Abstract:

Abaqus software is used to simulate the cracking of the bearing seat of the rear axle reducer housing. The influence of the depth of the laser prefabricated cracking groove on the cracking load and deformation is investigated through J-integral and Z-direction tensile stress at the tip of the cracking groove. The results show that the J-integral of the corresponding node at the middle wall thickness of the bearing seat remains at its maximum during the entire simulated loading process， and cracking occurs at this position. Referring to the cracking of the connecting rod， when the estimated cracking load of the shell bearing seat is 603 kN and the groove depth is greater than 0.7 mm， the simulated maximum tensile stress of the corresponding node at the middle position of the bearing seat wall thickness exceeds the tensile strength， and cracking occurs. When cracking occurs， the bearing seat housing only enters a plastic state in a small local area at the cracking position of the cracking groove； Based on the J-integral criterion， the simulated cracking load for different cracking groove depths is determined， and the cracking groove depth and load curve are plotted and fitted. The corresponding groove depth for 603 kN is 0.797 mm. And a cracking experiment is conducted on a laser prefabricated cracking groove of 1.0mm depth. The actual cracking load and simulated cracking load have an error of 4.30%， and the change in the inner diameter of the specimen is 0.16~0.24 mm， which is less than the allowable plastic deformation （≤ 0.4 mm） for bearing hole cracking processing. Based on the comprehensive simulation analysis results and combined with actual production， the depth parameter range of the cracking groove in the bearing seat of the rear axle reducer housing processed by laser is 0.8 mm to 1.0 mm.

Key words: cracking processing, bearing seat of the rear axle reducer housing, cracking groove, numerical simulation, cracking load