• finite element method
• multibody
• stiffness

The thesis is based on the work developed at the ABB Corporate Research Centre Germany in Ladenburg. This work was carried out inside the A1 research group which mainly deals with the development of actuators for medium and high voltage breakers and contactors.
The purpose of this work is to obtain one or more user-friendly methods to estimate the radial and axial load-deflection relationship of deep groove ball bearings and create an Adams user-defined joint which simulates their mechanical behaviour in multibody dynamic systems.
Firstly some theoretical models found in the literature were studied and conformed to the end-user needs. Then a parametrical finite element model was realised to have a basis to compare the analytical models and to have an alternative to them to estimate the load-deflection relationship of a deep groove ball bearing. The analytical model which best fitted the finite element results was chosen to be implemented in the Adams user-defined joint.
At the end of the work the Adams deep groove ball bearing joint was programmed in the form of an Adams macro function.