Bearings with rolling elements are often used as revolute joints to connect mechanical components. Due to their complex structure (clearance, multipoint contacts, defects, etc.), rolling element bearing joints are regarded as non-ideal revolute joints. In this paper, a method is proposed for modeling a non-ideal rolling ball bearing joint with localized defects in multibody systems. The kinematic constraints of an ideal revolute joint in traditional multibody dynamics theory are released, and functions of the non-ideal bearing joint are built using the interactions due to contact forces. Localized defects with a certain arc length and depth are established for the bearing raceway surfaces. An approach for contact detection between localized defects and rolling balls in bearing joint is suggested. Finally, a slider-crank mechanism containing a deep-groove ball bearing with localized defects is chosen as an example to demonstrate application of the methodology. The variation in the bearing joint equivalent reaction force, crank moment, slider acceleration, and acceleration-velocity portrait phase of the slider is used to illustrate the dynamic performance of the mechanism when the effect of bearing localized defects is considered.
