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SPUR GEAR TOOTH STRESS ANALYSIS AND STRESS REDUCTION

A PROJECT REPORT

By
M.V.Vamsi
(09241A0353)
S.Bhargav
(09241A0308)
A.Sriram
(09241A0344)

Department of Mechanical Engineering


Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology
Bachupally, Hyderabad-500090, A.P., INDIA
2013

II

SPUR GEAR TOOTH STRESS ANALYSIS AND STRESS REDUCTION


A PROJECT REPORT
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
Requirement for the award of the
degree of B.Tech

By
M.V.Vamsi
(09241A0353)
S.Bhargav
(09241A0308)
A.Sriram
(09241A0344)

Under the Guidance of


Dr. S. K. Singh
Professor
& Co-Guidance of
Dr. B. R. Ravi Shankar
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering


Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering


Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology
Certificate
This is to certify that the project report entitled Spur Gear tooth stress analysis
and stress reduction being submitted by M. V. Vamsi, S. Bhargav & A. Sriram
in partial fulfilment for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
Hyderabad is a record of bona fide work carried out by them under my
guidance and supervision.
The results embodied in this project report have not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any Degree or Diploma.

Guide

Co-Guide

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our department and


college, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering & Technology, for
gifting us the opportunity to pursue our bachelor degree and providing us
support and encouragement during our study.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Head of Department
Dr. K. G. K.Murthy and Dr. P. A. P. N. Varma for giving us permission to
commence this thesis and to do the necessary study.
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. S. K. Singh & Dr. B. R. Ravi
Shankar, for their invaluable guidance throughout the study and for their
support in project completion. We also take this opportunity to show our
appreciation to all the teaching and non-teaching staffs, family members,
friends for their support.

III

ABSTRACT

Gears are commonly used for transmitting power. They develop high stress
concentration at the root and the point of contact. The repeated stressing on the fillets
causes the fatigue failure of gear tooth. The main objective of this study is to add
different shaped holes to reduce stress concentration. A finite element model of Spur
gear with a segment of three teeth is considered for analysis and stress concentration
reducing holes of various sizes are introduced on gear teeth at various locations.
Analysis revealed that aero-fin shaped hole introduced along the stress flow direction
yielded better results.

IV

List of figures

Fig 1.1 Photo-elastic Model of gear tooth

Fig 2.1 Involute Spur gear

Fig 2.2 Meshing of Gear teeth

Fig 2.3 Spur Gear

10

Fig 2.4 Conjugate action

11

Fig 2.5 Involute profile of Gear tooth

13

Fig 3.1 8-node brick element

19

Fig 3.2 2x2x2 integration point scheme in hexahedral elements

20

Fig 3.3 Spur gear used for analysis

26

Fig 3.4 Extruded Spur gear

26

Fig 3.5 Spur gear with aero-fin hole

27

Fig 3.6 Spur gear with linear brick meshing

29

Fig 3.7 Spur gear loaded at HPSTC

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Fig 4.1 Centre of Aero-fin hole

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Graphs

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Contents
Chapter-1

Introduction

1.1 Purpose

1.2 Literature review

Chapter-2

Gears

2.1 Gear nomenclature

2.2 Spur gear

10

2.3 Conjugate action

10

2.4 Tooth profile

12

2.4.1 Cycloidal

12

2.4.2 Involute

12

2.5 Gear Geometry

14

Chapter-3

16

3.1 FEM

16

3.2 Calculix

17

CalculiX GraphiX (CGX)

18

3.3 Element Used for meshing

18

Eight-node brick element (C3D8 and F3D8)


