Calculation of the boundary values of rolling bearing deflection in relation to the number of active rolling elements

One of the main problems in calculating the load distribution in rolling bearings with internal radial clearance is determining the number of active rolling elements that participate in the transfer of the external radial load. Only rolling elements that have contact with both bearing rings participate in the load transfer. The number of active elements depends on the size of the relative displacement between the bearing rings (bearing deflection), which occurs because of the influence of the external radial load. In this paper, a mathematical model for calculating the necessary boundary bearing-deflection level for supporting the inner bearing ring on q rolling elements has been derived. The model considers two boundary positions of the inner ring: supported on an even or an odd number of rolling elements.