Abstract
Existing studies primarily focus on stiffness and damping under full-film lubrication or dry contact conditions. However, most lubricated transmission components operate in the mixed lubrication region, indicating that both the asperity contact and film lubrication exist on the rubbing surfaces. Herein, a novel method is proposed to evaluate the time-varying contact stiffness and damping of spiral bevel gears under transient mixed lubrication conditions. This method is sufficiently robust for addressing any mixed lubrication state regardless of the severity of the asperity contact. Based on this method, the transient mixed contact stiffness and damping of spiral bevel gears are investigated systematically. The results show a significant difference between the transient mixed contact stiffness and damping and the results from Hertz (dry) contact. In addition, the roughness significantly changes the contact stiffness and damping, indicating the importance of film lubrication and asperity contact. The transient mixed contact stiffness and damping change significantly along the meshing path from an engaging-in to an engaging-out point, and both of them are affected by the applied torque and rotational speed. In addition, the middle contact path is recommended because of its comprehensive high stiffness and damping, which maintained the stability of spiral bevel gear transmission.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 51875369), and by the Chongqing Key Industry General Key Technology Innovation Special Major R & D Projects (No. cstc2017zdcy-zdzxX0001). Wei Pu would also like to thank the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. YJ201752).
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Zongzheng WANG. He is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering from Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. He received his M.S. degree in School of Aeronautical & Astronautical Science and Technology from Sichuan University in 2020. His research interests include interface mechanics (lubrication, friction, flash temperature, contact fatigue, contact stiffness, and damping) and nonlinear dynamics.
Wei PU. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Sichuan University, China, in 2017. He joined the Sichuan University from 2017. He won the Tsinghua University’s Wen Shi Zhu Maple Leaf Award— Outstanding Young Scholar Award in 2018. His current position is a professor. His research areas cover the tribology of gear transmission, molecular dynamics, and nanomaterials.
Xin PEI. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Sichuan University, China, in 2020. He joined the Sichuan University from 2020. His current position is an assistant research associate. His research interests include friction, lubrication, wear, and dynamics. He has been conducting experimental and numerical research on a variety of tribology related industry problems.
Wei CAO. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, in 2019. Now, he is a lecturer at School of Construction Machinery, Chang’an University. His research interests are tribology, dynamics, and fatigue in transmission systems.
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Wang, Z., Pu, W., Pei, X. et al. Contact stiffness and damping of spiral bevel gears under transient mixed lubrication conditions. Friction 10, 545–559 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0479-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0479-8