Prediction of surface wear of hypoid gears using a semi-analytical contact model

In this paper, a methodology was proposed for computation of surface wear of hypoid gear pairs. The methodology combines Archard's wear model with a semi-analytical hypoid gear contact model to reduce the computation time compared to Finite Elements (FE) based contact models. The wear model requires the sliding distances and contact pressures to be computed along the contact zones at each rotational gear position. The proposed methodology computes the sliding distance from the kinematics and the geometry of gear surface at contact points while contact pressures along the contact zones are determined from the predicted load intensities by using the Hertzian theory. An example hypoid gear pair from an automotive industry application was analyzed for wear computation including comparison of wear results by using an FE-based model versus the proposed semi-analytical contact model. The progression of surface wear was demonstrated by devising a scheme of surface geometry updates.

► A methodology for simulation of mild wear of hypoid gear surfaces was proposed.
► The computation time for hypoid wear simulations have been reduced significantly.
► The accuracy of contact pressure predictions of worn surfaces has been increased.
► The comparisons of wear results with FE-based model confirm accuracy of the model.
► Geometry updates feature of the proposed model enables long-cycle wear predictions.