The Effect of Outer Ring Flange Concavity on Automotive Wheel Bearings Performance

Through transmitting power and carrying vehicle weight, automotive wheel bearings play an important role. Counterbalancing the bearing responsibilities, they also are designed to last the life of a vehicle without servicing. When mounted to the vehicle steering knuckle by bolts, distortion occurs to the outer ring. Performance is affected when distortion takes place at the seal mounting location and raceways. Finite element analysis using commercial software was performed to analyze the outer ring distortion. Elasto-plastic and contact analyses were carried out to compute the clamping behavior of the outer ring, bolts and the knuckle under various conditions. To verify the reliability of this study, the distortion of the outer ring was measured. The experimental results proved to be comparative with the analysis results.