Jianxiong Dong

State Key Laboratory of High Performance

Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;
Light Alloy Research Institute,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;

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College of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China
Zehua Hu1
State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;
College of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China
Jinyuan Tang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;
College of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China
Zhiwei Wang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;
College of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China
Investigation of the Vibration
Features and Dynamic Load
Sharing Characteristics of
Concentric Face Gear Torque
Split Transmission
A concentric face gear torque split system used in the helicopter main transmission to
transfer more power and reduce the structure weight is introduced. A mathematical
model is proposed to analyze the vibration characteristics as well as load sharing per-
formances of the torque split system. The excitations including mesh stiffness, backlash,
static transmission error, and system work torque are considered in the model. The vibra-
tion property, dynamic displacement responses, and the system factors which affect the
load sharing capacity of the system are studied based on the numerical analysis results.
The results show that vibration forms of the system can be classified into three categories:
pinion vibration mode, face gear vibration mode, and pinion coupled face gear mode.
Resonance peaks and jump phenomena are detected around rotation speed 5772 rpm and
10,250 rpm, mainly related to the coupled translational–rotational–axial of face gears
vibration modes. In addition, appropriate gear pair backlash and pinion distribution
angle parameters are significant to improve the dynamic load sharing capacity. The
increase of the pinion bearings’ supporting stiffness will generate worse load sharing
characteristics and a relative flexible bearing is recommended to the pinions’ supporting.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4051053]
Keywords: face gear, torque split transmission, vibration feature, dynamic load sharing

Siyu Chen
State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China;
College of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering,
Central South University,
Changsha 410083, China

1 Introduction the development and improvement of the power system in the

aeronautic research field. As a new research hotpot, the tooth
Face gear drive pair, in which a face gear being in engagement
design, manufacturing mechanism and transmission performance
with a conjugated involute spur gear, is widely used as a torque
investigation of the face gear system have attracted lots of
split and drive direction change the mechanical structure in the
researchers’ interest and attention.
main reducer gearbox of the helicopter. The advantages including
Litvin et al. [1–3] conducted an overall and comprehensive
compact structure, light weight, high transmission ratio, and tor-
analysis of the geometry, design, generation, and usage of the face
que split capacity make this novel transmission style significant to
gear drives in the helicopter transmission, which opened a wide
gate of the face gear investigation. The different conjugate condi-
1
Corresponding author. tions of face gear pair including a new style of asymmetric face
Contributed by the Design Engineering Division of ASME for publication in the
JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS. Manuscript received
gear drive [4], involute profile, and modified tooth profile of pin-
September 26, 2020; final manuscript received April 28, 2021; published online May ion contact with face gear [5], as well as two versions of face gear
25, 2021. Assoc. Editor: Tsuyoshi Inoue. transmission engaged with corresponding helical pinion [6], are

Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics JULY 2021, Vol. 16 / 071003-1

