Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

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Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ymssp

Vibration characteristics of rotor-bearing system with angular

misalignment and cage fracture: Simulation and experiment
Pengfei Wang a, Yang Yang b, Hui Ma a, c, *, Hongyang Xu a, Xu Li d, Zhong Luo a,
Bangchun Wen a
a
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819, PR China
b
China North Vehicle Research Institute, Beijing 100072, PR China
c
Key Laboratory of Vibration and Control of Aero-Propulsion System Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819,
PR China
d
State Key Laboratory of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Communicated by Paolo Pennacchi The rolling bearing misalignment may lead to fracture failure of the cage. However, the research
on the vibration response of the rotor system caused by bearing misalignment and cage fracture
Keywords: has not attracted enough attention. In this paper, the vibration characteristics of cage fracture
Rolling bearing-rotor system fault are studied from two aspects of simulation and experiment. Firstly, a five-degree of freedom
Misalignment
nonlinear bearing force model with the bearing misalignment and cage fracture fault is given.
Cage fracture
Secondly, the bearing restoring force model is introduced into the rotor finite element model.
Nonlinear vibration
Experiment Then, the dynamic model of the deep groove ball bearing-rotor system is established. The effects
of key parameters such as cage fracture degree, radial load, and bearing clearance on the vi­
bration characteristics of the system are simulated and analyzed. Thirdly, the bearing test pieces
with real cage fatigue fracture fault are obtained by carrying out the bearing life cycle test. On
this basis, the vibration signals of bearing with cage fracture under different loads are collected.
The simulation and test results show that the system amplitude increases when cage fracture
occurs. The obvious impact vibration characteristics appear in the time domain waveform. The
vibration energy gradually concentrates to low-frequency vibration. The frequency components
related to cage frequency, such as nfc and nfr ± mfc can be more obviously observed in the en­
velope spectrum. The results can provide a useful reference for the identification and diagnosis of
rolling bearing misalignment and cage fracture.

1. Introduction

Rolling bearings, as supporting parts of rotating machinery, are widely used in power transmission systems of aero-engines, ve­
hicles, ships, and machine tools. According to statistics, about 30% of rotating machinery failures are caused by rolling bearing faults
[1]. Among bearing failures, Harris [2] further pointed out that 90% of bearing failures are caused by improper installation, sealing,
and poor lubrication. Rolling bearing is usually composed of inner ring, outer ring, rolling element, and cage. Among them, the cage is
the weakest part of the rolling bearing because the material of the cage is lighter and thinner than other bearing components. Laithy

* Corresponding author at: School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819, PR China.
E-mail address: mahui_2007@163.com (H. Ma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2022.109545
Received 15 February 2022; Received in revised form 17 May 2022; Accepted 6 July 2022
Available online 14 July 2022
0888-3270/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Nomenclature

cc Clearance of cage pocket

cr Radial clearance of rolling bearing
crj Radial clearance at the position of the j-th ball under misalignment
CRS Damping matrix of the rotating shaft
db Ball diameter
E Elastic modulus
fc Cage frequency
fi, fo Curvature radius coefficient of the inner and outer raceway
fr Rotating frequency of the rotor
fvc Varying compliance frequency of bearing
Fb Nonlinear restoring force vector of rolling bearing
Fr External load vector
Fu Unbalance force vector of the rotor
G Gravity vector of rotor system
JdSn, JpSn Diameter/polar moment of inertia of the shaft sleeve at node n
JLM, JRS Gyro matrices of the shaft sleeve and rotating shaft
kbj Hertz contact stiffness between the j-th ball and the raceway
KRS Stiffness matrix of the rotating shaft
MLM, MRS Mass matrices of the shaft sleeve and rotating shaft
mSn Mass of the shaft sleeve at node n
Nb Number of balls
rb Raceway radius of bearing inner ring
rdj Radial distance of curvature center of inner raceway at the j-th ball angle position
Rb Raceway radius of bearing outer ring
α j, α j′ Contact angle of the j-th ball under misalignment and vibration
β Included angle between the misalignment axis and the positive direction of x-axis
δj Contact deformation between the j-th ball and the raceway
δaj, δsj Contact deformation along the radial and axial direction between the j-th ball and the raceway
θ0 Initial position angle of the No.1 ball
θf Additional deflection angle of ball
θj Position angle of the j-th ball
ρ Density
υ Poisson’s ratio
φ Misalignment angle
ωc, ωr Rotating angular velocity of the bearing cage and inner ring

et al. [3] and Li et al. [4] showed that bearing damage usually occurs in the cage lintel, and the cage fracture is one of the important
causes of bearing failure in high-speed machinery. When the bearing has abnormal assembly or bears the abnormal load, the cage is
prone to fracture and other faults, which shortens the service life of the bearing, leading to bearing failure in advance, and even further
leading to major accidents.
In engineering practice, there are a lot of reports about cage fracture. The reference of Hinton [5] showed that, as early as the late
1940s, the Royal Air Force had several cases of cage fracture caused by bearing misalignment, which led to the failure of aero-engine
ball bearings, as shown in Fig. 1(a). Salam et al. [6] analyzed a fighter jet crash in 1996 and found that the main source of the failure
was fatigue fracture of the central main bearing cage in the compressor area, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Subsequently, Tauqir et al. [7]
analyzed the mechanism of cage fracture in this accident. Li et al. [8] analyzed the rivet fracture failure of the aero-engine cylindrical
roller bearing cage, found the reason for the fault, and put forward the improvement measures to prevent rivet fracture. There are
reports on the fracture of the aero-engine rolling bearing cage, which can also be seen in Refs. [9,10], and the fault photos can be seen
in Fig. 1(c) and (d). However, cage fracture accidents not only occur in aero-engines but also in other rotating mechanical equipment
[11–13]. For example, Wang et al. [11] reported that the cage fracture fault was also found in the support bearing of a planetary gear
transmission system of a tracked vehicle, as shown in Fig. 1(e). Wei et al. [12] found that the cage is very easily damaged, which may be
a key factor limiting bearing life. In the analysis of the reason for bearing cage fracture, Crawford [14] found based on the experimental
research that as the increase of bearing misalignment angle from 0.26◦ to 0.61◦ , the dynamic stress of the cage soared from 0.172 MPa
to 3.45 MPa, an increase of about 2006%. It showed that the abnormal stress of the bearing cage caused by misalignment is the primary
reason for cage fracture. Xu et al. [9] analyzed the faults that occurred during the ground bench test of an aero-engine. The results
showed that the bearing first fracture part was the cage, and the bearing deflection after assembly was the principal reason for bearing
failure. Harris [2] pointed out that cage fracture can also occur due to excessive misalignment in the bearing during operation, as
shown in Fig. 1(f). This places high fore-and-aft axial loading on the cage causing the breakage. Cage fracture fault is also listed in ISO

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 1. Fracture fault photo of rolling bearing cage [2,5,6,9,10,11,15].

