Gear mesh excitation and non-uniform Rational B-Splines

The noise generation of gearboxes is mainly referred to the characteristic transmission process of the mating gear teeth as the periodically changing contact conditions lead to an internal dynamic excitation. The geometry and condition of the gear teeth is therefore a significant influencing factor on the noise and vibration quality. As a result, the complex circumstances in the gear mesh require specific considerations in acoustically motivated calculations. Using Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines appears to be an appropriate alternative for numerical modeling speeding up computation time by still maintaining the underlying geometry in a highly accurate manner. The basic concept of the proposed method is explained, validated and finally applied to a sample gear with special focus on the occurring tooth root stresses during power transmission cycles.