Combining the Finite Element Analysis and Kriging Model for Study on Laser Surface Hardening Parameters of Pitch Bearing Raceway

Laser surface hardening is used to improve the fatigue performance of the large diameter pitch bearing. Determination of the process parameters by a trial and error method, depending on the experience of the technician, by changing the parameters repeatedly for each laser surface hardening process is time-consuming and costly. In this paper, a method of analyzing the maximum temperature and depth of a hardened layer during the laser surface hardening process for a pitch bearing raceway of a wind turbine is proposed, which combines finite element simulation and the Kriging model. A three-dimensional finite element model of a pitch bearing ring was established using ABAQUS. The temperature field analysis was performed. The effects of process parameters including laser power, scanning speed, and laser spot radius on the depth of the hardening layer were investigated. Then, taking into account the interactional effects of different process parameters, Kriging models were constructed to reflect the relationship between input process parameters and output responses. The results show that the Kriging approximation model has a small relative error compared with the simulated results and can be used to predict the hardened layer depth.