Dynamic simulation of spur gear with tooth root crack propagating along tooth width and crack depth

Gear tooth crack will cause changes in vibration characteristics of gear system, based on which, operating condition of the gear system is always monitored to prevent a presence of serious damage. However, it is also a unsolved puzzle to establish the relationship between tooth crack propagation and vibration features during gear operating process. In this study, an analytical model is proposed to investigate the effect of gear tooth crack on the gear mesh stiffness. Both the tooth crack propagations along tooth width and crack depth are incorporated in this model to simulate gear tooth root crack, especially when it is at very early stage. With this analytical formulation, the mesh stiffness of a spur gear pair with different crack length and depth can be obtained. Afterwards, the effects of gear tooth root crack size on the gear dynamics are simulated and the corresponding changes in statistical indicators – RMS and kurtosis are investigated. The results show that both RMS and kurtosis increase with the growth of tooth crack size for propagation whatever along tooth width and crack length. Frequency spectrum analysis is also carried out to examine the effects of tooth crack. The results show that sidebands caused by the tooth crack are more sensitive than the mesh frequency and its harmonics. The developed analytical model can predict the change of gear mesh stiffness with presence of a gear tooth crack and the corresponding dynamic responses could supply some guidance to the gear condition monitoring and fault diagnosis, especially for the gear tooth crack at early stage.     

Simulation of crack propagation in spur gear tooth for different gear parameter and its influence on mesh stiffness

Most of the gear dynamic model relies on the analytical measurement of time varying gear mesh stiffness in the presence of a tooth fault. The variation in gear mesh stiffness reflects the severity of tooth damage. This paper proposes a cumulative reduction index (CRI) which uses a variable crack intersection angle to study the effect of different gear parameters on total time varying mesh stiffness. A linear elastic fracture mechanics based two dimensional FRANC (FRacture ANalysis Code) finite element computer program is used to simulate the crack propagation in a single tooth of spur gear at root level. A total potential energy model and variable crack intersection angle approach is adopted to calculate the percentage change in total mesh stiffness using simulated straight line and predicted crack trajectory information. A low contact ratio spur gear pair has been simulated and the effect of crack path on mesh stiffness has been studied under different gear parameters like pressure angle, fillet radius and backup ratio. The percentage reduction of total mesh stiffness for the simulated straight line and predicted crack path is quantified by CRI. The CRI helps in comparing the percentage variation in mesh stiffness for consecutive crack. From the result obtained, it is observed that the proposed method is able to reflect the effect of different gear parameters with increased deterioration level on total gear mesh stiffness values.     

Crack behavior in a high contact ratio spur gear tooth and its effect on mesh stiffness

The efficiency of high contact ratio (HCR) gearing can be achieved by proper selection of gear geometry for increased load capacity and smoother operation despite of their high sliding velocities. The prediction of variation in mesh stiffness of HCR gearing is critical as the average number of teeth being in contact is high at a given time as compared to conventional low contact ratio (LCR) gearing. In this paper, linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) based finite element method is used to perform the crack propagation path studies of HCR spur gear having tooth root crack for two gear parameters viz. backup ratio and pressure angle. A total potential energy model has been adopted to analytically estimate the mesh stiffness variation. The results depict the mesh stiffness reduction in the presence of the crack. The percentage change in mesh stiffness with increasing crack length is an important parameter in fault diagnosis of geared transmission. Higher the percentage change in mesh stiffness, easier to detect the fault. Two gear parameters viz. back-up ratio and pressure angle has been studied and the effect of crack length on mesh stiffness have been outlined. With the increase of deterioration level gears having lower back-up ratio fault can be detected at an early stage, similarly, chances for early fault detection is more for gears having higher pressure angle.     

Experimental investigation of spur gear tooth mesh stiffness in the presence of crack using photoelasticity technique

Gear mesh stiffness plays a very important role in gear dynamics and it varies in the presence of gear fault such as crack. The measurement of stress intensity factor can lead to the determination of gear tooth mesh stiffness variation in the presence of crack in a spur gear system. In this paper, the technique of conventional photoelasticity has been revisited to explore the possibility of using it as a supplementary technique to experimentally measure the variation of gear mesh stiffness. An attempt has been made to calculate the variation of mesh stiffness for a pinion having a cracked tooth and a gear tooth with no crack of a spur gear pair. An analytical methodology based on elastic strain energy method in conjunction with total potential energy model has been adopted and implemented within the mesh stiffness calculations. To visualize the state of stress in a structure using finite element and other currently available methods, photoelasticity is considered to be one of the oldest and most developed experimental technique. An experimental methodology based on conventional photo-elasticity technique for computing stress intensity factor (SIF) for cracked spur gear tooth is presented for different single tooth contact position and crack length. The relation between contact position, crack length, crack configuration, SIF and the variation of total effective mesh stiffness have been quantified. Finally, a comparison has been made and the results obtained from finite element method (FEM) based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), analytical method and proposed experimental method has been outlined.     

