Vibration response mechanism of faulty outer race rolling element bearings for quantitative analysis

•A nonlinear vibration model for fault severity assessment of rolling element bearings is established.•The relationship between vibration responses and fault size are revealed.•The different impact characteristic that reflects the fault severity degree is obtained.

For the quantitative fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings, a nonlinear vibration model for fault severity assessment of rolling element bearings is established in this study. The outer race defect size parameter is introduced into the dynamic model, and vibration response signals of rolling element bearings under different fault sizes are simulated. The signals are analyzed quantitatively to observe the relationship between vibration responses and fault sizes. The impact points when the ball rolls onto and away from the defect are identified from the vibration response signals. Next, the impact characteristic that reflects the fault severity in rolling element bearings is obtained from the time interval between two impact points. When the width of the bearing fault is small, the signals are presented as clear single impact. The signals gradually become double impacts with increasing size of defects. The vibration signals of a rolling element bearings test rig are measured for different outer race fault sizes. The experimental results agree well with the results from simulations. These results are useful for understanding the vibration response mechanism of rolling element bearings under various degrees of fault severity.