GEARS III

• Spur Gears
• Tooth Bending Stresses
• Lewis Stress Equation
• Estimating Gear Size
• Fatigue Strength
• Surface Fatigue Strength
Prof. J. Uziak
Design Considerations for a Gear Drive
Design of a gear drive, usually requires the following data:
• Power to be transmitted.
• Speed of the driving gear,
• Speed of the driven gear or the velocity ratio, and
• Centre distance.

Design of a gear drive necessities meeting the following requirements:

• Gear teeth should have sufficient strength so that they will not fail under
static loading or dynamic loading during normal running conditions.
• Gear teeth should have wear characteristics so that their life is
satisfactory.
• Use of space and material should be economical.
• Alignment of the gears and deflections of the shafts must be considered
because they effect on the performance of the gears.
• Lubrication of the gears must be satisfactory.
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Analysis & Design of Gears
Bending failure of the teeth (strength)
• Every gear tooth acts as a cantilever.
• If the total repetitive dynamic load acting on the gear tooth is greater than
the beam strength of the gear tooth, then the gear tooth will fail in
bending, i.e. the gear tooth will break.
• To avoid: module & face width of the gear is adjusted so that the beam
strength is greater than the dynamic load.

Pitting failure of tooth surfaces (wear)

• Surface fatigue failure due to many repetition of Hertz contact stresses.
• Failure occurs when the surface contact stresses are higher than the
endurance limit of the material.
• Failure starts with the formation of pits which continue to grow resulting
in the rupture of the tooth surface.
• To avoid: dynamic load between the gear tooth should be less than the
wear strength of the gear tooth 3
Analysis & Design of Gears
Scoring
• Excessive heat generated with excessive surface pressure, high speed or
supply of lubricant fails.
• Alternate shearing and welding takes place rapidly at high spots.
• To avoid: properly design parameters such as speed, pressure and proper
flow of the lubricant, to limit temperature of rubbing faces within
permissible limits.
Abrasive wear
• Foreign particles in lubricants (dirt, dust) can damage the form of tooth.
• To avoid: provide filters for the lubricating oil or by using high viscosity
lubricant oil (enables formation of thicker oil film and hence permits easy
passage of such particles without damaging the gear surface)
Corrosive wear
• Mainly due to the presence of corrosive elements such as additives present
in the lubricating oils.
• To avoid: this type of wear, proper anti-corrosive additives should be used.
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Analysis & Design of Gears
• The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) - leading
authority for the dissemination of knowledge pertaining to the design
and analysis of gearing
• General AGMA approach requires a great many charts and graphs —
too many for general design course
• Simplifications: single pressure angle & only full-depth teeth.
• Simplification reduces the complexity – but shows the approach.

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Analysis & Design of Gears
Important design limitations in gear drive:

 Heat generated during operation, (2 - 3)%,

 Failure of the teeth by breakage by overload,

 Fatigue failure of the gear teeth: by bending or by surface

fatigue,

 Abrasive wear of the tooth surfaces in contact due to poor

lubrication,

 Noise generated by a high speed, heavy loads, poor

quality of cutting or mounting inaccuracies.
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Lewis Equation

• Formula for bending stress in a tooth derived by Wilfred

Lewis in 1892
• Tooth form plays important role in the derivation
• Assumption made:
o max. load acting on the tip of the tooth
o one pair of teeth carries the load.
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  Lewis Equation

Cantilever beam of cross-section F·t , subjected to a load Wt

uniformly distributed across the face width F
Section modulus for the beam is z = I/c = Ft2/6
The bending stress due to the transmitted load Wt is

M 6 Wt l
 
8
I / c F t2
  Lewis Equation

Maximum Bending Stress - occurs at the point of fixture a of the

tooth. By using similar triangles;
t/2 l t2
 , or x 
x t/2 4l
Rearranging previous equation to include x:
M 6 Wt l 6Wt l Wt 1 Wt 1 1 Wt
   2   2   2  
I / c F t2 Ft F t F t 4 2
F  x
9 6l 4l 6 3
 Wt

Lewis Equation 2
F  x
3
Multiplying the numerator and denominator by the circular pitch p:
Wt
 Using y =2x/3p, Lewis original equation:
 2x 
F   p
 3p 
Wt

F py
y - called the Lewis form factor
In practice module m is employed by substituting p = πm into
Y = π y is the modified Lewis form factor (tabulated)

Wt

F mY
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 Modified Lewis
equation used for
calculating the tooth
bending stress in a
gear:

Wt

F mY
Bending Stress varies:
 Directly with load,
 Inversely with tooth width F
 Inversely with tooth size p or m
 Inversely with tooth shape
factor y or Y.