C 2021 by ASME
Copyright V
investigated. In the tooth geometry and design research, Litvin
et al. [7] studied the typology of modified tooth surfaces of invo-
lute helical gears to avoid edge contact and reduce the transmis-
sion error caused by misalignment based on the tooth contact
analysis simulation results. Zanzi and Pedrero [8] designed a dou-
ble crowned pinion geometry to improve the sensitivity of face
gear pair to misalignments and developed an enhanced manufac-
turing approach using longitudinal plunging, which proved that a
suitable choice of the machine tool settings can achieve the avoid-
ance of edge contact. Li et al. [9] derived the geometry boundary
conditions and modification factors of face gear tooth based on
the face gear tooth geometry features instead of the traditional
conjugation theories and proposed a construction solution of face
gear tooth modeling.
As for the generation methods and manufacturing tools study of
face gear pairs, Litvin et al. [10] investigated the generation of
face gear using grinding or cutting worm different from the tradi-
tional method of manufacturing with an involute shaper, and
developed a computer program to simulate the contact and trans-
mission property of pinion and face gear. Related machine-tool
settings are determined to improve the shift of bearing contact
based on the stress analysis. Wang et al. [11,12] analyzed the pre-
cise grinding technology by disk wheel for complex face gear
teeth with both the method of wheel dressing and the design
approach of computer numerical control (CNC) cutter sites pro-
vided. Guo et al. [13] developed a grinding face gear approach
with CNC machines and developed an analytical model to predict
the envelope residual when grinding face gear teeth using a disk
wheel. A grinding experiment was performed and the tooth sur-
face deviation proved that the grinding approach is efficient. Shen
et al. [14] studied the tool motions to obtain the profile crowned
geometry of face gear tooth by applying a longitudinal ease-off
topography method on a CNC machine and validated the feasibil-
ity of the method based on numerical examples. Tang et al. [15]
established the approach of modified spur face gear driving, the
model of a cutter, disk wheel, and spur face gear by applying the
differential geometry and gear mesh theory. Yang and Tang [16]
developed a plunge milling approach for spur face gear processing
based on the principle of the gear shaper processing and meshing
relationship between gears. The features of the contact line of
shaper and gear are explored and the parameter choices including
swing angle range of the copying curve as well as the radical feed
range of the cutter is determined. Zhou et al. [17] studied a multi-
step grinding approach for grinding the face gear tooth surface
with worm based on analyzing contact characteristics of the gear
pair and singularities of the worm thread surface to deal with the
problem which the working section of tooth surface of the face
gear may be considered incompletely. Zhou et al. [18] proposed a
new geometric investigation to bridge the gap between the
computer-aided design procedure and the computer numerical
control milling step of the face gear pair. The closed-form instead
of the implicit solution of face gear tooth surface was gained and
a complete algorithm was developed to get the tool paths by using
appropriate allowable cutter parameters without interference.
Lots of transmission performance investigations of the face
gear pair have also been conducted, which focuses on both the
tooth contact analysis in quasi-static status and dynamic behaviors
in actual work condition, with the purpose of enhancing the appli-
cation of this new transmission structure. Chang et al. [19] derived
the analytical geometry and proposed a mathematical model of
face gear drive to study the tooth contact paths and transmission
error caused by the assembly error along the face gear axis and
the misalignment of crossed and angular displacements between
axes of face gear pair. Barone et al. [20] investigated the influen-
ces of misalignment and profile modification at the root of the pin-
ion tooth using CAD and FEM tools. Guingand et al. [21]
developed a procedure to study the instantaneously loaded contact
features of a face gear considering the cutting and assembling
errors and carried out an experiment with the usage of strain gages
to validate the simulation results. Tang and Liu [22] conducted a
071003-2 / Vol. 16, JULY 2021
multitooth contact analysis in loaded conditions and calculated
the tooth stress of the gear pair by applying the analytical
approach based on Hertz’s theory and the numerical finite element
method. When it comes to the dynamics of face gear transmission,
abundant accomplishments were gained. Peng and Desmidt [23]
analyzed the torsional stability numerically via Floquet theory and
predicted the parametric instability boundaries for face gear pair
with small time-varying components using perturbation technique
analytically. Li et al. investigated the relationships between the
tooth profile modification [24], web structure design [25–27], pin-
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ion dedendum fatigue crack [28], and the dynamic behaviors of
face gear drive to improve the vibration and noise characteristics
of the system. Dai et al. [29] carried out an investigation of the
evaluation and improvement of the lubrication property of an
orthogonal face gear transmission including the modeling, compu-
tational fluid dynamics numerical simulation as well as experi-
mental research. The effects of jet nozzle layout factors on the
lubrication characteristics were studied. Dai et al. [30] also inves-
tigated the windage power loss of a high-speed face gear transmis-
sion numerically by adopting the multireference frame and
periodic boundary conditions based on the computational fluid
dynamics method. Hu et al. [31] studied the influences of tooth
pair mesh stiffness property on the dynamic responses of face
gear pair by comparing the results from nonlinear time-varying
and time-invariant dynamic model. The obvious dynamic behav-
iors such as bifurcation, chaos, loss of contact, and jump phenom-
ena were detected. Chen et al. [32] studied the influences of
pinion tooth profile modification on the mesh pattern and dynamic
behaviors of face gear drives. Hu et al. [33] discussed the influen-
ces of directional rotation radius as well as static transmission
error excitations on the dynamic responses of face gear pair based
on a pure torsional vibration mathematical model. Hu et al. [34]
also investigated the contact characteristics and coupled transla-
tion rotation vibration behaviors of face gear drive taking the
time-varying and spatial mesh features, nonlinear backlash, and
gyroscopic effects at high rotation speed into account.
As mentioned above, most of the researches are limited to the
design and manufacturing study of face gear, and pinion tooth, as
well as the drive performance and dynamic responses of single
face gear meshing pair. Nevertheless, in actual engineering appli-
cation, almost all the face gear pairs are used as torque split trans-
mission structure component in the helicopter with face gear
being in contact with multiple pinions simultaneously. Only a few
papers related to the face gear drives work in torque split structure
exist. Peng et al. [35] studied the dynamic behavior and paramet-
ric stability of multiple spur pinions engaged with face gear based
on the model of a spinning disk considering time-varying mesh
loads caused by the meshing kinematics and nonunity contact
ratio. Li et al. [36] proposed a star pinion geometry phase adjust-
ment solution and investigated the influences of this parameter on
the dynamic load sharing responses of two version differential
face gear systems. Zhao et al. [37] presented a hybrid finite
element-lumped parameter quasi-static gear model to investigate
the quasi-static load distribution performances of concentric tor-
que split face gear drive system with flexible face gear. Dong
et al. [38] studied the assembly principles, power direction and
quasi-static load sharing property of the concentric face gear tor-
que split transmission system based on a finite element model
which is novel in the setting of analytical procedures, boundary
conditions, and grid types. The influences of load conditions of
the system, distribution angles of pinions, layout form as well as a
number of idler pinions on the power direction and load sharing
coefficients were investigated.
In this study, the transmission performances and load sharing
characteristics of the concentric face gear torque split system are
investigated from a dynamic point of view. In Sec. 2, taking the
time-varying mesh stiffness, nonlinear backlash, static transmis-
sion error excitation, and system torque into account, a lumped
parameter mathematical model of concentric face gear torque split
transmission is proposed. In Sec. 3, the vibration property
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 1 Concentric face gear torque split transmission
including natural frequencies and corresponding modes, dynamic
responses in normal work condition, and speed sweep process are
studied based on the numerical results. Moreover, the influences
of the meshing phase difference, tooth backlash, bearing support-
ing stiffness, as well as, distribution angle of pinion on the
dynamic load sharing property of the torque split system are
investigated. In Sec. 4, the conclusions are given.
2 System model
2.1 Concentric face Gear Torque Split Transmission. A
novel concentric face gear torque split transmission is introduced
into the helicopter main transmission to transfer more power and
reduce the weight of the drive system. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the
input power from the engine, which passes through the clutch and
flows into two input pinions, is divided into the upper (output)
face gear and lower (idler) face gear. Then the power in the lower
face gear is recombined to the upper face gear through three idler
pinions to drive the main rotor, as well as, transferred to the power
take-off idler to drive the tail rotor simultaneously.
One of the main objectives of this study is to propose a mathe-
matical model to investigate the modal property of the concentric
face gear torque split transmission analytically and identify the
key design parameters that affect the vibration characteristics. In
order to simplify the modeling of the system, the specific struc-
tures including the hub of the upper face gear and flexible shafts
of the input pinions are neglected. The geometries of the upper
and lower face gears are identical which makes the gear inter-
changeable. Same assumptions are made to the input and idler
pinions.
As shown in Fig. 2, the positions of the pinions are determined
by the distribution angles, which can define and influence the rela-
tive phasing of the time-varying mesh stiffness. The distribution
angles under consideration are /i ði ¼ 1; 2; …; 5Þ, the relative
angle between the pinion and the synchronous point of the tail
Fig. 2 Distribution angles of the pinions
Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics
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Fig. 3 Lumped-parameter mathematical model of the system
rotor idler which is chosen as the reference initial position. Here,
the subscript i ¼ 1; 2; …; 5 represents the tail rotor idler, right
idler, right input pinion, left input pinion and left idler, respec-
tively. Without loss of generality, /1 ¼ 0.
2.2 Mathematical model. A lumped parameter mathematical
model [31,33,34] of concentric face gear torque split transmission
is given in Fig. 3 with only two pinions being illustrated to keep
the schematic diagram succinct. Each of the upper face gear,
lower face gear, and pinions are treated as rigid bodies. Support-
ing bearings are represented by linear springs. The gear mesh
interactions are simulated by meshing stiffness, meshing damping,
and static transmission error excitation acting along the line of
action. Each component has four degrees-of-freedom: three trans-
lations and one rotation. Then the mathematical model of the sys-
tem can be described by a total of 28 global coordinates
q ¼ ½x1 ; y1 ; z1 ; h1z ; x2 ; y2 ; z2 ; h2z ; …; x7 ; y7 ; z7 ; h7z T (1)
In the global coordinates, xn , yn , and zn refer to the translational
displacements in x-, y-, and z-directions, hnz is the rotational dis-
placements along the z axis. n ¼ 1; 2; …; 5 refers to the pinions
and n ¼ 6; 7 represents the lower and upper face gear, respec-
tively. The translational and rotational displacements are given in
seven global reference frames fixed to the pinion and gear bodies,
which are illustrated in Fig. 4.
The equations of motion of this torque split system can be
developed by using the Lagrangian method as
 
