The gears in a gear box fitted in an armoured tracked vehicle for the purpose of power transmission and positioning of rotating heavy mass to the desired angle with high accuracy are subjected to fluctuating loads that are random in nature. One of the important modes of failure in cyclic loading conditions including random loads is fatigue failure. It is thus important from the design point of view to estimate the life of the gears under these conditions. The fatigue life of components subjected to sinusoidal loading can be estimated by using cumulative damage theories. Their extension to random load fatigue, though straightforward, may not be very accurate owing to inherent scatter exhibited by the fatigue phenomenon. It is therefore necessary experimentally to determine the fatigue life of randomly loaded components and establish the validity of the theoretical model. An electrohydraulic test rig has been designed and fabricated that is capable of generating different types of load pattern by ad...

Bending fatigue testing of gear teeth under random loading

This paper presents a study on bending fatigue strength of spur gears in low-cycle range. The calculating methods for adjacent-tooth gaps and the circumferential load, under which adjacent-tooth contacts occur due to the deflections of meshing teeth, are introduced. The validity of these calculating methods is confirmed by carrying out a static loading test. The characteristics of the bending fatigue strength of spur gears in low-cycle range are clarified to a considerable extent by carrying out a bending fatigue test.

Yutaka Harada

Papers

Bending Fatigue Strength of Spur Gears in Low-cycle Range

Bending Fatigue Strength of Spur Gears in Low-Cycle Range