A Finite Element Model for Consideration of the Torsional Effect on the Bearing Contact of Gear Drives

The finite element method is widely applied for the determination of contact and bending stresses in gear drives. It is based on the finite element model of the gear drive that is built by the discretization of the pinion and gear teeth and usually does not take into account the supporting components of the gears, as shafts, their bearings, or the gear case. Such components have an important influence in the formation of the bearing contact due to their deformations under load. Recently, some improved models have been proposed for finite element analysis of gear drives including their shafts. Those models have allowed shaft deflections to be taken into account for the investigation of formation of the bearing contact under load and its influence on bending and contact stresses. In this paper, an enhanced finite element model that takes into account not only the shaft deflections but also the torsional deformation of gear tooth surfaces due to torque transmission is proposed. Some numerical examples have been included.