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 Lewis Equation - Issues

 The tooth load in practice is not static. It is dynamic and is

influenced by pitch line velocity.
 The whole load is carried by single tooth is not correct. Normally
load is shared by teeth since contact ratio is near to 1.5.
 The greatest force exerted at the tip of the tooth is not true as the
load is shared by teeth. It is exerted much below the tip when
single pair contact occurs.
 The stress concentration effect at the fillet is not considered.

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Modified Lewis Bending Stress Equation - Dynamic
Effects

Wt
 Kv
F mY
where,
Kv is Velocity or dynamic factor given by modified Barth’s equation

6 V
Kv 
6

V - pitch-line velocity [m/s].

 Dynamic Factor - Kv

6 V
Cut or milled gears having involute profile K v 
6

Teeth finished by hobbing or shaping 50  200V

Kv 
50
High-precision shaved or ground teeth
subjected to an appreciable dynamic loads 78  200V
Kv 
78
Spur gears high-precision shaved or Kv=1
ground but no appreciable dynamic loads

In equations V - pitch-line velocity [m/s].

 AGMA Equation
Factors that influence gear tooth bending stresses:
 Pitch line velocity.
 Manufacturing accuracy.
 Contact ratio.
 Stress concentration.
 Degree of shock loading.
 Accuracy and rigidity of mounting.
 Moment of inertia of the gears and attached rotating members.

 Proposed AGMA equation overcomes both of the Lewis

assumptions.
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 AGMA Stress Equations
American Gear Manufacturing Association (AGMA) equation
(accommodating the earlier mentioned factors):

Wt
 Kv Ko Km
FmJ

J - spur gear geometry factor

Ko - overload factor
Km - load distribution factor
Kv - velocity factor

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 Bending Stress Geometry Factor (J or YJ)

Geometry Factor defined using

• modified Lewis form factor - Y Y
• fatigue stress-concentration Kf
J
• Note: Y is not the Lewis factor as that listed in table
Kf
before. Value of Y is obtained from calculations within
AGMA 908-B89, and is often based on the highest point
of single-tooth contact.

 Fatigue stress-concentration factor – Kf - is based on a formula

deduced from a photoelastic investigation of stress concentration

Values of the geometry factor are read either from

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graphs or tables
 Geometry Factor: Teeth =20o, a = 1m, b=1.25m & r f=0.300m

18
 Geometry Factor: Teeth =25o, a = 1m, b=1.25m & r f=0.300m

19
 Geometry Factor: Teeth =20o, a = 1m, b=1.25m & r f=0.300m

20
Tables: Overload factor Ko & gear load-distribution factor, Km
Application of Bending Stress Equations

Modified Lewis tooth bending stress:

Used:
 Fatigue failure is not a problem, Wt
 Quick estimate of gear size is needed,
 Kv
F mY
 For later use of these results in
detailed analysis.

AGMA equation for tooth bending stress

Used: Wt
• For important applications, or  Ko Km Kv
FmJ
• When the possibility of fatigue failure
must be considered and analyzed.
Estimating Gear Size

Gear size is obtained by iteration because both the transmitted

load Wt and the pitch-line velocity V depend directly or indirectly on
the module m.

Required information:
• Input power H, Watt, or kW
• Speed of rotation n in rev/min,
• Lewis form factor - Y for the gear to be sized
• Permissible bending stress for the gear material σp in MPa,
• The FS: in designing gears we take a FS > 3.
Estimating Gear Size
Calculation procedure - select trial values for the module and then determine :
1 Pitch diameter d - [m] d  m N (10 3 )
2 Pitch-line velocity V - [m/s] dn
V
60
3 Transmitted load Wt - [N] H
Wt 
where H is the power transmitted – [Watt] V
4 Dynamic factor Kv from any of the equations 6 V
Kv 
6
50  200V
Kv 
50
78  200V
Kv 
78
5 Face width F [mm] Wt
F Kv
mY p
6 Optimum face width F [mm] must be within
3p  F  5p
Fatigue Strength
Endurance limit of a machine element:

