Modern state of experimentation and modeling in contact fatigue phenomenon: Part II - Analysis of the existing statistical mathematical models of bearing and gear fatigue life. New statistical model of contact fatigue

The paper presents a critical analysis of some existing statistical mathematical models of fatigue life applicable to bearings and gears, i.e. the assumptions, advantages, disadvantages and several contradicting aspects of these models. Some conclusions that adequately reflect the experimental and theoretical data discussed in Part I are drawn regarding the necessary features of a successful mathematical model of contact fatigue. Furthermore, such a new statistical model that will allow to predict fatigue life of machine parts is proposed in this paper. It is based on the first five parameters from the list compiled by Kudish and Burris (2000a) that are known to strongly affect contact fatigue. The other parameters from this list can be subsequently incorporated into the model. The paper also presents a theoretical analysis of the new model and some numerical results for contact fatigue life based on this model.