15,243 standard, as shown in Fig. 1(g). It is further concluded that there are two main reasons for the cage fracture: one is
misalignment, and the other is abnormal load acting on the cage in bearing operation due to misaligned mounting between an inner
and outer ring [15].
In the research on bearing misalignment, Cui et al. [16] gave a five-degree of freedom (5-DOF) quasi-static model of double row
angular contact ball bearing, and studied the effects of structural parameters and service conditions on the maximum tilt angle of the
bearing. Xu et al. [17] proposed an analysis method of double row angular contact ball bearing considering the angular misalignment
of the inner ring. It was found that misalignment has a great influence on the contact characteristics of the bearing and leads to uneven
load distribution. Li [18] developed a special software to calculate and analyze the contact stress distribution law of cylindrical roller
bearing under the conditions of roller crown and misalignment. Warda and Chudzik [19] discussed the effect of ring misalignment
error on the fatigue life of cylindrical roller bearings. Misalignment reduces the fatigue life of the bearing, and the degree of reduction
depends on the radial load of the bearing. Wen et al. [20] established an improved 5-DOF quasi-dynamic model considering multi-body
interaction. In addition, Oktaviana et al. [21] and Yang et al. [22] also researched on the skidding and wear problems of misaligned
bearings. The influence of bearing misalignment on its static characteristics is discussed in the above references. In the research on the
influence of bearing misalignment on the dynamic response of the rotor system, Yi et al. [23] proposed a 2-DOF nonlinear force model
of angular contact ball bearing with parallel misalignment, and discussed the impact of bearing misalignment on the nonlinear dy­
namic response of the machine tool spindle rotor system. Wang et al. [11] deduced a 2-DOF nonlinear restoring force model of the deep
groove ball bearing in the axial, parallel, and angular misalignment respectively, and compared the similarities and differences of the
dynamic response characteristics of the planetary gear set-rotor system caused by the three kinds of bearing misalignments. Parmar
et al. [24] proposed a 3-DOF nonlinear force expression of double-row angular contact ball bearing with angular misalignment. Wen
et al. [25] proposed a 5-DOF ball bearing stiffness model, and studied the dynamic characteristics of rigid rotor system under the action
of parallel and angular bearing misalignment. It was found that angular misalignment may cause axial vibration of the system.
In the research on bearing cage, Gupta has carried out a lot of research work and achieved rich and important research results. For
example, he [26] studied the effect of cage unbalance on the wear degree of high-speed ball bearings. The research results of Cui et al.
[27] showed that the dynamic unbalance of cylindrical roller leads to the transformation of the bearing cage from quasi-periodic
motion to chaotic motion. When roller unbalance exceeds a certain threshold, the cage becomes unstable. Li et al. [28] established
the dynamic model of the high-speed ball bearing of the flexible cage lintel and found that the larger the wear degree of cage pocket,
the smaller the diameter of cage centroid motion track and the worse the stability of cage motion. Wen et al. [29] established the
dynamic model of angular contact ball bearing with outer ring defect considering cage and lubrication. It was found that the bearing
defect can cause the reciprocating collision between ball and cage. Gao et al. [30] studied the dynamic stability of angular contact ball
bearing cage from the perspective of theory and experiment. In addition, some scholars have studied the problems related to the rolling
bearing cage through the experiments [31–34]. For example, Chen et al. [31] experimentally analyzed the dynamic characteristics of

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 2. Schematic of deep groove ball bearing with cage fracture.

angular contact ball bearing cage during acceleration and deceleration. Choe et al. [32,33] carried out many experimental studies on
the dynamic characteristics of ball bearing cages under low-temperature environment. In terms of cage fracture fault research, Li et al.
[4] established a ball bearing dynamic model with cage fracture and carried out numerical simulation analysis by the Runge-Kutta
method. The results showed that the cage fracture fault has a great influence on the dynamic characteristics of the bearing. The
cage fracture decreases the cage stability and increases the amplitude. Shi et al. [35] proposed an equivalent stiffness model of cage
bridge with crack and introduced it into the planetary bearing dynamic model. The crack greatly reduces the equivalent stiffness of the
cage bridge, and the amplitude of vibration frequency is mainly concentrated at the cage rotating frequency, its half frequency and
frequency-doubled.
According to the current research, bearing misalignment may lead to the fracture failure of the cage. In the research on bearing
misalignment, most of the existing literature focuses on the impact of bearing misalignment on bearing stiffness, contact, life, and other
aspects. In contrast, the research on the influence of bearing misalignment on vibration characteristics of rotating machinery systems is
relatively small. In the study of vibration characteristics of rolling bearings with faults, most of the attention is paid to the faults in the
inner ring, outer ring, and rolling element, while the research on cage faults which are more fragile is relatively less. Li et al. [4] and Shi
et al. [35] only reflected the dynamic characteristics of cage fault from the perspective of numerical simulation, lacking relevant
experimental verification. At present, the vibration characteristics and variation rules of cage fracture caused by bearing misalignment
are not clear.
Based on the limitations of the above work, the research emphases of this paper are as follows: Firstly, the fracture model of rolling
bearing cage affected by misalignment is established, and the evolution law of vibration characteristics during the working period from
bearing assembly misalignment to cage fracture fault is studied. Secondly, the influence of bearing clearance and load on vibration
characteristics of the bearing-rotor system with the cage broken is further discussed. Finally, based on the existing bearing test-bed in
the laboratory, the experimental study of cage fracture fault is carried out. The innovations of this paper are as follows: (1) A char­
acterization method of bearing cage fracture is proposed, and the feasibility of this method is proved by simulation and experimental
research. (2) The bearing misalignment force model is improved based on the previous work [11]. (3) Based on the simulation and test
results, some new phenomena and laws of bearing cage fracture are found. The results can provide a valuable reference for dynamic
monitoring and diagnosis of rolling bearing misalignment and cage fracture.

2. Dynamic modeling of rolling bearing-rotor system

2.1. Nonlinear bearing force model with angular misalignment and cage fracture

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the deep groove ball bearing. It is known that the ball number of the bearing is Nb, the radius of the
inner raceway is rb, the radius of the outer raceway is Rb, the ball diameter is db, the bearing initial radial clearance is cr, and the cage
pocket clearance is cc. The inner ring rotates with the rotating shaft, and the angular speed is ωr. The outer ring is fixed on the bearing
seat. Therefore, the expression of rotating angular velocity of bearing cage ωc can be seen in Eq. (15) of Ref. [36]. In addition, all the
balls are not completely evenly distributed due to the fact that there is cage pocket clearance in the bearing. The random number ϕj
evenly distributed between − 1 and 1 is introduced, so the position angle of each ball can be written as:

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 3. Schematic of geometric deformation relationship of bearing.