S e  k a kb k c k d k e k f S e'

where:
 Se - endurance limit of the gear tooth,
 S‫׳‬e - endurance limit of a rotating-beam specimen
 ka - surface factor,
 kb - size factor,
 kc - reliability factor,
 kd - temperature factor,
 ke - modifying factor for stress concentration
 kf - miscellanies effects factor
 Endurance Limit of a Rotating Beam Specimen - S‫׳‬e

For Sut ≤ 1400 MPa Sut - ultimate, or tensile, strength

Se'  0.5Sut  0.5  800  400 MPa

S‫׳‬e - endurance limit of a rotating-beam specimen

  Surface finish factor, ka
• Factor should always correspond to a machined finish, even
the teeth are ground or shaved, because the fillet surface is
always machined.
• Figure shows the dependence of ka on the strength of the gear
material

Surface finish factor ka vs

tensile strength Sut for cut,
shaved and ground gears
• The size factor, kb
For circular solid cross section the size factor:

kb   1 d  8 mm , or

kb  1.189 d 0.097 8 mm  d  250 mm }

However, spur gear tooth has a rectangular cross section, hence

the equivalent diameter deq should be used in Eq. (a) given by

d eq  p  m

Instead of calculations, the size factor based on module m can be

obtained from the table
Size factor table based on module m
Conservative (save) values
• Reliability factor, kc
Reliability factors for gears are exactly the same as learned in
MMB 322

• Temperature factor, kd
Temperature ≤ 350oC kd = 1
350oC < Temperature ≤ 500oC kd = 0.5

• Modifying factor for stress concentration, ke

Since the fatigue stress-concentration factor Kf has been
incorporated into the AGMA geometry factor J, hence we
should use ke=1 for gears.
• Miscellaneous Effects factor, kf
 Gears that always rotate in the same direction and are not
idle gears are subjected to a tooth force acting on the same
side of the tooth.
 Thus the fatigue load is repeated but not reversed and so
the tooth is said to be subjected to one-way bending.
 Figure shows the variation of the miscellaneous effect factor kf
in terms of strength Sut.Take kf=1 for reversed loads

Miscellaneous
effect factors for
one-way bending of
gear teeth.

Use kf = 1.33 for

values of Sut less than
1.4 GPa
 Tooth Breakage – Bending Failure
• Bending fatigue failure occurs over a long period of time.
• The initiation of crack takes place at the weakest point, normally at
the root of the tooth or at the fillet where high stress concentration
exists together with highest tensile stress from bending
• Then crack propagates fast and suddenly results in fracture of the
tooth

Root crack Tooth breakage

 Surface Fatigue Strength
Surface Durability of Gears
• Failure of the surfaces of gear teeth, generally called wear.
• Pitting - surface fatigue failure due to many repetitions of
high contact (compressive) stresses.
• Scoring - other surface failure which is a lubricant failure,
also called abrasion. In fact this failure is due to the presence of
foreign material.

• To insure a satisfactory life, gears must be designed in such a

way that the surface stresses be less than the surface-
endurance limit of the gear material.
 Pitting
• Pitting is a surface fatigue failure of the gear tooth.
• Occurs due to repeated loading of tooth surface and the contact stress
exceeding the surface fatigue strength of the material.
• Material in the fatigue region gets removed and a pit is formed.
• Pit itself will cause stress concentration and soon the pitting spreads to
adjacent region till the whole surface is covered.
• Subsequently, higher impact load resulting from pitting may cause
fracture of already weakened tooth.
• There are two types of pitting, initial and progressive

Initial Progressive
 Scoring

• Scoring is due to combination of two distinct activities:

• First, lubrication failure in the contact region and second,
establishment of metal to metal contact.
• Later on, welding and tearing action resulting from metallic
contact removes the metal rapidly and continuously so far the
load, speed and oil temperature remain at the same level.
• The scoring is classified into initial, moderate and destructive.

Initial Moderate Destructive

 Surface Durability of Gears
Surface-Contact Stress – equation based on Hertz
theory of contact stresses.

