Internal load distribution of single-row tapered roller bearings doubly supporting main shaft of wind turbine

Abstract

In order to accurately understand the internal loading state of the single-row tapered roller bearings doubly supporting the main shaft of wind turbine, a 5-DOF mechanical model of such bearing combination in wind turbine was established which considered the axial preload, bearing ring tilt, and roller crown. The positions of the points on the bearing raceways were described mathematically in the Cartesian coordinate system, and the mathematical relationship between the roller-raceway contact deformations and the bearing ring displacements was derived. The effect of bearing ring tilt caused by external loads on the contact load distributions along rollers was considered by dividing the rollers into laminae. The contact stress distribution between roller and raceway was obtained by iterative calculation of the finite length line contact model. The RMSE of the roller load distributions of the upwind bearing and the downwind bearing is 2.25 kN and 3.02 kN respectively. The obtained smallest size necessary for the roller laminae is 1.25% of the roller length. The bearing ring tilt will cause uneven contact load distribution along the roller, and modification of the roller profile improves the load and stress distribution. The machining error leads to the unbalanced contact stress distribution along the roller.