An improved time-varying mesh stiffness algorithm and dynamic modeling of gear-rotor system with tooth root crack

When a tooth crack failure occurs, the vibration response characteristics caused by the change of time-varying mesh stiffness play an important role in crack fault diagnosis. In this paper, an improved time-varying mesh stiffness algorithm is presented. A coupled lateral and torsional vibration dynamic model is used to simulate the vibration response of gear-rotor system with tooth crack. The effects of geometric transmission error (GTE), bearing stiffness, and gear mesh stiffness on the dynamic model are analyzed. The simulation results show that the gear dynamic response is periodic impulses due to the periodic sudden change of time varying mesh stiffness. When the cracked tooth comes in contact, the impulse amplitude will increase as a result of reductions of mesh stiffness. Amplitude modulation phenomenon caused by GTE can be found in the simulation signal. The lateral–torsional coupling frequency increases greatly within certain limits and thereafter reaches a constant while the lateral natural frequency nearly remains constant as the gear mesh stiffness increases. Finally, an experiment was conducted on a test bench with 2 mm root crack fault. The results of experiment agree well with those obtained by simulation. The proposed method improves the accuracy of using potential energy method to calculate the time-varying mesh stiffness and expounds the vibration mechanism of gear-rotor system with tooth crack failure.     

基于齿轮传动系统横-扭-摆耦合非线性动力学模型的齿廓修形优化设计

基于齿轮传动系统动力学模型的齿廓修形优化设计可真实地反映修形参数对齿轮动态特性的影响。考虑几何偏心、陀螺力矩和齿向偏载力矩,建立了单级齿轮传动系统10自由度横-扭-摆耦合非线性动力学模型。提出了考虑齿轮实际运动状态并可适用于齿廓修形齿轮的啮合刚度模型,并采用解析法计算啮合刚度。为了降低齿轮传动系统的振动和噪声,以减小齿轮传动系统的动载系数为目标,建立了基于齿轮传动系统横-扭-摆耦合非线性动力学模型的齿廓修形优化模型。对某重载车辆齿轮传动系统进行了齿廓修形优化设计,优化结果有效的降低了齿轮的动载荷,可为设计低振动和低噪声的齿轮传动系统提供依据。     

带有齿根裂纹故障的齿轮传动系统非线性动力学模型研究

在考虑齿面摩擦、时变啮合刚度、传递误差和质量偏心的情况下,利用集中质量法及牛顿定律建立了齿轮传动系统非线性振动微分方程.通过时变啮合刚度仿真了齿根裂纹故障,进而建立了具有齿根裂纹的非线性动力学故障模型.该模型在计算摩擦力时,考虑了载荷在啮合区的动态分配以及利用齿轮副的检验标准与公差值来确定齿轮副的传递误差.模型数值解的结果与故障特征的规律相符,为频谱机理的分析及故障特征的提取提供了有力的理论依据.     

Fault mode analysis and detection for gear tooth crack during its propagating process based on dynamic simulation method

Gearbox is one of the most important parts of rotating machinery, therefore, it is vital to carry out health monitoring for gearboxes. However, it is still an unsolved problem to disclose the impact of gear tooth crack fault on gear system vibration features during the crack propagating process, besides effective crack fault mode detection methods are lacked. In this study, an analytical model is proposed to calculate the time varying mesh stiffness of the meshing gear pair, and in this model the tooth bending stiffness, shear stiffness, axial compressive stiffness, Hertzian contact stiffness and fillet-foundation stiffness are taken into consideration. Afterwards, the vibration mechanism and effects of different levels of gear tooth crack on the gear system dynamics are investigated based on a 6 DOF dynamic model. Then, the crack fault vibration mode is studied, and a parametrical-Laplace wavelet method is presented to describe the crack fault mode. Furthermore, based on the maximum correlation coefficient (MCC) criterion, the optimized Laplace wavelet base is determined, which is then designed as a health indicator to detect the crack fault. The results show that the proposed method is effective in fault diagnosis of severe tooth crack as well as the early stage tooth crack.     

