A computational model for determination of service life of gears

A computational model for determination of service life of gears in regard to bending fatigue in a gear tooth root is presented. The fatigue process leading to tooth breakage is divided into crack initiation and crack propagation period. The strain-life method n the framework of the FEM-method has been used to determine the number of stress cycles N-i required for the fatigue crack initiation, where it is assumed that the crack is initiated at the point of the largest stresses in a gear tooth root. The simple Paris equation is then used for the further simulation of the fatigue crack growth. The functional relationship between the stress intensity factor and crack length K = f(a), which is needed for determination of the required number of loading cycles N-p for a crack propagation from the initial to the critical length, is obtained using displacement correlation method in the framework of the FEW method. The total number of stress cycles N for the final failure to occur is then a sum of N-i and N-p. The model is used for determination of service life of real spur gear made from through-hardened steel 42CrMo4, where required material parameters have been determined previously by the appropriate test specimens. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.