@ @W @W @V
 þ ¼ Ql ðl ¼ 1; 2; 3; …; 28Þ (2)
@t @ q_ l @ql @ql
where W is the total kinetic energy, V is the total potential energy,
and Ql refers to the generalized force relates to each generalized
global coordinate. t is the time and ql denotes each coordinate in
Eq. (1).
The total kinetic energy of the system will be written
7  
1X 2
W¼ mn x_ 2n þ mn y_ 2n þ mn z_ 2n þ In h_ nz (3)
2 n¼1
The whole potential energy of the system can be obtained with
two parts: the potential energy from the supporting bearing Vs and
the potential energy from the meshing gear teeth Vm , which can
be expressed as
V ¼ Vs þ Vm (4)
JULY 2021, Vol. 16 / 071003-3
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Fig. 4 Global reference frames of system: (a) front view from the tail rotor idler and (b) top
view from the upper face gear

1X 7   X
1
Vs ¼ knx x2n þ kny y2n þ knz z2n (5) k16 ðtÞ ¼ ½aj sin jxm ðt  c67 TÞ þ bj cos jxm ðt  c67 TÞ (10)
2 n¼1 j¼0

1  X
1
Vm ¼ k16 d216 þ k26 d226 þ k36 d236 þ k46 d246 þ k56 d256 ki6 ðtÞ ¼ ½aj sin jxm ðt  ci6 TÞ þ bj cos jxm ðt  ci6 TÞ (11)
2
1  j¼0
þ k17 d217 þ k27 d227 þ k37 d237 þ k47 d247 þ k57 d257 (6)
2 Here xm is the meshing frequency, aj and bj denote the amplitudes
Here ki6 and ki7 represents the time-varying mesh stiffness of the of the corresponding harmonic components. c67 is the phase dif-
pinion and face gear pairs. di6 and di7 denotes to the displacement ference between the tail rotor idler-upper face gear mesh and the
along the line of action between the pinions and face gears. tail rotor idler-lower face gear mesh and determined by the tooth
Assume each of the pinion-face gear meshes have the same number of the tail rotor idler.
shape of mesh stiffness variation, while, they are not in phase In order to describe the displacements along the line of action
with each other. The phasing angle corresponds to the microtun- of the 10 meshing gear pairs, 10 local reference frames with
ing in one angular pitch which starts from the synchronous points superscript (*) are introduced as illustrated in Fig. 5.
of the first pinion to those of the second or other pinion. The phase The transformation matrix between the local and global coordi-
relationships in this work will be introduced in terms of mesh nates can be expressed as
stiffness variation functions ki6 ðtÞ and ki7 ðtÞ which are time- 2 3 2 32 3
dependent equations and periodic during one mesh cycle [39]. x6 cos /i sin /i 0 x6i
6 7 6 76  7
The phase differences are referenced to the pitch points of the 6 y6 7 ¼ 6 sin /i cos /i 0 76 y6i 7;
4 5 4 54 5
pinion-face gear tooth pairs and can be given as a fraction of the
mesh period T, like ci6 T and ci7 T. z6 0 0 1 z6i
Here, the dimensionless fractional portions of the phase differ- 2 3 2 32 3
x6i cos /i sin /i 0 x6
ences can be expressed as the ratio of distribution angles to the 6  7 6 76 7
6 y6i 7 ¼ 6 sin /i cos /i 0 7 6 7
angular pitch of face gear, ignoring the whole number portion but 4 5 4 5 4 y6 5
keeping the decimal portion. Restrict the range of the dimension- 
z6i 0 0 1 z6
less phase difference to 0  ci6 ; ci7 < 1, and define 2 3 2 32 3 (12)
x7 cos /i sin /i 0 x7i
N6 /i N7 /i 6 7 6 76  7
ci6 ¼ ; ci7 ¼ (7) 6 y7 7 ¼ 6 sin /i cos /i 0 7 6 7
2p 2p 4 5 4 54 y7i 5;
z7 0 0 1 z7i
Here N6 and N7 are the tooth number of face gear. 2 3 2 32 3
Without loss of generality, we choose the tail rotor idler and x7i cos /i sin /i 0 x7
upper face gear mesh pair as the referenced initial position and 6  7 6 76 7
6 y7i 7 ¼ 6 sin /i cos /i 0 76 y7 7
give the periodic mesh stiffness functions in Fourier series form 4 5 4 54 5
as z7i 0 0 1 z7