[ ]
ωr rb t 2π cc
θj = θ 0 + + (j − 1) + 2ϕj arcsin (1)
Rb + r b Nb 2(Rb + rb )

where θ0 is the initial position angle of the No.1 ball. In the actual test research, it is found that the fracture position of the cage is
located at the junction between the ball pocket and the plane, or the rivet connection hole of two half cages. At the fracture position,
the clearance of the ball pocket hole of the cage becomes larger, and the ball deviates from the original position, as shown in Fig. 1(h).
However, the bearing can still operate normally at this time. Therefore, the cage fracture can be simulated by introducing an additional
position angle of the ball. Assuming cage fracture occurs at the position of the j-th ball, and the additional deflection angle generated is
θf. Then the ball position angle containing cage fracture fault can be expressed as:
ωr rb t 2π
θj = θ 0 + + (j − 1) + θf (2)
Rb + r b N b
It is worth noting that, the additional deflection angle θf of the ball can be negative. In the hypothesis of this paper, the additional
deflection angle along the rotation direction of the ball is defined as the positive direction, and the opposite is the negative direction. In
the case of bearing assembly misalignment, the bearing geometric deformation after moving is shown in Fig. 3. In the health state, Oij
and Ooj are the curvature centers of the inner and outer raceway at the position of the j-th ball respectively. Due to improper
installation, there is relative misalignment between the inner ring and the outer ring of the bearing. At this time, the curvature center of
⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒
⃒ ⃒
the inner raceway is Oij′ . ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ is the distance between the curvature center of the inner and outer raceway. When the bearing moves
relatively, the inner raceway curvature center further becomes to Oij′ ′ , and the distance between the curvature center of the inner and
⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒
⃒ ⃒
outer raceway changes to⃒Ooj O′′ij ⃒. The contact deformation δj between the j-th ball and the raceway can be expressed as:
⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒
⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
δj = ⃒Ooj O′′ij ⃒ − ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ (3)

⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒ [(⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒ )2 (⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒ )2 ]12

⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
⃒Ooj O′′ij ⃒ = ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒cosαj + δrj + ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒sinαj + δaj (4)

The contact angle αj′ after motion can be written as follows:

⎛ ⃒⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒⃒ ⎞
⃒Ooj Oij ⃒sinαj + δaj
(5)
′
αj = arctan⎝⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒ ⎠
⃒ ′ ⃒
⃒Ooj Oij ⃒cosαj + δrj

In Eqs. (4)-(5), αj represents the contact angle at the angular position of the j-th ball due to bearing misalignment. δrj and δaj are the
radial and axial contact deformations, respectively. They can be written as:
δrj = xcosθj + ysinθj − crj (6)
( )
δaj = z + rdj θx sinθj − θy cosθj (7)

where, crj represents the bearing clearance at the angular position of the j-th ball due to misalignment. rdj is the radial distance of the
curvature center of the inner raceway at the j-th ball position. Based on the Hertz contact theory, the 5-DOF nonlinear bearing force
model after considering the misalignment of deep groove ball bearing, pocket clearance, and fracture fault of the cage is [37–39]:

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 4. Schematic of deep groove ball bearing with angular misalignment.

⎛ ⎞
Fbx ⎜ cosα’j cosθj ⎟
⎛ ⎞ ⎜ ⎟
Fby ⎜ cosα’ sinθj ⎟
⎜ ⎟ ∑Nb ⎜ j ⎟
⎜ ⎟ ( ) ⎜ ⎟
⎜ Fbz ⎟=− kbj δj H δj ⎜
1.5
⎜ sin α’j ⎟
⎟ (8)
⎝ ⎠ j=1 ⎜ ⎟
Mbx ⎜ rdj sinα’j sinθj ⎟
⎜ ⎟
⎝ ⎠
Mby − rdj sinα’j cosθj

In Eq. (8), H(δj) is expressed as the Heaviside function. kbj is expressed as the Hertz contact stiffness of the j-th ball. Due to bearing
misalignment, it is worth noting that parameters such as bearing contact angle are also changed, so the Hertz contact stiffness also
changes. The expressions can be seen in Refs. [2,11,40].
For bearing misalignment, there are two possibilities of outer ring misalignment and inner ring misalignment. The installation error
of bearing pedestal can lead to the misalignment of the outer ring relative to the inner ring, while the assembly error between the
bearing inner ring and the shaft and the rotor deformation can lead to the misalignment of the inner ring relative to the outer ring
[2,41]. According to the method deduced in Ref. [11], when there is the angular misalignment of the bearing inner ring in any di­
rection, the following expressions can be derived according to the geometric relationship shown in Fig. 4:
⃒ ̅̅→′ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ( )
⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ̅̅→⃒
⃒AOij ⃒ = ⃒AOij ⃒ = (rb + fi db )sin θj − β (9)

⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ( )
⃒ ′⃒ ⃒ ′⃒
⃒COij ⃒ = ⃒AOij ⃒sinφ = (rb + fi db )sin θj − β sinφ (10)

⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ( )
⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅→⃒
⃒COij ⃒ = ⃒AOij ⃒ − ⃒ AC ⃒ = (rb + fi db )sin θj − β (1 − cosφ) (11)

⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒ ( ) ( )
⃒Ooj B⃒ = ⃒Oij Ooj ⃒cos θj − β = (a − cr )cos θj − β , a = (fi + fo − 1)db (12)

⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ) ⃒⃒ ̅̅→⃒⃒
⃒ ̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅̅→⃒ (
⃒ BC ⃒ = ⃒Oij Ooj ⃒sin θj − β − ⃒COij ⃒
( ) (13)
= [(a − cr ) − (rb + fi db )(1 − cosφ) ]sin θj − β

⃒ ⃒ {(⃒ ⃒) (⃒ ̅→⃒ )2 }12

⃒ ̅̅→⃒ ⃒ ̅̅→⃒ 2 ⃒ ⃒
⃒Ooj C⃒ = ⃒Ooj B⃒ + ⃒ BC ⃒
(14)
{[ ( ) ]2 ( ) }12
= (a − cr )cos θj − β + [(a − cr ) + (rb + fi db )(1 − cosφ) ]2 sin2 θj − β

In Eqs. (9)–(14), β represents the included angle between the inner ring misalignment axis and the positive direction of x-axis. φ is

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 5. (a) Schematic of finite element model of bearing-rotor system, and (b) schematic of shaft element.

the rotation angle of the inner ring around the misalignment axis, that is, the misalignment angle of the inner ring. fi and fo are
curvature radius coefficients of the inner and outer raceway respectively. According to the geometric relationship, the following
expressions can also be obtained:
⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒ [(⃒ ̅̅→′ ⃒ )2 (⃒ ⃒ ) ]1
⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ̅̅→⃒ 2 2
⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ = ⃒COij ⃒ + ⃒Ooj C⃒ (15)

(⃒ ̅̅→′ ⃒/⃒ ̅̅→⃒ )

⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
αj = arctan ⃒COij ⃒ ⃒Ooj C⃒ (16)

( ⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒ )/
⃒ ⃒
crj = a − ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ cosαj (17)
⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒
⃒ ⃒
Substituting Eqs. (10), (12), (13) into (15), the distance ⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ between the curvature center of the inner and outer raceway in the
state of initial misalignment can be expressed as:
{[ ( ) ]2 [ ( ) ]2 }12
⃒ ̅̅̅→′ ⃒
⃒ ⃒ (rb + fi db )sin θj − β sinφ + (a − cr )cos θj − β
⃒Ooj Oij ⃒ = ( ) (18)
+[(a − cr ) − (rb + fi db )(1 − cosφ) ]2 sin2 θj − β

Substituting Eqs. (10), (14) and (18) into Eqs. (16) and (17) respectively, the expressions of the contact angle and radial clearance
caused by the misalignment can be obtained as follows:
⎡ ⎤
( )
⎢ (rb + fi db )sin θj − β sinφ ⎥
αj = arctan⎣{ (19)
[ ( ) ]2 2 2
( ) }12 ⎦
(a − cr )cos θj − β + [(a − cr ) − (rb + fi db )(1 − cosφ) ] sin θj − β

{[ ( ) ]2 [ ( ) ]2 }12
(rb + fi db )sin θj − β sinφ + (a − cr )cos θj − β
a− ( )
+[(a − cr ) − (rb + fi db )(1 − cosφ) ]2 sin2 θj − β
crj = ( [ ]) (20)
(rb +fi db )sin(θj − β)sinφi
cos arctan { }1
2
[(a− cr )cos(θj − β) ] +[(a− cr )− (rb +fi db )(1− cosφ) ]2 sin2 (θj − β) 2
By further substituting Eqs. (18)-(20) into Eqs. (3)-(5), the bearing misalignment force can be calculated.

