Patent ID: 8511997

Claim:
A method of providing a thickness of a spherical elastomeric bearing comprising: adjusting each layer thickness of an elastomeric bearing having uniform pitch strain to satisfy: γ s = 0.576 ⁢ C [ ( 0.8 ⁢ C ) [ [ [ 1 Life - ( C γ θ ) - α ] 1 α ] ⁢ ( 0.8 ⁢ C ) - γ β ] - 1 ] 1 1.6 to produce a uniform fatigue life of each bearing layer where: C and α are constants derived from curve fitting methods to approximate the particular S-N curve; L ife is the desired fatigue life; γ θ is the pitch strain; γ β is the flap strain; and providing a first layer thickness and changing the first layer thickness to a different, second layer thickness in response to the adjusting.