3.4 Geometry Creation and Mesh generation
Finite Element Mesh Generation

18
21
28

Chapter-4

30
30

Results & Discussions

4.1 Problem definition

30

4.2 Laminar flow analogy

31

4.3 Significance of Aero-fin hole

32

4.4 Stresses & Displacements of analysed gears

32

VI

Conclusion

43

Scope for further study

43

References

44

VII

Chapter-1
Introduction
Gears are used for a wide range of industrial applications. They have varied application
starting from textile looms to aviation industries. They are the most common means of
transmitting power. They change the rate of rotation of machinery shaft and also the axis of
rotation. For high speed machinery, such as an automobile transmission, they are the optimal
medium for low energy loss and high accuracy. Their function is to convert input provided by
prime mover into an output with lower speed and corresponding higher torque. Toothed gears are
used to transmit the power with high velocity ratio. During this phase, they encounter high stress
at the point of contact.
A pair of teeth in action is generally subjected to two types of cyclic stresses:
i) Bending stresses inducing bending fatigue
ii) Contact stress causing contact fatigue.
Both these types of stresses may not attain their maximum values at the same point of contact.
However, combined action of both of them is the reason of failure of gear tooth leading to
fracture at the root of a tooth under bending fatigue and surface failure, due to contact fatigue.
When loads are applied to the bodies, their surfaces deform elastically near the point of
contact. Stresses developed by Normal force in a photo-elastic model of gear tooth are shown in
the Fig.1.1. The highest stresses exist at regions where the lines are bunched closest together.
The highest stress occurs at two locations:
A. At contact point where the force F acts
B. At the fillet region near the base of the tooth.
1

Fig 1.1 Photo-elastic Model of gear tooth (courtesy: NPTEL/IIT-Madras [14])

The surface failures occurring mainly due to contact fatigue are pitting and scoring. It is a
phenomenon in which small particles are removed from the surface of the tooth due to the high
contact stresses that are present between mating teeth. Pitting is actually the fatigue failure of the
tooth surface. Hardness is the primary property of the gear tooth that provides resistance to
pitting. In other words, pitting is a surface fatigue failure due to many repetitions of high contact
stress, which occurs on gear tooth surfaces when a pair of teeth is transmitting power. Gear teeth
failure due to contact fatigue is a common phenomenon observed. Even a slight reduction in the
stress at root results in great increase in the fatigue life of a gear.
For many years, gear design has been improved by using improved material, hardening
surfaces with heat treatment and carburization, and shot peening to improve surface finish etc.
Few more efforts have been made to improve the durability and strength by altering the pressure
angle, using the asymmetric teeth, altering the geometry of root fillet curve and so on. Some
research work is also done using the stress redistribution techniques by introducing the stress
relieving features in the stressed zone to the advantage of reduction of root fillet stress in spur
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gear. This also ensures interchangeability of existing gear systems. The studies in which
combination of circular and elliptical stress relieving features are used obtained better results
than using circular stress relieving features alone which are used by earlier researchers. In this
research work, an aero-fin shaped stress relieving feature is tried. A finite element model with a
segment of three teeth is considered for analysis and a stress relieving feature of various sizes are
introduced on gear teeth at various locations.

1.1

Purpose:
Gearing is one of the most critical components in mechanical power transmission

systems. The transfer of power between gears takes place at the contact between the mating
teeth. During operation, meshed gears teeth flanks are submitted to high contact pressures and
due to the repeated stresses, damage on the teeth flanks, in addition to tooth breakage at the root
of the tooth is one of the most frequent causes of gear failure. This fatigue failure of the tooth
decides the reliability of the gear. However, by introducing stress relieving features to the gear,
the points of stress concentration can be decreased which enhances life of gear. A study is done
on spur gear with involute profile by adding stress relieving features of different shapes and best
among them is proposed.

Hardware used: Intel core i3 processor of 2.2GHz, 4GB of RAM.

Software used:
All the modelling is done in AutoCAD 2010, Mesh generation is done in Gmsh 2.7,
solving and post-processing are done in Calculix(cgx_2.5).
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1.2 Literature review:


Investigators analyzing the gear tooth for stresses have done several studies:
A.Manoj Hariharan[1] conducted stress analysis on 8 different gears by determining the
highest point of contact for all gears. Stress analysis for the load contact point travelling along
the involute curve is done for gears. The point of contact where maximum stress occurs is
determined for all eight test gears and the variation of this H (Highest point of Contact) diameter
for contact ratio greater than one is studied. Then the gear ratio where it is maximum is taken for
application of force for all studies. From the results, he compared the stresses on each gear with
their respective highest point of contacts and selected the weak gear among those for stress relief
studies. He introduced circular holes as stress relieving features at different locations and also
varied the diameters of holes. He concluded with an optimization study of drilling two circular
holes, each on two mating teeth at the same location relative to each tooth, stress can be reduced.
M.S.Hebbel, V.B.Math and B.G.Sheeparamatti [2] used elliptical and circular holes as a
stress relieving feature. Analysis revealed that, combination of elliptical and circular stress
relieving features at specific, locations are beneficial than single circular, single elliptical, two
circular or two elliptical stress reliving features.
Shanmugasundaram Sankar, Maasanamuthu Sundar Raj, Muthusamy Nataraj [3] did a
study using circular root fillet instead of the standard trochoidal root fillet. The result reveals that
the circular root fillet design is particularly suitable for lesser number of teeth in pinion and
where as the trochoidal root fillet gear is more opt for higher number of teeth.