2.2. Dynamic model of the system

The schematic of the rotor-bearing model is shown in Fig. 5(a). The rotor is composed of a rotating shaft with a disc and shaft
sleeves. The total length of the rotating shaft is 204 mm and the diameter is 55 mm. The width of the middle disc is 25 mm and the
diameter is 68.6 mm. The finite element method is used to model the rotor system. It is known that the rotor is divided into 22 shaft
segments, including 23 nodes in total, and each node contains 6 degrees of freedom, as shown in Fig. 5(b). The shaft sleeve is
equivalent to a lumped mass point and placed at the rotor nodes of 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22. The rolling bearing is simulated by the
nonlinear restoring force model shown in Eq. (8) and placed at rotor nodes 3 and 19. The equivalent radial load is applied to nodes 7
and 15 along the x-direction.
In this paper, the shaft element is simulated according to the Timoshenko beam element theory. Combined with Fig. 5(b), there are
two nodes A and B in the i-th shaft element, and the displacement vector of the shaft element can be expressed as:
[ ]T
ui = xA , yA , zA , θxA , θyA , θzA , xB , yB , zB , θxB , θyB , θzB . (21)

The motion of equation of the rotor-bearing system can be written as:

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Table 1
Geometric parameters of each shaft segment of the rotor.
Serial number Length/mm Diameter/mm Serial number Length/mm Diameter/mm

1–2 7.5 50 13–14 10 55

3 8.7 55 15–16 9 55
4 9 55 17–18 9.4 55
5–6 9.4 55 19 9 55
7–8 9 55 20 8.7 55
9–10 10 55 21–22 7.5 50
11–12 12.5 68.6

Table 2
Parameters of shaft sleeve.
Name Node location n Mass mSn/kg Diameter moment of inertia Polar moment of inertia
JdSn/(kg⋅m2) JpSn/(kg⋅m2)
5
S1 2, 22 0.196 9.73 × 10− 1.9 × 10− 4
5
S2 6, 18 0.153 7.48 × 10− 1.41 × 10− 4
4
S3 10, 14 0.357 2.11 × 10− 4.01 × 10− 4

Table 3
Parameters of deep groove ball bearing.
Model number 6011

Radius of inner raceway rb/mm 31.09

Radius of outer raceway Rb/mm 41.41
Curvature radius coefficient of inner or outer raceway fi, fo 0.517
Diameter of balls db/mm 10.32
Number of balls Nb 13
Radial clearance of bearing cr/μm 3
Clearance of the cage pocket cc/mm 0.3

(MRS + MLM )Ü + [CRS + ωr (JRS + JLM ) ]U̇ + K RS U = Fb + Fu + Fr − G (22)

In Eq. (22), MRS, JRS, and KRS are the mass matrix, gyro matrix and stiffness matrix of the rotating shaft respectively, which can be
obtained by combining the mass matrix, gyro matrix and stiffness matrix of the shaft element. CRS is the damping matrix of the rotating
shaft, which can be determined in the form of proportional damping. MLM and JLM are the mass matrix and gyro matrix of the shaft
sleeve, respectively. The above matrix expressions can be seen in Ref. [11]. In addition, Fb is the restoring force vector of the rolling
bearing. Fu is the rotor unbalance force vector. Fr is the external load vector. G is the rotor gravity vector.
It is known that the elastic modulus of the rotating shaft E = 2.078 × 1011 Pa, density ρ = 7806 kg/m3, Poisson’s ratio ν = 0.3. The
geometric parameters of each shaft element of the rotating shaft can be seen in Table 1. The parameters of each shaft sleeve can be seen
in Table 2. The rotor is supported by 6011 deep groove ball bearings. The bearing parameters are shown in Table 3.

3. Response analysis under cage fracture and bearing misalignment

In this paper, Eq. (22) is calculated by the Newmark-β integration method, and a total of 300 cycles are calculated. The number of
integral steps in each cycle is 512. In order to obtain the steady-state response results, the response data of the first 100 calculation
cycles are abandoned artificially, and the vibration response results of the last 200 calculation cycles are analyzed through the time-
domain waveform, FFT spectrum, and envelope spectrum. The equations of varying compliance frequency (fvc) and cage rotating
frequency (fc) of deep grove ball bearing are further given as follows:
( )
Nb fr db
fvc = 1− (23)
2 dm
( )
fr db
fc = 1− (24)
2 dm

where fr represents rotating frequency of the rotor.

3.1. Influence of cage fracture degree

When the bearing cage fracture occurs, the pocket clearance of the cage increases, which causes the additional deflection angle θf of

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Fig. 6. Effect of cage fracture degree on system frequency characteristics: (a) FFT spectrum cascade and (b) envelope spectrum cascade.

the ball at this point. The more serious the fracture of the cage, the greater the deflection angle of the ball. Therefore, by changing the
additional deflection angle θf in Eq. (2), this section simulates the influence of cage fracture degree on the vibration response of the
rotor system when the bearing is in angular misalignment state. For the convenience of discussion, the assumptions are made as
follows: (1) when the fracture degree of the cage is the most serious, the two adjacent balls will contact together, as shown in Fig. 1(f).
Therefore, the additional deflection angle of the ball θf ∈ [0, 10]◦ is assumed in this paper. (2) The cage fracture occurs near the No.5
ball, and the cage at other balls is intact. (3) When the angular misalignment angle of the bearing is 0◦ , that is, only the cage fracture
fault is Case 1. The cage fracture under bearing misalignment is Case 2. In addition, the working parameters are set as follows: the
rotational speed is constant at 4200 r/min, and the radial load is 1.8 kN along with the negative of x-direction. The vibration responses
at the position of No. 1 bearing (node 3) are extracted for analysis.

