The lubrication of roller bearings subjected to couples

Roller bearings are generally designed to carry mainly radial loads with additional bearings employed to carry any axial loads. Occasionally, limited space prevents the use of these additional bearings, so that the roller bearing itself must carry the axial load. This must be taken by flanges on both the inner and outer races. The effect on the rollers themselves is to modify the load distribution on their generator contact surfaces because the rollers are now subjected to a couple in addition to the radial load. A similar effect is produced if two flanged (or unflanged) roller bearings support a loaded shaft. As its ends are nominally direction fixed, the rollers must be subjected to terminal couples, thus causing a modification to the load distribution at the contact surfaces. The effect of such forces on the footprint shape and on the bearing lubrication is investigated.