Implicit Elastoplastic Finite Element Analysis of a Wheel Bearing Shaft Clinching Process Using the Multi-Body Function

Abstract

An implicit, elastoplastic, finite element method (FEM) with multi-body treatment function was applied to accurately analyze the real-world shaft clinching of a duplex-pair tapered roller (DPTR) wheel-bearing unit (WBU) under minimal assumptions during modeling. The inner races were viewed as elastoplastically deformable and were fitted to the hub shaft before clinching by imposing a thermal load reflecting the mechanical load of press-fitting. The forming roller (i.e., the power source) was considered to be force-prescribed, similar to the approach on real shop floors. The predictions focused on the homogenizing stage, during which the two inner races bear the preload. At this time, local plastic deformation occurred at the end of the hub shaft and in the armpit area and the cavity was either maintained or enlarged. The predicted cavity size in case of force-prescribed forming roller increased, compared with the velocity-prescribed forming roller. The residual stress became axisymmetric and was divided into two parts by the cavity. These findings allow engineers to control the pre-stresses imparted to the inner races of tapered roller bearing assemblies.