Ashwini Joshi, Vijay Kumar Karma [4] did a work which deals with the effect on gear
strength with variation of root fillet design using FEA. Circular root fillet design is considered
for analysis. The loading is done at the highest point of single tooth contact (HPSTC).
4

Fredette and Brown [5] used holes drilled across the entire tooth as a function of size and
location. The ultimate objective of this work was to find the overall effect of hole size and
location on the critical stresses in the gear.
Sorin Cnnu-Based [6] on an exact geometry design of the involute gear tooth, a set of
profile gears is obtained in order to calculate the 2D contact. A stress analysis was performed for
CAD profiles results using the finite element procedure. The paper investigates the 2D analysis
versus 3D analysis for stress in the root region of teeth. By this approach, is also investigated the
influence of non-uniform load along contact line to the fillet stress.
Ali Raad Hassan [7] did a research study in which Contact stress analysis between two
spur gear teeth was considered in different contact positions, representing a pair of mating gears
during rotation. A programme has been developed to plot a pair of teeth in contact. Each case
was represented a sequence position of contact between these two teeth. The programme gives
graphic results for the profiles of these teeth in each position and location of contact during
rotation. Finite element models were made for these cases and stress analysis was done. The
results were presented and finite element analysis results were compared with theoretical
calculations, wherever available.

The idea of using holes to reduce stresses is not a new one. In 1990, Dippery [7]
experimented with the use of supplementary holes in a structure as a method of reducing the
stress concentration that was already present. His result showed that stress concentration
reductions are possible in a generic shape using holes as stress relief.

The researchers till now used circular and elliptical holes as stress relieving features with
different sizes and at various positions which showed evidence that stress can be reduced
interrupting the stress flow path from contact point to fillet.
This project is an extension of work done by A.Manoj Hariharan. He has taken a weak
profile gear from his studies and conducted stress analysis on it by inserting circular holes as
stress relieving features at different locations. The gear with all its dimensions is replicated and
the highest point of contact is calculated in the similar way in the contemporary project. In this
project, an aerodynamic fin shaped hole is used as a stress relieving feature which differs from
circular holes used in the former one. It yielded better results comparatively but this aerodynamic
shaped hole is limited to uni-directional gears only.

Chapter-2
Gears
2.1 Gear Nomenclature:

Fig 2.1 Involute Spur gear (courtesy: NPTEL/IIT-Madras [14])


Pitch surface: The surface of the imaginary rolling cylinder that replaces the toothed gear.
Pitch circle: A normal section of the pitch surface.
Addendum circle: A circle bounding the ends of the teeth, in a normal section of the gear.
Dedendum circle or Root circle: The circle bounding the spaces between the teeth, in a normal
section of the gear.
Addendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the addendum circle.
Dedendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the root circle.

Clearance: The difference between the Dedendum of one gear and the Addendum of the mating
gear.
Face of a tooth: That part of the tooth surface lying outside the pitch surface.
Flank of a tooth: The part of the tooth surface lying inside the pitch surface.
Top land: The top surface of a gear tooth.
Bottom land: The bottom surface of the tooth space.
Circular thickness (tooth thickness): The thickness of the tooth measured on the pitch circle. It is
the length of an arc and not the length of a straight line.
Tooth space: The space between successive teeth.
Width of space: The distance between adjacent teeth measured on the pitch circle.
Backlash: The difference between the tooth thickness of one gear and the tooth space of the
mating gear.
Circular pitch p: The width of a tooth and a space, measured on the pitch circle. It is equal to the
pitch circumference divided by the number of teeth.
Diametrical pitch P: The number of teeth of a gear per unit pitch diameter. The diametric pitch is
hence the number of teeth divided by the pitch diameter.
Module m: Pitch diameter divided by number of teeth. The pitch diameter is usually specified in
millimeters.
Fillet Radius: The small radius that connects the profile of a tooth to the root circle.
Base circle: An imaginary circle used in involute gearing to generate the involutes that form the
tooth profiles.
Contact Ratio: The average number of gear tooth pairs in contact on a pair of meshing gears.

