Abstract Gear meshing surfaces are readily exposed to wear due to inadequate lubrication and long-time operation. Accumulative wear causes variations of gear tooth profile, resulting in variations of gear tooth's mesh stiffness and gear system's dynamic characteristics. This study presents an evaluation of influences of tooth surface wear (TSW) on stiffness of the gear mesh considering wear evolution process. Specifically, a wear prediction model for external spur gear (ESG) was established according to the Archard's wear equation. Considering the worn tooth profile, a modified analytical time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) model was derived by the potential energy method. The modified TVMS model was then applied for an ESG pair and the numerical results demonstrate that TSW may lead to significant reductions of mesh stiffness during the double tooth contact period. Furthermore, effects of TSW on TVMS were quantified and the results indicate that the mean decrease of mesh stiffness is almost proportional to the maximum tooth wear in the initial wear evolution process.

中文翻译：

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考虑磨损演化过程的齿面磨损对外正齿轮时变啮合刚度影响的研究

摘要 由于润滑不足和长时间运转，齿轮啮合面很容易受到磨损。累积磨损会引起轮齿轮廓的变化，从而导致轮齿啮合刚度和齿轮系统动态特性的变化。本研究评估了考虑磨损演变过程的齿面磨损 (TSW) 对齿轮啮合刚度的影响。具体而言，根据Archard磨损方程建立了外齿轮（ESG）磨损预测模型。考虑到磨损的齿廓，通过势能法推导出了一种改进的解析时变网格刚度（TVMS）模型。然后将修改后的 TVMS 模型应用于 ESG 对，数值结果表明 TSW 可能导致双齿接触期间啮合刚度的显着降低。此外，量化了 TSW 对 TVMS 的影响，结果表明啮合刚度的平均下降几乎与初始磨损演变过程中的最大齿磨损成正比。