Experimental Validation of Models for the Structural Simulation of Crossed Roller Wire-Race Bearing

Wire-race bearings are a special type of bearings where rolling elements run over steel wires embedded within the rings, allowing the use of lighter materials for the latter. In previous research works, and motivated by the capabilities of these components and the lack of bibliography on the matter, the authors developed different approaches to simulate their structural behaviour, mainly focused in the flexibility of the system, the load distribution and the static load capacity. In these works, detailed finite element models were used as a reference in order to develop simplified mechanical models of the system and evaluate their capabilities and limitations. Nevertheless, no experimental tests were performed to assess the accuracy of these finite element simulations. In the current work, a test campaign is carried out in order to experimentally validate the previously developed models. As a conclusion, finite element analyses show a satisfactory correlation with experimental results, thus validating the approaches proposed by the authors in previous works.