Wear analysis of revolute joints with clearance in multibody systems

In this work, the prediction of wear for revolute joint with clearance in multibody systems is investigated using a computational methodology. The contact model in clearance joint is established using a new hybrid nonlinear contact force model and the friction effect is considered by using a modified Coulomb friction model. The dynamics model of multibody system with clearance is established using dynamic segmentation modeling method and the computational process for wear analysis of clearance joint in multibody systems is presented. The main computational process for wear analysis of clearance joint includes two steps, which are dynamics analysis and wear analysis. The dynamics simulation of multibody system with revolute clearance joint is carried out and the contact forces are drawn and used to calculate the wear amount of revolute clearance joint based on the Archard's wear model. Finally, a four-bar multibody mechanical system with revolute clearance joint is used as numerical example application to perform the simulation and show the dynamics responses and wear characteristics of multibody systems with revolute clearance joint. The main results of this work indicate that the contact between the joint elements is wider and more frequent in some specific regions and the wear phenomenon is not regular around the joint surface, which causes the clearance size increase non-regularly after clearance joint wear. This work presents an effective method to predict wear of revolute joint with clearance in multibody systems.