Herzian contact stress - σH Wt

 H   Cp Kv Ko Km
(AGMA version): Fd p I
where:
Wt - the transmitted load,
Cp - elastic coefficient
Kv - velocity factor,
Ko - overload factor
Km - load distribution factor
F - face width,
I - surface geometry factor,
dp - pinion pitch diameter.
Table - Values of Cp elastic coefficient for various gear
Geometry factor-I for Spur & Helical gears is the denominator
of the last term in σH equation:
cos  sin  mG
I  External mesh
2 mG  1

cos  sin  mG
I 
2 mG  1 Internal mesh

mG - gear ratio defined as

NG dG
mG  
Np dp
Surface fatigue strength
Employing the method of bending fatigue (MMB 322) it is possible
to determine the surface fatigue strength of contacting gear teeth.

The surface fatigue strength for steel is given by

Sc  2.76  HB   70 MPa tooth life of 108 stress (load)

S c  2.8  HB   69 MPa tooth life of 107 stress (load)

where HB is the Brinell hardness of the softer of the two

contacting surfaces.
AGMA equation for contact fatigue strength:

CLCH
SH  Sc
CT CR

where:
SH - the fully corrected contact fatigue strength
CL - the life modification factor, use Table
CH - the hardness-ratio factor, for spur gears CH =1
CT - the temperature modification factor, assume CT =1 for
temperature less than 120 oC
CR - the reliability factor, from Table (NOT THE SAME AS kc!)
Sc - the surface fatigue strength, obtained from equation for steel
 Reliability CR and KR are related by equation: C R  K R
 Reliability factor accounts for the effect of the statistical distributions
of material fatigue failures. Load variation is not addressed here.
 Table developed for bending and contact-stress fatigue failures.
Reliability Reliability Factor • Relationship between KR and R is highly
R KR
nonlinear.
0.9999 1.50
• Do not use linear interpolation
0.999 1.25
• For cardinal values of R, take KR the table.
0.99 1.00
• Otherwise use the logarithmic interpolation
0.90 0.85
0.50 0.70  0.658  0.0759 ln(1  R ) for 0.5  R  0.99
KR  
0.50  0.109 ln(1  R ) for 0.99  R  0.9999
Hardness-ratio factor CH is introduced to account for the
differences in the strengths of the pinion and gear material. For
spur gears CH=1
Permissible transmitted load is defined as
Wt , p  nG Wt
where, nG is the safety factor

Herzian contact stress - σH can now be written to give the

Herzian contact strength
Wt , p
SH   C p Kv Ko Km
Fd p I

Above steps are required because σH and Wt in Herzian contact

stress - σH are not linearly related.
 AGMA Stress Equations
 Fundamental stress equations are used in the AGMA methodology:
o bending stress and
o pitting resistance (contact stress).
 In AGMA terminology, these are called stress numbers, as contrasted
with actual applied stresses
 Also, bending factor of safety
Wt
Bending Stress  Kv Ko Km KS K B
FmJ
KH ZR
Pitting Resistance (Contact Stress)  c  Z E Wt K o K v K S
d w1b Z I
S tYN / K T K R 
Bending Factor of Safety SF 

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 Wt
Bending Stress  Kv Ko Km K S K B
FmJ
Wt - tangential transmitted load [N]
F - the face width of the narrower member [mm]
m - the transverse metric module
J - the geometry factor for bending strength (which includes root fillet
stress-concentration factor Kf )
Ko - the overload factor
Km - the load-distribution factor
Kv - the dynamic factor
Ks - the size factor
Ks - the size factor
KB - the rim-thickness factor
45 NOT ALL FACTORS WILL BE CONSIDERED & USED!
 Km ZR
Pitting Resistance (Contact Stress)  c  Z E Wt K o K v K S
d w1b Z I

Wt - tangential transmitted load [N]

ZE - the elastic coefficient [ N / mm 2 1/ 2]
Ko - the overload factor
Kv - the dynamic factor
Ks - the size factor
b - the face width of the narrower member [mm]
Km - the load-distribution factor
ZR - the surface condition factor
dw1 - the pitch diameter of the pinion [mm]
ZI - the geometry factor for pitting resistance
46 NOT ALL FACTORS WILL BE CONSIDERED & USED!
 S tYN / K T K R 
Bending Factor of Safety SF 


SF - safety factor against bending fatigue failure

 - bending stress
YN - the stress-cycle factor
KR - the reliability factor (not the same as kc or CR; KR = CR2)
KT - the temperature factor (use KT = 1 below 120oC)
St - the allowable bending stress [N/mm2]

NOT ALL FACTORS WILL BE CONSIDERED & USED!

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