A surface wear model for hypoid gear pairs

In this paper, a methodology was proposed for simulation of surface wear of face-milled or face-hobbed hypoid gear pairs. The methodology combines Archard's wear model with a finite-element based hypoid gear contact model. The wear model requires the sliding distances and contact pressures to be computed along the contact zones at each rotational gear position. Formulations were proposed for computation of sliding distance along the tooth contact zones based on hypoid gear kinematics and geometry of the tooth surfaces, and the contact model was used to predict the normal contact pressure distributions. An example hypoid gear pair was analyzed for its wear behavior. Influences of gear position errors on wear patterns were demonstrated. An approximate method that is computationally more efficient was also proposed at the end.