Meshing characteristics of spur gear pair under different crack types

The effects of three different gear crack types such as, for example, the crack along tooth width uniformly and the crack propagating in the depth direction (crack type 1, CT1), the crack along tooth width non-uniformly and the crack propagating in both the depth and the tooth width directions (crack type 2, CT2), and the spatial crack propagating in the depth, the tooth width and the tooth profile directions (crack type 3, CT3) on the time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) of spur gear pairs are investigated in this study. Firstly, an analytical model for studying these three types of cracks is established based on potential energy method. A finite element (FE) model of the cracked spur gear pair is also built in the ANSYS software as well. In order to verify the analytical method, the TVMS obtained from analytical method is compared with that obtained from FE method under different crack types. Moreover, the effects of the depth, the length and the height of crack are discussed. The equivalent stress, contact pressure and displacement of tooth are also analyzed under different crack types by using the FE method. The results show that the effect of crack depth on TVMS is the largest, while that of the crack height is the smallest, and the non-penetrating crack for CT2 and CT3 will generate the non-uniform load distribution along tooth width.     

Time-varying mesh stiffness calculation of spur gears with spalling defect

Considering the effects of extended tooth contact (ETC), revised fillet-foundation stiffness under double-tooth engagement region, nonlinear contact stiffness and tooth spalling defect, an analytical model for time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) calculation of spur gears is established. In addition, the analytical model is also verified by comparing the TVMS under different spalling widths, lengths and locations with that obtained from finite element method. The results show that gear mesh stiffness decreases sharply with the increase of spalling width, especially during the single-tooth engagement; the spalling length only has an effect on the beginning and ending of gear mesh stiffness reduction; the spalling location can affect the range of gear mesh stiffness reduction, and the range will reduce when the spalling location is close to the addendum. This study can provide a theoretical basis for spalling defect diagnosis.     

The effects of spur gear tooth spatial crack propagation on gear mesh stiffness

Due to the presence of non-uniform load distribution, local non-homogeneity of material quality and potential misalignment of gear shafts and bearings, etc., spatial cracks may occur in the fillet region of spur gear teeth. These cracks will eventually propagate in three distinct directions either individually or simultaneously. These directions are the crack depth direction, the tooth width direction and the tooth profile direction. In this paper, an analytical investigation of the influence of spatial crack propagation on the time-varying Gear Mesh Stiffness (GMS) and also the Load Sharing Ratio (LSR) is presented. In order to quantitatively define the spatial crack propagation scenario, the involute spur gear tooth geometry cut with a typical double rounded rack is first determined using two parametric equations. The effects of some gear design parameters and initial crack locations on GMS and LSR are determined and compared with the results from previous papers that used Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in order to verify the proposed analytical model. Finally, a quasi-parabolic crack propagation scenario is assumed, in which 7 propagation cases and 3 typical crack growth paths on the tooth surface are investigated to determine their effect on the maximum reduction of GMS when compared to normal conditions. The results are important for the dynamic simulation of gear transmission behavior, and consequently helpful for the monitoring of gearbox working condition and detection of early crack damage that may exist in gear sets.     

Differential diagnosis of spall versus cracks in the gear tooth fillet region

This paper presents a technique to differentially diagnose two localized gear tooth faults: a spall and a crack in the gear tooth fillet region. These faults could have very different prognoses, but existing diagnostic techniques only indicate the presence of local tooth faults without being able to differentiate between a spall and a crack. The effects of spalls and cracks on the behavior/response of gear assemblies were studied using static and dynamic simulation models. Changes in the kinematics of a pair of meshing gears due to a gear tooth root crack and a tooth flank spall were compared using a static analysis model. The difference in the variation of the transmission error caused by the two faults reveals their characteristics. The effect of a tooth crack depends on the change in stiffness of the tooth, while the effect of a spall is predominantly determined by the geometry of the fault. The effect of the faults on the gear dynamics was studied by simulating the transmission error in a lumped parameter dynamic model. A technique had previously been proposed to detect spalls, using the cepstrum to detect a negative echo in the signal (from entry into and exit from the spall). In the authors’ simulations, echoes were detected with both types of fault, but their different characteristics should allow differential diagnosis. These concepts are presented prior to experimental validation in hopes that the diagnostic techniques will be useful in the failure analysis community prior to the validation by ongoing experimental testing of the concepts and the evaluation of how metallurgical defects may influence fault development and detection.     

