Influence of tribological and geometrical parameters on lubrication conditions and noise of gear transmissions

a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 21 December 2012
Received in revised form 13 June 2013
Accepted 15 June 2013
Available online 12 July 2013
This paper shows the influence of different parameters on lubrication conditions and
structure-borne noise of gear transmissions by using multi-body simulation. A new method for
simulating gear contacts is presented which includes the oil film between tooth flanks and elastic
flank deformation. Furthermore, procedures for the simulation of other gearbox elements
like bearings, shafts and housing are shown. The approach enables the simulation of complete
transmissions, the prediction of lubrication conditions and the direct determination of
structure-borne noise. An experimental transmission is used for the model validation. The
structure-borne noise level and its frequency spectrum are measured at a real transmission,
compared with the simulated ones and show a good correlation. The model is used to
investigate the influence of different tribological, geometrical and operational parameters for
a rattling and a loaded gear pair. The time-dependent behavior of flank forces, integral
characteristics like excitation levels and efficiency for different loads and the distribution of
pressures on tooth flanks are presented. Finally, the basic influence of all parameters on
important characteristic values is given in table form.

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