Towards efficient spall generation simulation in rolling element bearing D. GAZIZULIN 1 , R. KLEIN 2 and J. BORTMAN 1 1 PHM Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel, 2 R.K. Diagnostics, Gilon, PO Box 101, D.N. Misgav 20103, Israel Received Date: 4 September 2016; Accepted Date: 21 December 2016; Published Online: ABSTRACT Rolling element bearing prognosis is the process of forecasting the remaining operational life, future condition or probability of failure of the bearing. While operational, bearings are subjected to rolling contact fatigue (RCF), and, as a result, a spall is generated on the raceway of the bearing. Complete understanding of the fatigue process is critical for pre- dictive modelling to estimate bearing remaining useful life, which allows improved scheduling of maintenance actions. This work presents an RCF model that was imple- mented using ABAQUS finite element software. The RCF model is based on a damage me- chanics approach that relates the accumulated microscopic failure mechanisms to a damage state variable and includes representation of material grain structure by a Poisson–Voronoi tessellation. Different microstructures, with a variety of material prop- erties and grain topologies, were constructed for simulation purposes. The geometry of the simulated spalls and the Weibull slopes of the fatigue lives are in good agreement with published theoretical and experimental data. It can be concluded that the assump- tions and the simplifications of the current, convenient to use, RCF model yield a suffi- ciently accurate tool on the basis of previous publications and experimental data. Keywords Hertzian contact; microstructure; Poisson–Voronoi tessellation; Rolling contact fatigue (RCF); rolling elements bearing. NOMENCLATURE b = half-width of the contact area C i = Voronoi cell D = damage variable D max = maximum damage E = elastic modulus e E = elastic modulus after damage K = global stiffness matrix L 10 = fatigue live m = material parameter N = number of stress cycles P i , P j = sets of points, or nuclei p(x) = surface compressive traction distribution p max = maximum Hertzian pressure q(x) = surface shear traction X = space of points x , y = local coordinates ΔD = damage increment ΔN i = fatigue block cycle β = Weibull slope Δτ rθ , Δτ xy = orthogonal shear stress range η = Weibull scale parameter Correspondence: J. Bortman. E-mail: jacbort@bgu.ac.il © 2017 Wiley Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 00 1–17 1 ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION doi: 10.1111/ffe.12580