Influence of the addendum modification on spur gear back-side mesh stiffness and dynamics

This paper analytically investigates the relationship between the drive-side and back-side mesh stiffness for spur gear pairs with various addendum modifications. A time-varying asymmetric mesh stiffness model was built and employed in two typical gear dynamic models to simulate the effect of the addendum modification on gear dynamics. The results reveal that correlation of the back-side mesh stiffness with drive-side mesh stiffness is mainly affected by the tooth thickness at the pitch circle. Since tooth addendum modification directly determines the tooth thickness at the pitch circle, it significantly influences gear back-side tooth impact as it can alter the phase shift of the back-side mesh stiffness with regard to the drive-side mesh stiffness. Therefore, a precise time-varying asymmetric mesh stiffness model should be used to analyze gear dynamics when the gears are working under light load or idling conditions where back-side tooth impact is most likely to happen. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.