X
1
Then, the displacements along the line of action of the 10 mesh-
k17 ðtÞ ¼ ½aj sin jxm t þ bj cos jxm t (8)
ing gear pairs can be given as
j¼0

di6 ¼ ðxi  x6i Þcos a þ ðri hiz  r6 h6z Þcos a þ ðyi þ z6 Þsin a  ei6 ðtÞ
X
1
ki7 ðtÞ ¼ ½aj sin jxm ðt  ci7 TÞ þ bj cos jxm ðt  ci7 TÞ (9) di7 ¼ ðxi  x7i Þcos a þ ðri hiz  r7 h7z Þcos a þ ðyi  z7 Þsin a  ei7 ðtÞ
j¼0 (13)

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Fig. 5 The relationships and transformations of the global and local reference frames (a)
local coordinates of the lower face gear pair and (b) local coordinates of the upper face gear
pair

Here a is the pressure angle of the gear pair, ri represents the The external torque vector can be written as
radius of the base circle of pinions, r6 and r7 refers to the distance
from the contact position to the central line of rotation of face Fex ¼ ½0; 0; 0; T1 ; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0; T3 ; 0; 0; 0; T4 ; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0;
gear, ei6 ðtÞ and ei7 ðtÞ are the static transmission error excitation of 0; 0; 0; 0; 0; T7 T
the meshing gear pair relates to the lower and upper face gear,
respectively. (18)
By applying the Lagrange equation, the equation of motion of
the system can be derived in matrix form as Here T3 and T4 denotes the input torque applied to the ring and
left input pinions, T1 and T7 are the output torque of the tail rotor
q þ Kq þ NFðq; qÞ
M€ _ ¼ Fex (14) idler and upper face gear, respectively.
The backlash effect of the gear teeth mesh is taken into account
The mass matrix has the form by using the nonlinear function in the following form:
8
M ¼ diagðm1 ; m1 ; m1 ; I1 ; m2 ; m2 ; m2 ; I2 ; …; m7 ; m7 ; m7 ; I7 Þ (15) <d  b d>b
f ðdÞ ¼ 0 b  d  b (19)
:
and the stiffness matrix from the supporting bearings can be given dþb d < b
as
Here d is the general displacement along a line of action of the
K ¼ diagðk1x ; k1y ; k1z ; 0; k2x ; k2y ; k2z ; 0; …; k7x ; k7y ; k7z ; 0Þ (16) gear pair and b is half of gear tooth backlash.
Considering the tooth backlash, the nonlinear mesh force of the
Here mi is the gear mass, and Ii is the inertia moment of gear. system can be modified to
With considering the mesh damping effect, the nonlinear mesh
force of the system can be expressed NFðq; q_ Þ
@d17 @d27 @d37
¼ k17 f ðd17 Þ þ k27 f ðd27 Þ þ k37 f ðd37 Þ
@d17 @d27 @d37 @d47 @q @q @q
NFðq; q_ Þ ¼ k17 d17 þ k27 d27 þ k37 d37 þ k47 d47
@q @q @q @q @d47 @d57
þ k47 f ðd47 Þ þ k57 f ðd57 Þ
@d57 @d16 @d26 @q @q
þ k57 d57 þ k16 d16 þ k26 d26
@q @q @q @d16 @d26 @d36
þk16 f ðd16 Þ þ k26 f ðd26 Þ þ k36 f ðd36 Þ
@d36 @d46 @d56 @q @q @q
þ k36 d36 þ k46 d46 þ k56 d56 @d46 @d56
@q @q @q þ k46 f ðd46 Þ þ k56 f ðd56 Þ
@d 17 @d 27 @d 37
@q @q
þ c17 d_ 17 þ c27 d_ 27 þ c37 d_ 37 @d @d @d37 @d47
@q @q @q þ c17 d_ 17
17
þ c27 d_ 27
27
þ c37 d_ 37 þ c47 d_ 47
@d47 @d57 @d16 @q @q @q @q
þ c47 d_ 47 þ c57 d_ 57 þ c16 d_ 16 @d 57 @d16 @d26 @d 36
@q @q @q þ c57 d_ 57 þ c16 d_ 16 þ c26 d_ 26 þ c36 d_ 36
@d @d @d @q @q @q @q
26 36 46
þ c26 d_ 26 þ c36 d_ 36 þ c46 d_ 46 @d46 @d56
@q @q @q þ c46 d_ 46 þ c56 d_ 56
@q @q
@d56
þ c56 d_ 56 (20)
@q
(17) The proportional damping matrix is given by

Here cij (i ¼ 1, 2…5; j ¼ 6, 7) represents the meshing damping. C ¼ kM þ bK (21)

Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics JULY 2021, Vol. 16 / 071003-5

 Table 1 System parameters

Pinions Face gear

Number of tooth 23 143

Module (mm) 3.75 3.75
Pressure angle (deg) 25 25
Mass (kg) mi ¼ 1:199ði ¼ 1; 2; …; 5Þ; mj ¼ 7:795ðj ¼ 6; 7Þ
Inertia moment (kg m2) Ii ¼ 0:002ði ¼ 1; 2; …; 5Þ; Ij ¼ 0:54ðj ¼ 6; 7Þ

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Mean mesh stiffness (N/m) ki6 ¼ ki7 ¼ 4:1  108 ði ¼ 1; 2; …; 5Þ
Supporting stiffness (N/m) kix ¼ kiy ¼ 6:5  107
knx ¼ kny ¼ knz ¼ 8:7  109 ðn ¼ 6; 7Þ
Mesh damping (Ns/m) ci6 ¼ ci7 ¼ 1200
Proportional damping coefficient k ¼ 800, b ¼ 2  1  106
Distribution angle (deg) 0, 56.643, 114.545, 245.455, 303.357

Table 2 Modal characteristics

Order Natural frequencies (Hz) Vibration modes

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 0 Rigid body modes

7 756.7 Coupled T–R vibration of input and idler pinions
8 757.3 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions
9, 10 757.9 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions
11 833.5 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idlers, and tail pinions and R vibration of face gears
12, 13,1 4, 15, 16 1171.8 T vibration of input, idler and tail pinions
17 2260.1 Coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
18 4617.0 Coupled T–R vibration of input and idler pinions and T vibration (Y direction) of face gears
19 4770.0 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions and coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
20 5080.8 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions and coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
21 5406.4 Coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
22 5565.2 Coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
23, 24 5581.5 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions
25 5622.2 T vibration (Y direction) of face gears
26 6069.2 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions and coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears
27 6438.0 Coupled T–R vibration of input and idler pinions and T vibration (Y direction) of face gears
28 6488.0 Coupled T–R vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions and coupled T–R–A vibration of face gears

T: translational, R: rotational, A: axial.

where k and b denotes the mass and stiffness damping coefficient,
respectively.
The whole equation of motion of the concentric face gear tor-
que split transmission system can be written as
q þ Cq_ þ Kq ¼ Fex  NFðq; qÞ
M€ _ (22)
3 Vibration analysis
3.1 Modal Property. In this section, the modal property of
the concentric face gear torque split transmission will be investi-
gated. The eigenvalue problem to demonstrate the natural fre-
quency and mode property of the system can be derived as
q þ ðK þ Km Þq ¼ 0
M€
x2l Mvl ¼ ðK þ Km Þvl
where xl is the natural frequency and vl is the eigenvector to
describe the vibration mode, Km denotes the mesh stiffness matrix
derived from the nonlinear mesh force.
Without loss of generality, the free vibration of the concentric
face gear torque split derive system with linear, time-invariant
representation is considered. The time-varying section of the
mesh stiffness and nonlinear tooth backlash characteristic are
neglected. All face gear bearings have isotropic stiffness in three
translational directions. All pinion bearings have equal stiffness in
x and y directions. The pinions, as well as the face gears, are iden-
tical. The parameters of the system are listed in Table 1.
The natural frequencies of the concentric face gear torque split
transmission are obtained numerically based on the characteristic
equation and listed in Table 2. Here, when it comes to the vibra-
tion modes of the system, the T symbol represents the transla-
tional motion, the R symbol refers to the rotational motion and A
is the axial motion. The former six vibration modes are rigid body
modes, while the rest modes can be classified into three catego-
(23) ries: pinion vibration mode, face gear vibration mode, and pinion
coupled face gear mode. The typical vibration modes are illus-
(24) trated in Fig. 6. Pinion vibration mode can be divided into three
groups: pure translational vibration of input, idler and tail pinions
from order 12 to order 16 (eigenvector corresponding to order 12
shown in Fig. 6(a)), coupled translational–rotational vibration of
input and idler pinions related to order 7 (the corresponding

