Submodeling of roller–raceway contacts of large wind turbine slewing bearings with significant structural deformation

Roller bearings are commonly designed by using non-Hertzian submodels to simulate the roller–raceway contacts. The paper aims to analyze how to accurately model the roller–raceway contacts of a large wind turbine slewing bearing with significant structural deformation. To this end, a global FE model of a rotor blade bearing inside a test rig is used. This global FE model uses simplified roller–raceway contact models, the results of which are then inserted into a more accurate analytical submodel based on Reusner. Various methods can be used to perform the global FE calculation and then to insert the result into the submodel. The paper analyzes which method is required in the global FE model and compares two submodels against each other. One of the submodels, which uses displacement as input, is from the literature, and the paper derives from it another one which uses load as input. The model using load as input is identified to be more suitable for the analyzed applications. Roller–raceway contacts in the global FE model do not appear to require much detail for accurate submodel simulations. The results of the paper can support engineers perform detailed rolling contact fatigue life calculations of roller bearings.