Time varying mesh stiffness calculation of spur gear pair considering sliding friction and spalling defects

Spalling is one of the common tooth surface failures of gear teeth and is defined as the formation of deeper cavities that are mainly developed from subsurface defects. The time varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) of gear pairs, gives significant information about the health of the system. The change indirection of time varying friction on both sides of the pitch line causes the change of gear mesh stiffness. This article proposes a computer simulation based approach to study the effect of time varying friction coefficient on the total effective mesh stiffness for the spur gear pair. An analytical method to calculate the TVMS of the spur gear for different spall shapes, size and location considering sliding friction is also proposed in this study. The results show that spall shape, size and location are very important parameters that need to be considered for calculation of TVMS and subsequently to know the dynamic response of the gear pair in the presence of a spall.     

The spur planetary gear torsional stiffness and its crack sensitivity under quasi-static conditions

The sun–planet and ring–planet tooth mesh stiffness variations and the resulting transmission errors are the main internal vibration generation mechanisms for planetary gear systems. This paper presents the results of torsional stiffness analysis of involute spur planetary gear systems in mesh using finite element methods. A planetary gear model with three planet gears and fixed ring gear and its subsystem models have been developed to study the subsystem and overall torsional stiffnesses. Based on the analysis of torsional mesh stiffness, predictive models for single branch sun–planet–ring and overall planetary gear torsional stiffnesses have been proposed. A crack coefficient was introduced to the sun–planet and ring–planet meshes to predict the effect and sensitivity of changes to the overall torsional mesh stiffness. The resulting mesh stiffness crack sensitivity of the overall gear system was analysed under quasi-static conditions. It was found that the carrier arm stiffness has great influence on the crack sensitivity while the overall stiffness was most sensitive to the crack on the sun–planet mesh.     

Review on dynamics of cracked gear systems

Dynamic characteristics of cracked gear systems, also known as cracked-gear rotor systems, have received increasing interests among industry and academy in the past two decades. This paper reviews published papers on the dynamics of cracked gear systems. These studies mainly focused on three topics: crack propagation prediction, time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) calculation and vibration response calculation; Study objects involve the spur gear, helical gear and planetary gear; Different modeling methods including analytical method, finite element (FE) method, combined analytical-FE approach were adopted. More specifically, this review is composed of three related parts according to the above three topics. The first part involves the prediction of the crack propagation path based on two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) gear models, which provides a basis for the hypothesis of crack path in the process of TVMS calculation of cracked gear pairs. The second part summarizes the TVMS calculation methods including analytical methods, FE methods, combined analytical-FE approaches and experimental methods. The final part reviews the dynamic models for vibration analysis of cracked gear systems including lumped mass models and FE models, where the crack effects are characterized by introducing TVMS of cracked gear pairs into the system dynamic models. The well known open problems about cracked gear dynamics are finally stated, and some new research interests are also pointed out. The review will provide valuable references for future studies on dynamics of cracked gears.     

Dynamic features of three-dimensional helical gears under sliding friction with tooth breakage

Mass eccentric and mesh stiffness variation induced by tooth breakage will change the dynamic features of helical gears. However, the internal excitation in helical gears under sliding friction with tooth breakage is seldom considered to reveal the dynamic features. In this study, the calculation method of mesh stiffness in helical gears with tooth breakage is proposed based on the time-varying contact line. A three-dimensional analytical helical gear pair model is developed by considering the mass eccentric and mesh stiffness induced by tooth breakage with sliding friction. The effects of tooth breakage on the dynamic responses of helical gears are performed. The results show that the amplitude modulation phenomenon emerged in the dynamic transmission error by considering the mass eccentric caused by tooth breakage. The oscillation of the dynamic response change significantly in the tooth breakage area, especially with the growth of the breakage size. Sliding friction plays a certain role in inhibiting the amplitude of the frequency. Tooth breakage results in the presence of rotational frequency and sidebands around mesh frequency and its harmonics. The rotational frequency increases significantly by considering the mass eccentricity due to tooth breakage defect.     