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Fig. 6 Vibration modes of the system. *The horizontal axis represents each degree of freedom, and the vertical axis repre-
sents the ratio of the respective modal amplitude to the maximum modal amplitude.
eigenvector shown in Fig. 6(b)), coupled translational–rotational
vibration of input, idler and tail pinions from order 8 to order 10,
order 23, and order 24 (eigenvector corresponding to order 8
shown in Fig. 6(c)). Face gear vibration mode can be divided into
two groups: pure translational vibration in Y-direction of face
gears related to order 25 (corresponding eigenvector shown in
Fig. 6(d)), coupled translational– rotational–axial vibration of face
gears including order 17, order 21, and order 22 (eigenvector cor-
responding to order 17 shown in Fig. 6(e)). Pinion coupled face
gear mode can be divided into three groups: coupled
translational–rotational vibration of input, idlers and tail pinions
and rotational vibration of face gears related to order 11 (corre-
sponding eigenvector shown in Fig. 6(f)), coupled
translational–rotational vibration of input and idler pinions and
translational vibration in the Y direction of face gears including
order 18 and order 27 (eigenvector corresponding to order 18
shown in Fig. 6(g)), coupled translational–rotational vibration of
input and idler pinions and coupled translational–rotational–axial
vibration of face gears including order 19, order 20, order 26, and
order 28 (eigenvector corresponding to order 19 shown in
Fig. 6(h)). Due to the identical property and symmetrical distribu-
tion of the pinion, the natural frequencies corresponding to the
pure translational vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions from
order 12 to order 16 have multiplicity 5, and coupled
translational–rotational vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions,
order 9 and order 10, order 23 and order 24 have multiplicity 2.
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3.2 Dynamic responses. The time-varying mesh stiffness
curve of pinion and face gear mesh pair is calculated based on the
finite element quasi-static tooth contact analysis and illustrated in
Fig. 7, and the absolute amplitudes of corresponding harmonic
components of mesh stiffness variation are given in Fig. 8, which
will be introduced into the numerical simulation of the system
dynamic response in Fourier series forms. The backlash and
amplitude of transmission error excitation parameters are set as
2b ¼ 100 lm and ei6 ¼ ei7 ¼ 50 lm.
The displacements along the line of action of the 10 meshing
gear pairs at normal input rotation speed X ¼ 7500 rpm and the
corresponding spectrum diagram are illustrated in Fig. 9. As
shown in the results, the pinion and upper face gear meshing and
the pinion and lower face gear meshing are nonsynchronous, a
phase differences exist in the engagement and vibration of the pin-
ion and different face gear. As illustrated in Figs. 9(c) and 9(d),
the displacements along the line of action of the left input pinion
and right input pinion are almost synchronous, which are domi-
nated by the fundamental harmonic and 2 times harmonic compo-
nents of mesh frequency. Compared to the vibration response of
the input pinion and lower face gear-pair, the response of the input
pinion and upper face gear pair has a relative obvious amplitude
at the 1/2 and 3/2 times harmonic components of mesh frequency.
Meanwhile, the displacements along the line of action of the left
idler pinion and right idler pinion are also synchronous, as shown
in Figs. 9(b) and 9(e), and dominated by the fundamental
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Fig. 6 (Continued)

Fig. 7 Time-varying mesh stiffness of the meshing between

upper face gear and tail rotor idler Fig. 8 Harmonic components of mesh stiffness variation

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Fig. 9 The displacements along the line of action of the 10 meshing gear pairs and corresponding spectrum diagram: (a) tail
rotor idler pinion and face gear pair, (b) right idler pinion and face gear pair, (c) right input pinion and face gear pair, (d) left
input pinion and face gear pair, and (e) left idler pinion and face gear pair

harmonic of mesh frequency. The tail rotor idler and face gear
mesh are nonsynchronous with other pinion and face gear engage-
ments. The displacements along the line of action have an obvious
response at the mesh frequency and some lower spectrum at the
frequency components which are lower than the mesh frequency.
The RMS values of translational displacements of tail pinion,
right idler pinion, and right input pinion are shown in Fig. 10,
with the input rotation speed increasing from 200 rpm to
20,000 rpm, where left idler pinion and left input pinion responses
are not given considering the symmetrical property. The
resonance peaks are detected around 1792 rpm (x8 , x9 , and
x10 natural frequencies) and 3981 rpm (2 times of x8 , x9 ,
and x10 natural frequencies), corresponding to the coupled
translational–rotational vibration of input, idler, and tail pinions.
There are additional resonance peaks around 5772 rpm (x17 ) and
10,250 rpm (2 times of x17 ), mainly related to the coupled

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Fig. 10 Translational displacement root-mean-square (RMS) values of pinions (a) translational displacements in x- and y-
directions of tail rotor idler pinion, (b) translational displacements in x- and y-directions of right idler pinion, and (c) transla-
tional displacements in x- and y-directions of the right input pinion

Fig. 11 Translational displacement RMS values of face gears: (a) lower face gear and (b) upper face gear

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Fig. 12 Displacement along a line of action RMS values of gear pairs: (a) tail rotor idler pinion and upper face gear
pair, (b) right idler pinion and upper face gear pair, (c) right input pinion and upper face gear pair, (d) tail rotor idler
pinion and lower face gear pair, (e) right idler pinion and lower face gear pair, and (f) right input pinion and lower
face gear pair

translational–rotational–axial of face gears vibration modes. And
the vibration peaks near 10,250 rpm are the most obvious for the
meshing pinions except for the tail rotor idler which is the node
for the vibration mode. Meantime, the RMS values of translational
displacements of face gears are illustrated in Fig. 11, the reso-
nance peaks around 5772 rpm and 10,250 rpm are also detected.
Different from the pinion vibration, there is additional vibration
peaks near 14,030 rpm (x21 ), which is also corresponding to the
coupled translational–rotational–axial of face gears mode. And
the vibration peaks near 5772 rpm are the most obvious for the
face gears.
Figure 12 shows the RMS values of displacement along a line
of action of tail pinion, right idler pinion, right input pinion, and
face gear pairs with the rotation speed of input pinion being var-
ied. Numerical results for both increasing and decreasing speed
sweeps are given. Comparison of the forward and backward

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responses shows the jump phenomena around 5772 rpm and
10,250 rpm. The resonance peaks near 5772 rpm lean to the right,
implying hardening nonlinearity, while, the resonance peaks near
10,250 rpm lean to the left, involving with softening nonlinearity.
The peak amplitude corresponding to the hardening nonlinearity
is obvious and the resonance speed region related to the softening
nonlinearity is wide. For the right idler and right input pinion and
face gear pairs, there is an additional softening jump behavior that
is not so obvious around 14,330 rpm (x21 natural frequency). As
mentioned above, most of the resonance peaks are excited near

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the rotation speeds corresponding to the coupled translational-
torsional of pinions vibration modes or the coupled
translational–torsional–axial of face gears vibration modes.

