An Explicit Finite-Element Model to Investigate the Effects of Elastomeric Bushing on Bearing Dynamics

This work presents a numerical simulation which studies the effect of elastomeric bushing on the dynamics of a deep-groove ball bearing. To achieve the objective, a three-dimensional (3D) explicit finite element method (EFEM) was developed to model a cylindrical elastomeric bushing, which was then coupled with an existing dynamic bearing model (DBM). Constitutive relationship for the elastomer is based on the Arruda-Boyce model combined with a generalized Maxwell-element model to capture both hyperelastic and viscoelastic behaviors of the material. Comparisons between the bushing model developed for this investigation and the existing experimental elastomeric bushing study showed that the results are in good agreement. Parametric studies were conducted to show the effects of various elastomeric material properties on bushing behavior. It was also shown that a desired bushing support performance can be achieved by varying bushing geometry. Simulations using the combined EFEM bushing and DBM model demonstrated that the elastomeric bushing provides better compliance to bearing misalignment as compared to a commonly used rigid support model. As a result, less ball slip and spin are generated. Modeling with a bearing surface dent showed that vibrations due to surface abnormalities can be significantly reduced using elastomeric bushing support. It has also been shown that choosing a proper bushing is an efficient way to tuning bushing vibration frequencies.