EHL Analysis of Spiral Bevel Gear Pairs considering the Contact Point Migration due to Deformation under Load

The actual contact point of a spiral bevel gear pair deviates from the theoretical contact point due to the gear deformation caused by the load. However, changes in meshing characteristics due to the migration of contact points are often ignored in previous studies on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) analysis of spiral bevel gears. The purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of contact point migration on the results of EHL analysis. Loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) based on the finite element method is applied to determine the loaded contact point of the meshing tooth pair. Then, the osculating paraboloids at this point are extracted from the gear tooth surface geometry. The geometric and kinematic parameters for EHL simulation are determined according to the differential geometry theory. Numerical solutions to the Newtonian isothermal EHL of a spiral bevel gear pair at the migrated and theoretical contact points are compared to quantify the error involved in neglecting the contact point adjustment. The results show that under heavy-loaded conditions, the actual contact point of the deformed gear pair at a given pinion (gear) roll angle is different from the theoretical contact point considerably, and so do the meshing parameters. EHL analysis of spiral bevel gears under significant load using theoretical meshing parameters will result in obvious errors, especially in the prediction of film thickness.