A Three-Dimensional Elastic-Plastic Analysis of Rolling Contacts

Abstract

An analysis model has been developed to model the nonlinear strain rate dependent deformation of rolling bearing steel stressed in the elastic-plastic domain. The model is designed in the frame of the incremental theory of plasticity using the von Mises yield criterion and Prandtl-Reuss equations. Considering the isotropic and non-linear kinematic hardening laws of Lemaitre-Caboche, the model accounts for the cyclic hardening phenomena. To attain the final load of each loading cycle, the two bodies are brought incrementally into contact. For each new load increment, new increments for the components of stress and strain tensors, but also increments of residual stresses, are computed for each point of the 3D mesh. Both the new contact geometry and residual stresses distributions, are further considered as initial values for the next loading cycle, the incremental technique being reiterated. The cyclic evaluation process of both, plastic strains and residual stresses is performed until the material shakedowns.