3.3 Dynamic Load Sharing Characteristics. One of the sig-

nificant features of the concentric face gear torque split transmis-
sion is the load sharing capacity generated by the idler pinions
and lower face gear. The load sharing coefficients which are often
used to evaluate the load sharing property of the concentric face
Fig. 13 Effect of backlash on instantaneous dynamic load
gear torque split transmission in quasi-static status are around 1.1. sharing coefficient of the upper face gear and lower face gear
Nevertheless, the dynamic load sharing characteristics of the sys-
tem will not be so ideal considering the dynamic mesh force
caused by the resonance, mesh impact even loss of contact when
the gear pairs work at an actual speed [40]. In this section, the
dynamic load sharing characteristics in the meshing process of the
system will be analyzed numerically. Here, the simulation results
are discussed when the normal rotation speed of the input pinions
are X ¼ 7500 rpm and the corresponding meshing period is
3.4783  1 104 s.
The instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficient of the upper
face gear and lower face gear in one complete meshing cycle, con-
sidering the engagement of face gears and input pinions, can be
defined as

maxðFi6 ; Fi7 Þ
eFI
i ¼P ; i ¼ 3; 4 (25)
ðFi6 þ Fi7 Þ=2

Here the superscript FI represents face gear-input pinion mesh,

i ¼ 3; 4 limits the pinion as the input ones, Fi6 and Fi7 refer to the
dynamic mesh force of the gear pair.
The instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficient of the two
idler pinions and tail rotor idler pinion in one complete meshing
cycle, considering the engagement of idler pinions and lower face
gear, can be defined as
maxðF16 ; F26 ; F56 Þ
eIF ¼ P (26)
ðF16 þ F26 þ F56 Þ=3
Here the superscript IF refers to idler pinion-lower face gear
mesh.
The dynamic load sharing property of the torque split system is
affected by lots of parameters and factors, among which, the gear
pair backlash, bearings’ supporting stiffness, and distribution
angle condition of the input, and idler pinions are important ones.
In Secs. 3.3.1–3.3.3, the effects of these factors on the instantane-
ous dynamic load sharing coefficients of certain meshing gear pair
are investigated numerically.
3.3.1 Effect of Backlash. The instantaneous dynamic load
sharing coefficients of the upper face gear and lower face gear, as
well as, the coefficients of the two idler pinions and tail rotor idler
pinion at normal input rotation speed considering different pinion-
face gear backlash values are shown in Figs. 13 and 14, respec-
tively. According to the simulation results, the instantaneous
dynamic load sharing coefficients of the torque split system
achieve to two for face gear and three for idler pinion in some
regions in one complete meshing cycle, which implies that loss of
contact behavior of meshing teeth appears. For the upper face
gear and lower face gear, when the gear pair backlash values are
Fig. 14 Effect of backlash on instantaneous dynamic load
sharing coefficient of the two idler pinions and tail rotor idler
pinion
2b ¼ 100 lm and 2b ¼ 120 lm, the time-varying trends of instan-
taneous dynamic load sharing coefficients and loss of contact
regions are close. The mean dynamic load sharing coefficients of
face gears are 1.69 and 1.75, respectively. When it comes to the
case 2b ¼ 80 lm, the slope of the load sharing coefficient curve is
relative large, meaning the change of the dynamic meshing forces
is quick. The meshing regions corresponding to the lower load
sharing coefficient are narrow, with the mean coefficient being
1.71.
For the two idler pinions and tail rotor idler pinion, the dynamic
load sharing coefficients are affected obviously by the backlash.
The load sharing capacity of the idler pinion when 2b ¼ 120 lm
is the worst, with the lowest instantaneous dynamic load sharing
coefficient being 1.53 and mean coefficient being 2.23. For 2b ¼
100 lm case, there is a meshing region where the instantaneous
dynamic load sharing coefficient is constant and the load distribu-
tion is stable, meanwhile, the lowest instantaneous dynamic load
sharing coefficient and mean coefficient are 1.02 and 1.61, respec-
tively. When the backlash being set as 2b ¼ 80 lm, the lowest
instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficient and mean coeffi-
cient are 1.02 and 1.72. As analyzed above, a suitable choice of
the gear pair backlash is significant to improve the dynamic load
sharing capacity of this torque split system. By setting

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Fig. 15 Effect of pinion supporting stiffness on instantaneous
dynamic load sharing coefficient of the upper face gear and
lower face gear
Fig. 16 Effect of pinion supporting stiffness on instantaneous
dynamic load sharing coefficient of the two idler pinions and
tail rotor idler pinion
2b ¼ 100 lm, the instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficients
in one complete meshing cycle change gently, and meshing
regions where the loss of contact occurs are relative narrow. And
mean dynamic load sharing coefficients being 1.69 and 1.61 are
achieved for the face gears and idler pinions, respectively.
3.3.2 Effect of Bearing Supporting Stiffness. In a torque split
transmission system, some general measures to improve the load
sharing characteristics are to use flexible support or make the pin-
ion or gear floating. Here, the effects of bearing supporting stiff-
ness of the pinions and face gears on the load distribution of the
meshing gear pair are studied.
The instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficients of the
upper face gear and lower face gear, as well as, the coefficients of
the two idler pinions and tail rotor idler pinion at normal input
rotation speed with different pinion bearings’ supporting stiffness
are illustrated in Figs. 15 and 16, respectively. For the face gears,
the increase of the pinion bearings’ supporting stiffness will
reduce the region where the loss of contact generates, however,
the lowest instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficient is
detected when a flexible bearing stiffness kix ¼ kiy ¼ 6:5  1 
107 N=m is used. The mean dynamic load sharing coefficients of
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Fig. 17 Effect of face gear supporting stiffness on instantane-
ous dynamic load sharing coefficient of the upper face gear
and lower face gear
Fig. 18 Effect of face gear supporting stiffness on instantane-
ous dynamic load sharing coefficient of the two idler pinions
and tail rotor idler pinion
face gears when the supporting stiffness increases from softening
to hardening are 1.68, 1.78, and 1.63, respectively. For the two
idler pinions and tail rotor idler pinion, the increase of the pinion
bearings’ supporting stiffness will generate a worse load sharing
result. The mean dynamic load sharing coefficients of face gears
when the supporting stiffness increases from softening to harden-
ing are 1.61, 1.97, and 1.87, respectively.
The instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficients of the
upper face gear and lower face gear and those of the two idler pin-
ions and tail rotor idler pinion at normal input rotation speed with
different face gear bearings’ supporting stiffness are illustrated in
Figs. 17 and 18, respectively. As shown in the figures, the support-
ing stiffness of the face gear bearings can be neither too soft nor
too hard. When knx ¼ kny ¼ knz ¼ 6:7  1  109 N=m and
knx ¼ kny ¼ knz ¼ 10:7  1  109 N=m, the mean dynamic load
sharing coefficients of face gears are 1.84 and 1.81, both higher
than 1.69 corresponding to knx ¼ kny ¼ knz ¼ 8:7  1  109 N=m.
The mean dynamic load sharing coefficients of idler pinions when
the supporting stiffness of face gear bearings increase from soften-
ing to hardening are 1.77, 1.61, and 1.91, respectively.
3.3.3 Effect of Distribution Angle. In this section, two cases
of the distribution angle of the pinions are introduced to analyze
JULY 2021, Vol. 16 / 071003-13