3.1.1. Case 1
In order to clarify the influence law of cage fracture degree on the vibration response of rotor system, this section first assumes that
the angular misalignment angle is 0◦ . That is, the system response under the condition of simple cage fracture is discussed, and the
results are shown in Figs. 6-7. It is not difficult to find the following interesting phenomena:

(1) When the bearing is running in a healthy state, the additional deflection angle of the ball at this time is θf = 0◦ . According to the
acceleration FFT spectrum shown in Fig. 6(a) and acceleration envelope spectrum shown in Fig. 6(b), the vibration response of
the bearing in a healthy state only includes the rotating frequency fr and its frequency multiplications (such as 2fr and 3fr), the
varying compliance (VC) frequency fvc of the bearing, the combined frequency components of the bearing frequency and the
rotating frequency (such as fvc-fr, fvc-2fr, etc.). It can be seen from Fig. 7(a1) that the rotor orbit in the healthy state is
approximately elliptical, and the vibration balance position in the x-direction is about − 13 μm. This is because the rotor bears a
1.8 kN radial load in this direction, resulting in a certain degree of bending deformation of the rotor along this direction.
Combined with the time domain waveform shown in Fig. 7(a2), it can be seen that the rotor system operates stably at this time.
In the displacement envelope spectrum in the y-direction, there are also rotating frequency fr and its double frequency 2fr, the
VC frequency fvc of bearing and the combined frequency of the VC frequency and rotating frequency, as shown in Fig. 7(a4).
(2) It can be seen from Fig. 6 that after the fracture failure of the bearing cage, the obvious cage rotating frequency fc, its frequency-
doubled nfc (n is a positive integer), and many combined frequency components mfr ± nfc (m and n are positive integers) appear
in the frequency spectrum. Such as fr + fc, fr + 2fc, fr-fc, fr-2fc, 2fr-fc, 2fr + fc, etc. The frequency amplitudes of nfc and mfr ± nfc
increase with the increase of θf. By comparing Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 6(b), it can be seen that the frequency components of the cage in
the envelope spectrum are more obvious than those in the FFT spectrum, especially some low-frequency components, such as fr-
2fc, 3fc-fr, fc, fr-fc, etc. Thus, the envelope spectrum can be used to check whether there is a characteristic frequency fc of the
cage, to judge whether there is a fault in the bearing cage.

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 7. Effect of fracture degree of bearing cage on rotor vibration response: (a) θf = 0◦ (health state), (b) θf = 1◦ (mild fault state), (c) θf = 5◦
(moderate fault state), (d) θf = 10◦ (severe fault state).

(3) To further explain the evolution law of cage fracture degree on the vibration characteristics of the rotor system, it is assumed
that slight cage failure occurs when θf = 1◦ , moderate cage failure occurs when θf = 5◦ , and severe cage failure occurs when θf =
10◦ . The system response results under the three fault degrees are shown in Fig. 7(b)-(d) respectively. When there is a slight fault
of the cage, the rotor orbit and the time domain waveform are not different from those in the health state. However, it can be
seen from Fig. 7(b3) and Fig. 7(b4) that the cage frequency component fc and the difference frequency between the cage fre­
quency and the rotating frequency, such as fr-2fc, 3fc-fr, 2fr-3fc, etc., appear at this time. As the fault degree of cage fracture
changes to moderate and severe, the rotor orbit has the trend of outward diffusion, and the obvious impact characteristics
appear in the time domain waveform. Moreover, the more serious the fault, the more obvious the impact vibration charac­
teristics. The amplitude of frequency nfc in the envelope spectrum increases with the deepening of fault degree. In addition,
under the condition of serious cage fault, the combined frequency component mfr ± nfc is more abundant in the y-direction of
the envelope spectrum, and the vibration energy is concentrated in the low-frequency band. The x-direction is dominated by nfc
frequency components. The frequency components in the x- and y- directions are slightly different, which may be related to the
loading direction of the radial load.

3.1.2. Case 2
This section further discusses the vibration characteristics of cage fracture fault under the condition of bearing misalignment. This

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 8. Effect of cage fracture degree on system frequency characteristics under bearing misalignment: (a) FFT spectrum cascade in the radial
direction, and (b) FFT spectrum cascade in the axial direction.

paper assumes that the misalignment angle of the bearing inner ring is φ = 0.18◦ . Included angle β between misalignment axis and
positive x-axis is set as 90◦ . Since the deep groove ball bearing has angular misalignment, it can be seen from Eq. (19) that the bearing
in the misalignment state also produces a certain contact angle. Further, according to Eq. (8), the bearing can produce the component
of nonlinear restoring force in the axial direction, and the rotor can also produce axial vibration under the action of this force.
Therefore, this section gives the influence of cage fracture degree on the radial and axial FFT spectrum cascades under the condition of
bearing misalignment, as shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b) respectively.

(1) When the additional deflection angle of the ball is θf = 0◦ , by comparing Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 8(a), it can be found that the
amplitude of fvc increases from 0.4028 m/s2 to 0.6941 m/s2 after considering the bearing angular misalignment. This indicates
that misalignment can increase the VC vibration of rolling bearing. As can be seen from the rotor orbit in Fig. 9(a), the motion
balance position of the rotor in the x-direction changes from − 13 μm when the rotor is in alignment to about − 3.5 μm, which is
also caused by bearing misalignment. In addition, for the radial FFT spectrum cascade, the spectral component without cage
fracture is almost the same as the frequency component without malignment (Case 1). There are fr, fvc and their difference
frequency fvc-fr in both the axial and radial FFT spectrum cascades.
(2) When the additional deflection angle θf of the ball increases from 0◦ to 10◦ , the frequency variation in the radial FFT spectrum
cascade is the same as that in Fig. 6(a), that is, cage frequency fc and its frequency doubling nfc, as well as the combined fre­
quency mfr ± nfc. Moreover, the amplitude of these frequencies increases as the value of θf increases. The amplitude of fre­
quency fvc decreases from 0.6941 m/s2 to 0.5789 m/s2, indicating that the trend of the bearing VC vibration weakens slightly.
For the axial FFT spectrum cascade, the frequency component of nfc appears, but the amplitude is much lower than that of the
radial spectrum. In addition, combined with Fig. 9(a), it can be seen that with the gradual aggravation of cage fracture, the rotor
trajectory shows a trend of outward diffusion, and the system amplitude increases. By comparing the rotor orbit in Fig. 9(a) and
Fig. 7, it can also be found that, after further consideration of bearing misalignment, the rotor orbit under cage fracture becomes
more disordered. The time domain waveform and displacement envelope spectra of the rotor without and with cage fracture
fault are shown in Fig. 9(b) and (c), respectively. It is similar to the case without considering the bearing misalignment that the
cage has obvious periodic impact vibration characteristics after fracture fault occurs. The frequency components nfc and mfr ±
nfc related to the cage mainly appear in the radial direction. Although there is a small number of frequency components such as
2fc and 4fc in the axial direction, the amplitude is relatively low. It can be seen that the cage fracture fault is mainly reflected in
radial vibration.

Fig. 10(a) and (b) respectively show the variation curves of cage fracture degree on the radial and axial vibration amplitude of the
rotor system when the bearing misalignment angle is φ = 0.18◦ . It can be further explained from Fig. 10 that with the aggravation of
cage fracture, both radial and axial vibration amplitudes increase, which is obviously not conducive to the healthy and stable operation

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 9. Effect of cage fracture on rotor vibration response under bearing misalignment: (a) rotor orbit under different fracture degree of the cage, (b)
system response under θf = 0◦ , and (c) system response under θf = 10◦ .