Fig 2.2 Meshing of Gear teeth (courtesy: NPTEL/IIT-Madras [14])

Pitch point: The point of tangency of the pitch circles of a pair of mating gears.
Common tangent: The line tangent to the pitch circle at the pitch point.
Line of action: A line normal to a pair of mating tooth profiles at their point of contact.
Path of contact: The path traced by the contact point of a pair of tooth profiles.
Pressure angle : The angle between the common normal at the point of tooth contact and the
common tangent to the pitch circles. Pressure angle is also the angle between the line of action
and the common tangent.
Crowning: Grinding of tooth edges to prevent edge loading is known as crowning.

2.2 Spur gear:


Spur gears are the most common type of gears. They are used to transmit rotary motion
between parallel shafts i.e., they are usually cylindrical in shape, and the teeth are straight and
parallel to the axis of rotation. Sometimes many spur gears are used at once to create very large
gear reductions. Spur gears are used in many devices but not in cars as they produce large noises.

Fig 2.3 Spur Gear (courtesy: spur gear [13])

2.3 Conjugate action:


Mating gear teeth against each other to produce rotary motion are similar to cams. When
the tooth profiles are designed so as to produce a constant angular-velocity ratio during meshing,
they are said to have conjugate action. A geometric relationship can be derived for the form of
tooth profiles to provide conjugate action which is summarized as Law of Gearing as follows:
A common normal to the tooth profiles at their point of contact must, in all positions
of the contacting teeth, pass through a fixed point on the line-of-centres called the pitch point."
10

Any two curves or profiles engaging each other and satisfying the law of gearing are
conjugate curves.

Fig 2.4 Conjugate action (courtesy: Shigley [8])

When one curved surface pushes against another, the point of contact occurs where the two
surfaces are tangent to each other (point c), and the forces at any instant are directed along the
common normal ab to the two curves. The line ab, representing the direction of action of the
forces, is called the line of action. The line of action will intersect the line of centres O-O at
some point P. The angular-velocity ratio between the two arms is inversely proportional to their
radii to the point P. Circles drawn through point P from each centre are called pitch circles, and
the radius of each circle is called the pitch radius. Point P is called the pitch point.

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2.4 Tooth profile:


2.4.1 Cycloidal:
The cycloidal gear profile is a form of toothed gear used in mechanical clocks. The gear
tooth profile is based on the epicycoid and hypocycloid curves, which are the curves generated
by a circle rolling around the outside and inside of another circle, respectively. An advantage of
the cycloidal teeth over the involute one is that wear of Cycloidal tooth is not as fast as with
involute tooth. For this reason, gears transmitting very large amount of power are sometimes cut
with cycloidal teeth.
1) Since the cycloidal teeth have wider flanks, therefore the cycoidal gears are stronger than the
involute gears, for the same pitch. These are preferred for cast teeth.
2) In cycloidal gears, the contact takes place between a convex flank and concave surface,
where as in involute gears, the convex surface are in contact. This condition results in less wear
in cycloidal wear and however the difference in wear is negligible.
3) The interference in cycloidal gears does not occur at all. Though there advantages of cycloidal
gears they are outweighed by the greater simplicity and flexibility of the involute gears.

2.4.2 Involute:
The involute gear profile is the most normally used system for gearing. In an involute
gear, the profiles of the teeth are involutes of a circle. The involute of a circle is the spiraling
curve traced by the end of an imaginary taut string unwinding itself from that stationary circle
called the base circle. In involute gear design, contact between a pair of teeth occurs at a single
instantaneous point. Rotation of the gears causes the location of this contact point to move across
the respective tooth surfaces.
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Fig 2.5 Involute profile of gear tooth(Courtesy: Tribology[15])


1) Involute teeth are very easy to manufacture and the actual distance between the centers may
deviate slightly from the theoretical distance without affecting the velocity ratio or general
performance. Because of this distinct advantage, gears with involute profile teeth are used more
than those with cycloidal teeth.
2) In involute gears, the pressure angle, from the start of the engagement of teeth to its end
remains constant. It is necessary for smooth running and less wear of gears. But in cycloidal
gears, the pressure angle is maximum at the beginning of engagement, reduces to zero at pitch
point, starts increasing again and becomes maximum at the end of engagement. This does not
yield smooth running of gears.
3) The face and flank of involute teeth are generated by a single curve where as in cycloidal
gears, double curves are required for the face and flank respectively. Thus the involute teeth are

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easy to manufacture than cycloidal teeth. The only disadvantage of involute teeth is that the
interference occurs with pinions having smaller number of teeth.