A realistic dynamic model for gear fault diagnosis

A reliable dynamic model that predicts the vibrations of a gear transmission containing a fault may allow us to recognize the effects of that fault, to identify its severity, and to develop methods for characterizing its type by using a limited number of experiments. In this research, a new generic model for gear dynamics is proposed. This model is solved numerically, and combines the most advanced approaches for gear modeling, including: modeling the contact between gear pairs as a set of springs, modeling the effect of faults on the mesh stiffness, and integrating the geometric errors. As a result, the model simulates successfully the acceleration signal of a realistic gear pair in a realistic environment. In this paper, we present a different approach to simulate partial tooth face faults, which takes into account the partial contact loss along the tooth contact line due to the fault's geometry. We propose a new analytical formulation for modeling complete tooth face faults that are located across the entire contact area. Additionally, a modified analytical expression for describing the tooth profile errors is proposed. Using a realistic simulation, we were able to experimentally validate the model.     

Improved time-varying mesh stiffness model of cracked spur gears

Based on our previous work (Ma et al., 2014, Engineering Failure Analysis, 44, 179–194), this paper presents an improved analytical model (IAM) for the time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) calculation of cracked spur gears. In the improved analytical model, the calculation error of TVMS under double-tooth engagement due to repeatedly considering the stiffness of the fillet-foundation is revised, and the effects of reduction of fillet-foundation stiffness of cracked gears and extended tooth contact (ETC) are also considered, which have a great influence on TVMS, especially under the condition of large torques and crack levels. Moreover, the comparisons among the IAM, traditional analytical model (TAM) and finite element (FE) model are also carried out under different torques and crack depths. IAM is also verified by comparing TVMS and vibration responses obtained by FE model, which can be considered as a gauge to evaluate the calculation error. The results show that the maximum error of IAM is about 12.04%, however, that of TAM can be up to 32.73%.     

含裂纹故障的齿轮系统动力学特性研究及其故障特征分析

考虑齿轮的时变啮合刚度、传动误差和轴承支撑刚度的影响,建立含齿根裂纹故障的齿轮系统多自由度力学模型,基于动力学方法对其故障机理进行研究。通过材料力学的方法计算齿轮在正常和含裂纹两种情况下的啮合刚度,对比两种刚度曲线的变化趋势,便于进行精确的动力学特性分析;对建立的模型求解系统的动态响应,结果表明当齿根存在裂纹时,其时域波形中会出现周期性的冲击现象,频谱中在啮合频率的基频及其倍频等地方形成一系列等间隔的边频谱线,其间隔大小等于故障齿轮的转频;这些边频成分幅值较低,能量分散且分布不均匀,在不同频带的幅值大小存在差异。针对上述特点,通过正交小波包方法对信号的频带进行分解,应用倒频谱分析各子频带信号的边频成分;结果表明,该方法能够有效的提高信号的信噪比,有助于识别和提取信号中由裂纹故障引起的边频成分。     

Effects of gear center distance variation on time varying mesh stiffness of a spur gear pair

Gear center distance variation is one of the most common defects of gear transmission systems. The changes in the gear center distance as well as other faults (e.g. tooth crack, pitting) have a direct influence on the Time Varying Mesh Stiffness (TVMS) which further modifies gear vibration behaviors. Accurately estimating gear TVMS under fault conditions is crucial in gear vibration dynamic simulation. Common methods used to evaluate TVMS are generally based on the assumption that the gear pair is perfectly mounted and that all mesh points are at their theoretical positions. This assumption prevents these methods from modeling deviations in gear center distance. To address this shortcoming, this paper proposes a new gear mesh kinematic model that can evaluate the actual contact positions of tooth engagement with time varying gear mesh center distance. With the proposed kinematic model, the actual TVMS of both healthy and cracked gear teeth are computed under conditions of perfect mounting, constant gear center distance deviation, and also time-varying gear center distance. Numerical simulations indicate that gear center distance variation has a significant effect on gear TVMS. Comparison between the effect of multiple faults and summed individual effects on TVMS indicates that the TVMS modification due to multiple-faults do not appear to combine in a linear manner. The proposed model for actual TVMS enables gear system dynamic models to be used to study the effects of assembly errors, gear run-out errors, shaft bending, and bearing deformation on the vibration behavior of gear transmission systems.