Dynamic modelling of wear evolution in rolling bearings

•The study describes a dynamic model of wear evolution that is capable to mimic the wear process in rolling bearings.•It simulates the topological surface evolution and the corresponding dynamic response over the lifetime.•It illustrates the dynamic nature and non-linear evolution of wear defect over the lifetime.

Condition monitoring tools aim to monitor the deterioration process i.e. wear evolution of defects. The wear evolution is quite complex process due to the involvement of several wear and stress concentration mechanisms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a dynamic model of wear evolution that considers the topographical and tribological changes over the lifetime. The model suggests the use of multiple force diagrams to simulate the dynamic impact and utilises several models of contact mechanics to estimate the transition points between the wear evolution stages. The simulated results of the developed evolution model are in principal agreement with the experimental results.