Fig. 10. Effect of cage fracture degree on system amplitude under bearing misalignment: (a) radial amplitude and (b) axial amplitude.

of the rotor system.

3.2. Influence of radial load on cage fracture

3.2.1. Case 1
Firstly, the variation law of radial load on the spectrum characteristics of the system under the condition of cage fracture fault is
analyzed. In order to qualitatively clarify the influence law of radial load under cage fracture fault, the additional deflection angle θf =
10◦ of the ball is selected for analysis, and the law under other deflection angles is the same. In addition, the other parameters of the
simulation are: the rotor speed is still 4200 r/min, bearing misalignment angle φ = 0◦ , initial radial clearance of bearing cr = 3 μm, the
range of radial load Fr ∈ [0, 5] kN. Extract the acceleration FFT spectrum cascade in the y-direction at bearing 1, as shown in Fig. 11.
As can be seen from the figure, when Fr = 0 kN, that is, in the no-load state, the frequency components of the system are mainly

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 11. Effect of radial load on system frequency characteristics under cage fracture fault.

Fig. 12. Effect of radial load on system frequency characteristics under bearing misalignment and cage fracture fault: (a) FFT spectrum cascade in
the radial direction, and (b) FFT spectrum cascade in the axial direction.

rotating frequency and frequency doubling components nfr. With the load gradually increasing, the amplitude of frequency nfr de­
creases gradually, and the frequency components of 2fr, 3fr, 4fr, and 5fr even weaken and disappear, and only the frequency fr exists.
However, the amplitude of fr also decreases from 1.086 m/s2 (Fr = 0 kN) to 0.1719 m/s2 (Fr = 5 kN). At the same time, the bearing VC
frequency fvc increases gradually with the enhancement of the load, indicating that increasing the load can aggravate the VC vibration
of the rolling bearing. In addition, the amplitude of cage frequency and its frequency doubling component nfc also increases gradually
with the load enhancement.

3.2.2. Case 2
This section further discusses the variation law of radial load on system frequency characteristics under the condition of bearing
misalignment and cage fracture fault. At this point, the misalignment angles are φ = 0.18◦ . Other simulation parameters are the same
as before. The radial and axial FFT spectra in this state can be seen in Fig. 12.
When the system operates under the no-load state (Fr = 0 kN), compared with Fig. 11, the amplitude of frequency fvc increases
significantly, and no obvious frequency doubling components of 2fr, 3fr, 4fr, and 5fr are observed, which is caused by the bearing
misalignment. When the radial load Fr increases from 0 kN to 5 kN, the amplitude of nfc and mfr ± nfc related to cage frequency in­
creases accordingly, which is consistent with the rule shown in Fig. 11 of Section 3.2.1. It is worth noting that in the misalignment
state, with the increase of the load, the amplitude of fvc shows a trend of decreasing first and then rising. According to the content

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Fig. 13. Effect of radial load on system vibration amplitude: (a) radial amplitude and (b) axial amplitude.

Fig. 14. Effect of bearing clearance on system frequency characteristics under cage fracture fault.

analysis of Section 3.1.2 and Section 3.2.1, the bearing VC vibration is intensified and the corresponding frequency amplitude of fvc is
increased due to radial load and bearing misalignment. Therefore, when the load is small, the frequency amplitude of fvc is higher
under the action of bearing misalignment. As the load increases, the load acts on the rotor and then causes the relative deformation
between the inner and outer rings of the bearing, which offsets the impact of the bearing misalignment. When the radial load is about
3.1 kN-3.2 kN, the effect of load can just offset the effect of bearing misalignment. Therefore, the bearing VC vibration is the smallest
and the frequency amplitude of fvc is the lowest. With the further increase of load, the influence of radial load on the VC vibration
gradually becomes dominant, so the frequency amplitude of fvc increases currently. For the axial FFT spectrum cascade, the amplitude
of bearing frequency fvc, cage frequency and its frequency doubling nfc also increases with the enhancement of load. However, the
amplitude of these frequencies is smaller than that of the radial FFT spectrum cascade.
Fig. 13 shows the effects of different radial loads on the radial and axial vibration amplitudes of the system under Case 1 and Case 2,
respectively. For the radial amplitude curve, Case 2 is less than Case 1 when the bearing misalignment is considered. However, for the
axial amplitude curve, Case 2 is greater than Case 1. The reason for the above rules is that the bearing misalignment can increase the
constraint effect of the bearing on the rotor in the radial direction, so the radial amplitude decreases. At the same time, the angular
misalignment can cause the deep groove ball bearing to produce a component force in the axial direction, which can increase the axial
vibration of rotor. With the increase of radial load, both Case 1 and Case 2 show the trend that the amplitude first decrease and then
increase in the radial and axial directions. This is because in the no-load state, the constraint degree of the rotor system is small and the
amplitude is large. Applying a certain load is equivalent to acting as a constraint, so the amplitude decreases. When the load is further
increased, the vibration caused by bearing VC vibration and cage fracture are intensified, so the amplitude of the system increases
gradually.

3.3. Influence of bearing clearance on cage fracture

3.3.1. Case 1
Firstly, the variation law of the bearing initial radial clearance on the system spectrum characteristics under the condition of cage
fracture is analyzed. The additional deflection angle of ball θf = 10◦ is still selected for analysis, and the values of other θf have the same
rule. In addition, other simulation parameters are: rotor speed is 4200 r/min, bearing angular misalignment angle φ = 0◦ , radial load Fr
= 1.8 kN, and the range of bearing radial clearance cr∈ [1,20] μm. Extract the acceleration FFT spectrum cascade in the y-direction at
bearing 1, as shown in Fig. 14. It can be seen from the figure that as the increase of bearing clearance, the amplitudes of rotating

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 15. Effect of bearing clearance on system frequency characteristics under bearing misalignment and cage fracture fault: (a) FFT spectrum
cascade in the radial direction, and (b) FFT spectrum cascade in the axial direction.

(
a) (
b)
Ca
gefract
ure
Ca
gefract
ure
Ca
gefract
ureunde
r
Ca
gefract
ureunde
r
mi
sal
ignment
mi
sal
ignment

Fig. 16. Effect of bearing clearance on system vibration amplitude: (a) radial amplitude and (b) axial amplitude.

frequency fr, frequency components nfc and mfr ± nfc related to cage frequency, the VC frequency fvc and its combined frequency
components fvc-fr and fvc-2fr all increase. This shows that the bearing clearance has a great influence on the vibration characteristics of
the rotor system with cage fracture fault. The larger the bearing clearance, the more severe the vibration caused by the VC vibration
and cage fault of the rolling bearing.

