A General Approach to the Analysis of Fatigue Cracks in Lubricated Contacts
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
In recent years there has been noticeable appreciation of the importance of failure mechanisms which affect the performance of the most critical assemblies, whose components undergo mutual contact interactions. In particular, most of the complex engineering products such as bearings, gas turbine blades/shafts, gears, railways, bolted flanges, car engines, etc. could not operate without contact and frictional interfaces. Therefore the assessment of tribological performance (i.e. how the material strength of couplings if affected by the presence lubricants, friction and wear) of these assemblies is a must for any industrial setting.Let us consider bearings as an example application. They are mechanical components used to reduce friction and provide load support for rotary or linear equipment. A single bearing failure can cause hours of downtime, including the identification and replacement of the failed component. For this reason, companies around the world have spent a vast amount of money and resources on different types of predictive maintenance technology. This suggests that fundamental research on the main phenomena responsible for such failures needs to be carried out.The proposed work will attempt to address the root causes of material failures in the presence of lubricated contacts. The role of fluid, according to some experimental observations, experience gathered from engineering practice, and the results of the theoretical analyses, is often regarded as the main contributor to catastrophic crack growth. The origin of cracks induced by the rolling/rubbing of contacting pairs will be studied and the fluid/solid interaction which is deemed as responsible for the propagation of such cracks will be investigated. Furthermore, robust experimental techniques will allow monitoring and measuring the presence of fluid within cracks generated during rolling contacts and subsequent crack growth to failure.A properly managed research programme will provide valuable feedback about how a component performs when subjected to contact loading under different working conditions. It will uncover information for improvements that prevent future failure. Rigorous root cause determination might lead to improvements that yield:(a) Greater safety(b) Improved design and reliability(c) Greater efficiency(d) Reduced maintenance(e) Reduced life-cycle costs
People |
ORCID iD |
Daniele Dini (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Balcombe R
(2009)
Modelling rolling contact fatigue cracks in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime: A coupled approach
in Procedia Engineering
Bertocchi L
(2013)
Fluid film lubrication in the presence of cavitation: a mass-conserving two-dimensional formulation for compressible, piezoviscous and non-Newtonian fluids
in Tribology International
Daniele Dini
(2009)
Rolling contact fatigue cracks in the presence of a lubricant
Giacopini M
(2010)
A Mass-Conserving Complementarity Formulation to Study Lubricant Films in the Presence of Cavitation
in Journal of Tribology
Strozzi A
(2014)
Formulation of the tangential velocity slip problem in terms of variational inequalities
in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology
Description | We have for the first time developed a methodology to study fluid/solid interactions to describe the evolution of cracks in lubricated contacts, which are of relevance to rolling element bearings, railways systems and many other lubricated systems subjected to contact fatigue. Via developing new experimental methods and modelling techniques we have successfully predicted the conditions responsible for failures in some critical components and developed techniques and palliatives to reduce their occurrance. |
Exploitation Route | The techiques developed have now been incorporated in design strategies of rolling element bearings (SKF) and railways (Network Rail). Further research is currently been pursued by the PI thanks to the award of the SKF University Technology Center to his group in 2010. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Transport |
Description | The techniques developed to capture fluid/solid interactions within cracks in rolling and sliding contacts have been exploited by companies to develop design and predictive tools. Procedures for improved material and lubrication solutons have now been incorporated in design strategies of rolling element bearings (SKF) and railways (Network Rail). Further research is currently been pursued by the PI thanks to the award of the SKF University Technology Center to his group in 2010. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | "iBETTER" - "Improved Bearing Technology Through European Research" |
Amount | £1,486,940 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 612306 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Department | Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 09/2013 |
End | 09/2017 |
Description | Engine Efficiency Benefits from Surface Texturing |
Amount | £130,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Ford Motor Company |
Sector | Private |
Country | United States |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 01/2017 |
Description | Platform Grant |
Amount | £1,024,467 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/G026114/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2009 |
End | 12/2013 |
Description | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
Amount | 100,000 kr (SEK) |
Funding ID | Personal Prize |
Organisation | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Sweden |
Start | 08/2007 |
End | 09/2007 |
Description | SKF ENGINEERING & RESEARCH SERVICES B.V. |
Amount | £1,800,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | Industrial Funding for the establishment of a University Technology Centre |
Organisation | SKF |
Department | S.K.F. Engineering & Research Services B.V |
Sector | Private |
Country | Netherlands |
Start | 01/2010 |
End | 12/2019 |
Title | BEM_crack |
Description | Developed a BEM code for crack propagation |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | A couple of researchers have applied it to study rolling fatigue crack propagation at SKF |
Description | Railways Contact Modelling |
Organisation | Network Rail Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Developed models to study contact and lubrication isses in railways |
Collaborator Contribution | Studentship and data |
Impact | Main outcomes: - PhD on damage in switches and crossings - Gained important knowledge of failure mechanisms in these systems. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | SKF ENGINEERING & RESEARCH SERVICES B.V. |
Organisation | SKF |
Department | S.K.F. Engineering & Research Services B.V |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Private |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
Organisation | University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A collaboration has been established with the University of Mdena and Reggio Emilia to develop algorithms to study fluid film lubrication in teh presence of cavitation. Three visiting researchers have now been hosted at Imperial College and a number of Conference papers and two journal articles have now been published. |
Start Year | 2007 |