposed load and life expected
 Shouldering on shaft and housing satisfactory
 Journal finish, diameter and tolerance compatible
 Housing finish, diameter and tolerance compatible
 Lubricant type according to manufacturer’s recommendations; lubricant paths
and volume supplied to keep operating temperature acceptable
 Preloads, if required, are supplied.

Bearing Reliability: The equation given before in section 11-5 can be solved for the
reliability to obtain
a f FD a
xD ( ) - xo b
R = RD = 1 [ C10
 - xo
]
for R  0.9

For the ball bearings, with the specific Weibull parameters substituted as xo=0,  =
4.48 and b = 3/2, the above equation becomes

Note: Review Example 11-9, p. 583.

b 3/ 2
R = RD = 1  [  [C xD
a
] =1 [ 4.48 f xD
f v [C10 / (a f FD )]3
] for R  0.9
10 /(a f FD )] T

Note: Review Examples 11-10 and 11-11, pgs. 584-586.

Fitting: Various sizes for the rolling contact bearings such as shoulder and housing
diameters (dS and dH) should follow the recommendations provided in tables, e.g.
Table 11-2, p. 561.

11-10 Lubrication
Adequate lubrication must be provided to the rolling-contact bearings for their proper
functioning. The purposes of lubrication can be summarized as:
 To provide a film of lubricant between the sliding and rolling surfaces
 To help distribute and dissipate heat
 To prevent corrosion of the bearing surfaces
 To protect the parts from the entrance of foreign matter such as dirt and dust.

The guidelines for the usages of grease and oil are given in a table in the textbook on
p. 587.
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11-11 Mounting and Enclosure

There are so many methods of mounting the rolling-contact (antifriction) bearings that
are really challenge to design engineers. Some applications are shown in the textbook
in Figures 11-20 to 11-24, pgs. 588 and 589, for different kinds of anti-friction
bearings.

For the clearance, alignment and enclosure issues, read the pgs. 590 and 591 of the
textbook.