Articles | Volume 10, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2771-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2771-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 Nov 2025
Research article |
| 27 Nov 2025
| 27 Nov 2025
Rolling contact fatigue calculation of a three-row roller pitch bearing in a wind turbine
Oliver Menck
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), 21029 Hamburg, Germany
Florian Schleich
Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), 21029 Hamburg, Germany
Matthias Stammler
Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), 21029 Hamburg, Germany
Related authors
Oliver Menck and Matthias Stammler
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 777–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-777-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-777-2024, 2024
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Oscillating bearings, like rotating bearings, can fail due to rolling contact fatigue. But the publications in the literature on this topic are difficult to understand. In order to help people decide which method to use, we have summarized the available literature. We also point out some errors and things to look out for to help engineers that want to calculate the rolling contact fatigue life of an oscillating bearing.
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Blade bearings of wind turbines experience unusual loads compared to bearings in other industrial applications, which adds some difficulty to the application of otherwise well-established calculation methods, like fatigue lifetime. As a result, different methods for such calculations can be found in the literature. This paper compares three approaches of varying complexity and comes to the conclusion that the simplest of the methods is very inaccurate compared to the more complex methods.
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This study demonstrates lifetime assessments of a wind turbine structural component as the tower and rotating components as the main bearings using the controller data, measurements, and no blade design information, representing a realistic scenario for operating turbines. A tower bottom virtual load sensor framework based on neural networks was proposed using different input combinations to replace the tower sensor. The estimated lifetime was considerably longer than the design lifetime.
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Most important for finite-element models is validation to ensure reliable results. To the knowledge of the authors, all publicly available large rolling bearing models are not validated. This work introduces a finite-element model of a 5 m roller bearing as wind turbine blade bearing. The authors investigated the influence of different bolt preloads on the bearing rings and validated the model against experimental strain gauge data using a large blade bearing test rig.
Kayacan Kestel, Xavier Chesterman, Donatella Zappalá, Simon Watson, Mingxin Li, Edward Hart, James Carroll, Yolanda Vidal, Amir R. Nejad, Shawn Sheng, Yi Guo, Matthias Stammler, Florian Wirsing, Ahmed Saleh, Nico Gregarek, Thao Baszenski, Thomas Decker, Martin Knops, Georg Jacobs, Benjamin Lehmann, Florian König, Ines Pereira, Pieter-Jan Daems, Cédric Peeters, and Jan Helsen
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Wind energy use has been rapidly expanding worldwide in recent years. Driven by global decarbonization goals and energy security concerns, this growth is expected to continue. To achieve these targets, production costs must decrease, with operation and maintenance being major contributors. This paper reviews current and emerging technologies for monitoring wind turbine drivetrains and highlights key academic and industrial challenges that may hinder progress.
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The structures at the center of wind turbine rotors are loaded by three rotor blades. The rotor blades have different loads, which depend on their positions and the incoming wind. The number of possible different loads is too high to simulate each of them for later design of the structures. This work attempts to reduce the number of necessary simulations by exploring inherent relations between the loads of the three rotor blades.
Oliver Menck and Matthias Stammler
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 777–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-777-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-777-2024, 2024
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Oscillating bearings, like rotating bearings, can fail due to rolling contact fatigue. But the publications in the literature on this topic are difficult to understand. In order to help people decide which method to use, we have summarized the available literature. We also point out some errors and things to look out for to help engineers that want to calculate the rolling contact fatigue life of an oscillating bearing.
Matthias Stammler
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1821–1837, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1821-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1821-2023, 2023
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Wind turbines subject their components to highly variable loads over very long lifetimes. Tests of components like the pitch bearings that connect rotor blades and the rotor hub serve to validate their ability to withstand these loads. Due to the complexity of the operational loads, the definition of test programs is challenging. This work outlines a method that defines wear test programs for specific pitch bearings and gives a case study for an example turbine.
Arne Bartschat, Karsten Behnke, and Matthias Stammler
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Blade bearings are among the most stressed and challenging components of a wind turbine. Experimental investigations using different test rigs and real-size blade bearings have been able to show that rather short time intervals of only several hours of turbine operation can cause wear damage on the raceways of blade bearings. The proposed methods can be used to assess wear-critical operation conditions and to validate control strategies as well as lubricants for the application.
Karsten Behnke and Florian Schleich
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 289–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-289-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-289-2023, 2023
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The objective of this work is to find limits within typical operating conditions of a wind turbine below which wear on the bearing raceway does not occur. It covers the test of blade bearings with an outer diameter of 2.6 m. The test parameters are based on a 3 MW reference turbine and are compared to values from the literature. It was shown that it can be possible to avoid wear, which again can be used to design a wind turbine controller.
Oliver Menck, Matthias Stammler, and Florian Schleich
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1743–1754, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1743-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1743-2020, 2020
Short summary
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Blade bearings of wind turbines experience unusual loads compared to bearings in other industrial applications, which adds some difficulty to the application of otherwise well-established calculation methods, like fatigue lifetime. As a result, different methods for such calculations can be found in the literature. This paper compares three approaches of varying complexity and comes to the conclusion that the simplest of the methods is very inaccurate compared to the more complex methods.
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Short summary
The paper discusses how to calculate the life of a blade bearing that is a roller bearing, as opposed to ball bearings, which most papers on the subject discuss. The raceway fatigue life of the bearing is calculated in a very detailed manner. This includes a validated finite-element simulation model and an approach to determine loads for all operating conditions that the wind turbine experiences.
The paper discusses how to calculate the life of a blade bearing that is a roller bearing, as...
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