Article,
Analysis of Crack Severity on Power Density Increment of Gears
AMAE International Journal on Manufacturing and Material Science, 1 (1): 5 (May 2011)
Abstract
Helical gears are commonly used in industry as
they have advantages of higher power density, quieter
operation etc., compared to spur gears. Conventional gear
design is based on various design criteria, including durability
and bending strength load rating. In recent times, fracture
failure modes are gaining importance in addition to
conventional failure modes. Stresses due to operating fatigue
loads and internal residual stresses can cause fatigue fracture
failure on the surface, sub-surface of gear flanks or at tooth
root of gears. During gear design, various parameters are
optimized, and one such parameter is the helix angle that is
optimized for power density and gear noise. However, effect of
possible defects (voids and inclusions) in the gear tooth is not
usually considered in these calculations. This paper is a study
on severity of defects in a gear blank relative to power density
increment. Three different gear geometries (spur and helical
gears with two different helix angles) each with similar defects
are considered. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to
analyze Tooth Interior Fracture (TIF), and study variation of
Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) with crack size and helix angle.
It is seen that power density increment of a common gear
blank through helix angle increment poses a higher risk of
crack severity, as the same gear blank is exposed to higher
operating loads.