3.3.2. Case 2
This section further discusses the variation law of bearing clearance on system frequency characteristics under the condition of
bearing misalignment and cage fracture. The misalignment angles are φ = 0.18◦ . Other simulation parameters are the same as before.
The radial and axial FFT spectrum cascades in this state are shown in Fig. 15. For the radial FFT spectrum (see Fig. 15(a)), with the
increase of bearing clearance, the amplitude variation law of each frequency component in the radial direction of the system is almost
the same as that of Case 1. When the bearing clearance cr increases from 1 μm to 20 μm, the frequency amplitudes of fr, nfc, nfr ± mfc,
and other frequencies related to cage frequency enhance together. Compared with Fig. 14, after further considering the factor of
bearing misalignment, the amplitude of the above frequency increases more obviously, indicating that the vibration caused by cage
fracture is more intense. For the axial FFT spectrum cascade (see Fig. 15(b)), except that the amplitudes of frequency fvc and fvc-fr

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 17. Bearing test bench.

Fig. 18. (a) 6011 deep groove ball bearing test piece, (b) test box and bearing loading device, and (c) schematic of bearing loading in the test box.

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 19. Schematic of assembly structure and sensor layout inside the test box.

increase with the enhancement of bearing clearance, the amplitudes of frequency fr, nfc, and nfr ± mfc have a little change. This in­
dicates that changing the initial radial clearance of the bearing mainly affects the radial vibration of the system, and has relatively little
effect on the axial vibration caused by bearing misalignment and cage fault.
Fig. 16 shows the influence of different bearing radial clearances on the radial and axial amplitudes of the rotor system under Case 1
and Case 2, respectively. The radial amplitude of the system under Case 1 is still greater than Case 2, and the axial amplitude of the
system under Case 2 is greater than Case 1. The reasons for this phenomenon can be seen in Section 3.2.2. With the gradual increase of
bearing clearance, the amplitudes of radial vibration and axial vibration show an increasing trend. The results indicate that the in­
crease of bearing clearance intensifies the radial and axial vibration of the system, and the bearing clearance has the greatest influence
on the radial vibration of the bearing-rotor system with cage fault.

4. Experimental research on cage fracture fault

4.1. Experiment bench and process

4.1.1. Experiment bench

As shown in Fig. 17, the bearing test bench is composed of four parts: power system, control system, test piece system, and loading
system. The test bench is driven by a motor with a power of 3 kW and a maximum speed of 6000 r/min. The speed and other pa­
rameters can be set on the control computer, and the motor speed can be controlled through the frequency converter. The test piece
system and loading system are shown in Fig. 18. Among them, the test piece system mainly consists of 1 test box, 3 bearing pedestals, 4
bearings, and 1 driveshaft. Firstly, assemble the four 6011 bearings and shaft sleeves with the drive shaft in turn, as shown in Fig. 18
(a). Secondly, put the assembled integral test piece into the bearing pedestal. Finally, lower the whole bearing pedestal containing the
test piece into the test box, as shown in Fig. 18(b). The internal structure diagram of the assembled test box is shown in Fig. 19. In
addition, the test bench can apply axial and radial loads, and different load conditions can be simulated by loading different mass
weights. The loading mode of the test bench is shown in Fig. 18(c).
The physical diagram of the test system and sensor layout of the experiment bench is shown in Fig. 17, and the schematic diagram is
shown in Fig. 19. A PCB-356A01 triaxial acceleration sensor is pasted on the outer surface of No. 1 and No. 2 bearing pedestal
respectively, which can measure the vibration acceleration signals in x-, y- and z- directions respectively. The vibration acceleration
signals of the two measuring points are transmitted to the data collection instrument through the signal input line, and the analog
signals are converted into digital signals that can be read by the data software, which are displayed on the data analysis computer in
real-time. In addition, the test bench is also installed with four temperature sensors. In addition, the test-bed is also equipped with four
temperature sensors. The sensor probe can directly contact the surface of the bearing outer ring through the bearing pedestal, so that
the temperature change of the bearing outer ring can be monitored in real-time.

4.1.2. Experiment process

According to ISO standard [15], the bearing angular misalignment of the inner and outer rings is one of the main reasons for cage
fracture. Therefore, the misalignment state of the bearing is simulated by applying a radial load of 5.1 kN and an axial load of 1.4 kN to
the test bench. First of all, four healthy and intact bearings are installed in the test box, and the running speed is set at 4200 r/min. The
long-term running of the test bench is used to make the bearing runs from the healthy state to the real fatigue fracture state of the cage.
Measure and collect the vibration data of the whole bearing life cycle in real-time, and the sampling frequency is set to 20000 Hz. When

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 20. Vibration test results of bearing full life cycle.

Fig. 21. (a) Comparison of vibration signals at 1000–1000.5 s (without cage fracture) and 3686–3686.5 s (with cage fracture), (b) FFT spectrum at
1000–1000.5 s, (c) Envelope spectrum at 1000–1000.5 s, (d) FFT spectrum at 3686–3686.5 s, (e) Envelope spectrum at 3686–3686.5 s.

the abnormal noise and vibration occurs, the test bench alarms and stops. The bearing is disassembled to determine fatigue fracture of
the cage. Then, one bearing with cage fracture fault and three healthy bearings are reinstalled into the test box to further collect the
vibration data of cage fracture fault under steady-state conditions. Finally, the test data are analyzed.

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 22. Fault photo of cage fracture of No.3 bearing.

4.2. Discussion on test results

4.2.1. Experiment of the full life cycle of bearing

The full life cycle vibration test results of the bearing under the operating speed of 4200 r/min, the radial load of 5.1 kN, and the
axial load of 1.4 kN are shown in Fig. 20. The total sampling time is 3735 s. It can be seen from the figure that in the first 3673 s (see the
blue part in Fig. 20) of the testbed, the bearing operation is relatively stable, the amplitude is about ± 20 m/s2. However, at 3673 s of
the test, abnormal sound occurs suddenly and the vibration increases sharply in the test equipment, as can be seen from the red part in
Fig. 20. Currently, the vibration signal is relatively unstable and has obvious impact vibration characteristics, which is more obvious in
Fig. 21(a). The maximum vibration amplitude of bearing after the abnormal state can reach 249 m/s2. After that, the test bench has
operated for a period. Because the amplitude exceeds the standard many times in a short time, the testbed stops automatically at 3735
s.
After the testbed is shut down, it is found that the No. 3 bearing has cage fracture when disassembling the test piece, and the rest
bearings are in good condition. The fault photo of the No. 3 bearing is shown in Fig. 22. Therefore, it can be determined that the
abnormal vibration after 3673 s of the test is caused by the cage fracture. Besides, there are wear marks in the cage pocket, which is due
to the relative deformation between the inner and outer rings of the bearing under abnormal load, resulting in extrusion wear between
the cage and the inner and outer rings. This also indicates that there is a misalignment phenomenon in the bearing during operation,
which confirms that the bearing misalignment is one of the main reasons for the cage fracture fault to a certain extent.
Further, the test data of the bearing during the operation of 1000 s-1000.5 s and 3686 s-3686.5 s are intercepted for analysis. The
time domain waveform, FFT spectrum, and envelope spectrum of 10,000 test data samples are plotted, and the results are shown in
Fig. 21. As can be seen from Fig. 21(b) and (c), when the bearing operates healthily, the FFT spectrum and envelope spectrum mainly
contain rotating frequency fr and its frequency doubling, VC frequency fvc of bearing and its frequency doubling, as well as some
combination frequency components of fr and fvc, such as fvc-fr, fvc-4fr, and fvc-5fr. In addition, due to the inevitable existence of certain
nonlinear factors such as clearance during the installation of the bearing, rotating shaft and bearing pedestal of the testbed, there are a
small number of subharmonic frequency components occur in the frequency spectrum, such as 0.5fr, 2fr/3, etc. As can be seen from
Fig. 21(d) and (f), when cage fracture fault occurs in the bearing, in addition to the frequency components of nfr and nfvc, the cage
frequency fc and its frequency doubling 2fc with small amplitude also appear in the FFT spectrum. This phenomenon is more obvious in
the envelope spectrum, and the amplitude of the frequency component of nfc is larger. At the same time, there is a frequency mod­
ulation phenomenon with fr as the central frequency and fc as the sideband. Fig. 21(e) can also further confirm the conclusion based on
the simulation phenomenon in this paper, that is, compared with the FFT spectrum, the existence of cage frequency component can be
observed more obviously by using envelope spectrum. Therefore, the envelope spectrum can be used to observe the cage frequency to
judge whether there is a bearing cage fracture fault. In addition, through the comparative analysis of the envelope spectra shown in
Fig. 21(c) and (e), it can also be seen that when the cage fracture occurs, the vibration frequency has an obvious tendency to
concentrate in the low-frequency band, and the frequency amplitude increases significantly.

