An approach to investigating rolling element bearing damage under impact loading

This paper presents an approach to studying rolling element bearing damage under the interference of impact loading. In the experimental part, a series of bearing tests was performed by using the twin-disc test device with artificially damaged bearings. This was followed by analysis of the measured acceleration response data in impact-free condition as well as under the influence of the impact loading. The results showed successful detection of the bearing outer race damage by using typical bearing damage detection approaches regardless whether the impact loading was applied to the system or not. In turn, recognition of the bearing rolling element damage required specific signal processing.