DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SPUR GEAR PAIRS - STEADY-STATE RESPONSE AND STABILITY OF THE SDOF MODEL WITH TIME-VARYING MESHING DAMPING

The steady-state response and stability of the single degree of freedo m (sdof) model of a pair of low contact ratio spur gears are studied. In the proposed model, a time-varying stiffness of the meshing tooth p airs and a viscous damping proportional to the meshing stiffness are c onsidered. Gear errors of each meshing tooth pair are also included. A continuous closed-form solution was obtained for any rotational speed where there is no tooth separation. Transition curves separating stab le and unstable regions are computed by Hill infinite determinant; dif ferent meshing stiffness are considered and the influence of both damp ing and contact ratios are investigated. One of the advantages of the technique used is the speed and accuracy of the computation of the res ponses and transition curves. Results obtained by the numerical simula tion of the steady-state responses of two different pairs of spur gear s are satisfactorily compared to experimental results. (C) 1997 Academ ic Press Limited.