The dynamic characteristics of outer ring defect tapered roller bearing under heavy load condition

Tunnel boring machine disc cutters use heavy load, low speed tapered roller bearings as the support. The surface defects of tapered roller bearing impact the dynamic characteristics and rock-breaking capabilities directly. As the roller passes through the defect zone, the contact force, displacement, and vibrational responses are needed to simplification and observation for research. This study builds a surface defect-aware time-varying dynamic model for the tapered roller bearing of disc cutter system. By the way, takes the defect displacement into consideration, and the dynamic equations are solved via the numerical method. The vibration responses under varied rotational speeds and radial pressures are analyzed. For the axial defect’s maximum width is 85°–89°, the analysis shows that the vibration responses are mostly affected by the radial load. As the roller passes through the defect area, the vibration acceleration and displacement rise to 4.86 mm/s 2 and 1.37 mm, respectively. The results of experiment which obtained by the cutter system experimental platform illustrates the great accordance with the simulation results, with an error less 7.5%. This research gives a guidance function for the defect vibration recognition.