On modeling and vibration of gear drives influenced by nonlinear couplings

Gear drives are one of the most common parts in many rotating machinery. When the gear drive runs under lower torque load, nonlinear effects like gear mesh interruption can occur and vibration can be accompanied by impact motions of the gears. This paper presents an original method of the mathematical modeling of gear drive nonlinear vibrations using modal synthesis method with degrees of freedom number reduction. The model respects nonlinearities caused by gear mesh interruption, parametric gearing excitation caused by time-varying meshing stiffness and nonlinear contact forces acting between journals of the rolling-element bearings and the outer housing. The nonlinear model is then used for investigation of gear drive vibration, especially for detection of nonlinear phenomena like impact motions, bifurcation of solution and chaotic motions in case of small static load and in resonant states. The theoretical method is used for investigation of two-stage gearbox nonlinear vibration.