Fig. 19 Effect of distribution angle on instantaneous dynamic
load sharing coefficient of the upper face gear and lower face
gear
Fig. 20 Effect of distribution angle on instantaneous dynamic
load sharing coefficient of the two idler pinions and tail rotor
idler pinion
the effects of the pinion position on the load sharing property of
the system. Case 1 refers to the distribution angle combination
listed in Table 1, while, case 2 corresponds to another different
angle group with /1 to /5 being 0, 56.643, 113.287, 246.713, and
303.357. In these two conditions, the relative positions in the sys-
tem and meshing phases of the input pinions are different from
each other. The influences of the distribution angles of the pinions
on the instantaneous dynamic load sharing coefficients can be
studied based on Figs. 19 and 20. The changes of the pinion distri-
bution angle can affect the loss of contact regions of the face gear
and right input pinion pair significantly. Meanwhile, the usage of
the case 2 distribution angle group makes the load sharing
capacity of the face gear worse with a wide tooth separation
range, as well as sharp and big slope dynamic load sharing coeffi-
cient time-varying curve. The mean dynamic load sharing coeffi-
cient of the upper and lower face gear in one complete mesh cycle
turns from 1.69 to 1.80 with the angle group changing from case 1
to case 2. In Fig. 20, one can find that the dynamic load sharing
coefficient of the idler pinions also becomes larger after applying
the case 2 distribution angle, however, the loss of contact regions
of the face gear and idler pinion pairs is affected slightly by the
input pinion positions and their meshing phases. Varying the
071003-14 / Vol. 16, JULY 2021
angle group from case 1 to case 2 makes the mean dynamic load
sharing coefficient of the idler pinions increases from 1.61 to
1.85.
4 Conclusions
In this study, a lumped parameter dynamic model is developed
to investigate the modal property, vibration response, and
dynamic load sharing characteristics of a novel concentric face
gear torque split transmission. The time-varying mesh stiffness,
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nonlinear backlash, static transmission excitation, as well as the
specific features of the torque split system including distribution
angle and meshing phase difference, are introduced in the model-
ing process. The natural frequencies, vibration modes, dynamic
responses are simulated numerically. Parametric studies are also
conducted to analyze the influences of backlash, bearing support-
ing stiffness and distribution angle on the dynamic load sharing
performance of the system. The following conclusions are
obtained:
(1) The vibration modes of the symmetric concentric face gear
torque split transmission neglecting the hub of the upper
face gear and flexible shafts of the input pinions can be
classified into three categories: pinion vibration mode, face
gear vibration mode, and pinion coupled face gear mode.
Most of them are coupled translational-torsional vibration
modes.
(2) In the dynamic translational displacement speed sweep
responses of the pinion and face gears, the resonance peaks
are detected around 5772 rpm and 10,250 rpm rotation
speed regions, mainly related to the coupled
translational–rotational–axial of face gears vibration
modes.
(3) In the displacement along a line of action responses of pin-
ion and face gear pairs, jump phenomena occur near the
resonant speed 5772 rpm and 10,250 rpm, corresponding to
hardening and softening nonlinearity, respectively. For the
right idler-face gear and right input pinion-face gear pairs,
there is additional softening jump behavior around
14,330 rpm.
(4) Loss of contact behavior of meshing teeth exists when the
gear pairs work at an actual condition. An appropriate gear
pair backlash is significant to improve the dynamic load
sharing capacity of this torque split system. The increase of
the pinion bearings’ supporting stiffness will generate
worse load sharing characteristics and a relative flexible
bearing is recommended to the pinions’ supporting, never-
theless, the stiffness of the face gear supporting bearings
should be neither too soft nor too hard. The pinion distribu-
tion angle can affect the loss of contact regions of the
meshing gear pair and the dynamic load sharing perform-
ance of the torque split system significantly. The position
angle parameter should be determined seriously by taking
the structural design and load distribution demands into
account.
Funding Data
 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
(Grant No. 52005515; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100001809).
 National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No.
2020YFB2008200; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100012166).
 China Scholarship Council (CSC) (Grant No.
202006370208; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100004543).
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JULY 2021, Vol. 16 / 071003-15