FEA of ball bearing and shaft interface

[josh08]

Hi,

I am trying to model the connection between ball bearing and shaft in ANSYS workbench. The bearings are modeled as spring elements (know the radial stiffness of bearing for a given radial load) and the shaft using solid brick elements. How many springs are required to simulate the bearing? Is there a proven method to model ball bearings?

 

[EdR]

Assuming a non-infinite number of balls I'd use a spring for each ball in the bearing race....Particularly since you know the radial stiffness of the balls....

Ed.R.