4.2.2. Experimental verification

The rolling bearing with cage fracture fault is reinstalled into the test box, and the vibration characteristics of the system with cage
fracture are further studied by applying different radial loads on the test bench, so as to verify the effectiveness of the simulation law in
this paper. The radial load Fr = 1.8 kN and the working speed is 4200 r/min. The y-direction vibration signal and its envelope spectrum
collected in the test are shown in Fig. 23(a) and (b). In order to verify the correctness of the simulation results in this paper, the
simulation parameters are consistent with the test conditions. The simulated vibration signal and its envelope spectrum in the y-di­
rection are shown in Fig. 23(c) and (d). It can be seen from both simulation results and test results that the frequency components in the
envelope spectrum are composed of rotating frequency and frequency doubling nfr, bearing VC frequency fvc, frequency related to cage
frequency such as nfc and nfr ± mfc, etc. According to Eqs. (23)-(24), the comparison table of frequency components obtained from
simulation and test can be seen in Table 4. Combined with Fig. 23 and Table 4, the coincidence degree of frequency components in the
simulation and test results can reach 97%. Especially in the test, it is found that the frequency components related to the frequency of
the cage, such as nfc and nfr ± mfc, appear after the cage fracture, which is the same as the phenomenon found by the simulation

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P. Wang et al. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 182 (2023) 109545

Fig. 23. Comparison of simulation and experiment of system vibration response under cage fracture: (a) measured time domain signal, (b)
measured envelope spectrum, (c) simulated time domain signal, (d) simulated envelope spectrum.

Table 4
Comparison table of spectrum components between simulation and experiment.
Frequency Theoretical Simulation Experiment Frequency Theoretical Simulation Experiment
components value (Hz) value (Hz) value (Hz) components value (Hz) value (Hz) value (Hz)

fr-2fc 9.9642 9.844 9.518 3fr 210 210 209.1

fc 30.0179 30.08 30.08 4fr-2fc 219.9642 220.1 218.8
fr-fc 39.9821 39.92 39.6 2fr + 3fc 230.0537 230.2 227.1
2fc 60.0358 60.16 60.16 8fc 240.1432 240.1 240.6
fr 70 70 69.68 9fc 270.1611 270.7 270.7
3fc 90.0537 89.96 90.43 4fr 280 280 278.7
fr + fc 100.0179 100.1 99.75 5fr-2fc 289.9642 290.1 288.3
2fr-fc 109.9821 110.2 109.3 10fc 300.179 300.2 300.8
4fc 120.0716 120 120.3 4fr + fc 310.0179 310.1 308.8
fr + 2fc 130.0358 129.9 129.8 5fr-fc 319.9821 320.2 318.3
2fr 140 140 139.4 11fc 330.1969 330 330.9
5fc 150.0895 150.1 150.4 4fr + 2fc 340.0358 340.2 339.1
fr + 3fc 160.0537 160 159 5fr 350 350.3 347.3
2fr + fc 170.0179 169.5 169.4 12fc 360.2148 360.1 360.9
6fc 180.1074 180.2 180.5 5fr + fc 380.0179 380.1 377.3
fr + 4fc 190.0716 190 189.7 fvc 390.2331 390.2 391
2fr + 2fc 200.0358 200.2 198

method in this paper. It is proved that the simulation method of cage fracture proposed in this paper is feasible to a certain extent.
The cage frequency amplitudes in envelope spectra under different radial loads are extracted respectively under simulation and test
conditions. Because the magnitude of frequency amplitude obtained from simulation and test is different, the frequency amplitude
under each load is normalized to better explain the law. The variation law of cage frequency amplitude under different radial loads is
obtained, as shown in Fig. 24. Simulation and test results show that the amplitude of cage frequency increases with the enhancement of
radial load, and the vibration caused by cage fracture is more severe.

5. Conclusions

Aiming at the cage fracture fault caused by bearing misalignment, the 5-DOF nonlinear restoring force model which can simulate
the angular misalignment and cage fracture fault is proposed. Taking the bearing-rotor test bench as the research object, the bearing

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Fig. 24. Effect of load on cage frequency amplitude.

restoring force model is introduced into the rotor finite element model. The dynamic behavior of the rotor system under bearing
misalignment and cage fracture fault is analyzed, and the effects of bearing load and clearance on the vibration characteristics of the
system are discussed. Subsequently, the relevant experimental research on cage fracture fault is carried out. The conclusions are as
follows:

(1) The simulation and experiment results show that once the cage fracture occurs, the system vibration intensifies, and the fre­
quency components related to the cage frequency can be obviously observed in the envelope spectrum, such as nfc and mfr ± nfc.
The vibration energy tends to be concentrated in low frequency. Therefore, the existence of cage frequency in the envelope
spectrum can be taken as the basis for judging whether bearing has cage fault. In addition, the test results qualitatively verify the
simulation law of cage fracture in this paper. Therefore, the method of simulating cage fracture by the additional deflection
angle of the ball proposed in this paper is feasible to a certain extent.
(2) With the aggravation of cage fracture, the rotor orbit becomes more disordered and diffuses outward. There are obvious pe­
riodic shock vibration characteristics in the time domain waveform. The frequency components and frequency amplitude
related to the cage frequency increase gradually. The amplitude of axial and radial vibration increases gradually. The cage
fracture has more influence on the radial vibration.
(3) With the enhancement of radial load, the amplitude of rotating frequency nfr decreases or even disappears, while the amplitude
of fvc, nfc, and mfr ± nfc gradually increases. The radial and axial amplitudes of the rotor system decrease first and then increase.
With the enhancement of bearing clearance, the amplitude of frequency nfr, nfc, and mfr ± nfc increases gradually. The radial
and axial amplitudes of the rotor system also increase.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the China North Vehicle Research Institute on the project. This work was
supported by the Basic Research Project [grant number 20195208003].

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