2.5 Gear Geometry


Here we present the calculations for the gear we will use for our stress concentration reduction
studies. Please note that this is the same gear geometry used by Hariharan[1]. As given in
Shigley[8], the gear geometry calculations are as follows:
Considering the pressure angle () = 200
Pitch circle Dia. (PCD) = module(m) x no. of teeth
Tooth thickness = ( x module) /2
Root fillet = 0.2 x module
Addendum Dia.(Da)= PCD +2 x module
Dedendum Dia.( Dd) = PCD 2.5 x m
Base circle dia. (Db) = PCD x cos
Parameters of gear:
Module (m)

=2

Pitch circle dia (d) = 50mm


No. of teeth (N)

= 25

Tooth thickness (t) = 3.14mm


Root fillet

= 0.628mm

Addendum dia (Da) = 54mm


Dedendum dia (Dd) = 45mm
Base circle dia (Db) = 46.984mm
Material used: Steel
14

Properties of Steel: Youngs modulus = 21000 MPa


Poisons ratio

= 0.3

Gear Design Calculations:


The Pitch Diameter (D) = 50
The Pitch Radius (R) = D/2 = 25
The Base Circle Diameter (DB) = D * COS (PA) = 1.25 * COS (14.5 deg) = 46.984
The Base Circle Radius (RB) = DB/2 = 23.492
The Addendum (a) = 1/P = 1/6.28 = .15924
The Dedendum (d) = 1.157/P = 1.157/6.28 = .18424
Outside Diameter (DO) = D+2*a = 50.318
Outside Radius (RO) = 25.159
Root Diameter (DR) = D-2*d = 1.1054
Root Radius (RR) =o.5527
For method [9] described below following calculations are also required:
1. Circumference of the Base circle, (CB) = Pi * (DB) = Pi * 46.984 = 147.6
2. 1/25th of the Base Circle Radius, (FCB) = .9396
3. Number of times that FCB can be divided into CB, (NCB) = 157.08
4. 360 degrees divided by NCB, (ACB) = 2.29
5. Gear Tooth Spacing (GT) = 360/T = 14.4 degrees

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Chapter-3

3.1 FEM: Finite Element Method (FEM) is a numerical technique for finding approximate
solutions to boundary value problems. A boundary value problem is a differential equation
together with a set of additional restraints, called boundary conditions. FEM uses various
methods to minimize an error function and produce a stable solution. Analogous to the idea that
connecting many tiny straight lines can approximate a larger circle, FEM encompasses all the
methods for connecting many simple element equations over many small sub domains, named
finite elements, to approximate a more complex equation over a larger domain.
The subdivision of a whole domain into simpler parts has several advantages:

Accurate representation of complex geometry


Inclusion of dissimilar material properties
Easy representation of the total solution
Capture of local effects.

A typical work out of the method involves dividing the domain of the problem into a
collection of sub-domains, with each sub-domain represented by a set of element equations to the
original problem, followed by systematically recombining all sets of element equations into a
global system of equations for the final calculation. The global system of equations has known
solution techniques, and can be calculated from initial values of the original problem to obtain a
numerical answer.

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A feature of FEM is that it is been proven to be numerically stable for linear static
analysis, meaning that errors in the input and intermediate calculations do not accumulate and
cause the resulting output to be meaningless. Moreover, it can be easily applied on complex
geometries. The element equations are simple equations that locally approximate the original
complex equations to be studied, where the original equations are partial differential equations
(PDE). To explain the approximation in this process, FEM is commonly introduced as a special
case of Galerkin method. In simple terms, it is a procedure that minimizes the error of
approximation by fitting trial functions into the PDE.

3.2 Calculix:
Calculix[16] is an open source finite element analysis application with an explicit and
implicit solver and a pre/post processor. It is a package designed to solve field problems. The
method used is the finite element method. With CalculiX Finite Element Models can be build,
calculated and post-processed. The pre- and post-processor is an interactive 3D-tool. The solver
is able to do linear and non-linear calculations. Static, dynamic and thermal solutions are
available. Both programs can be used independently. Because the solver makes use of the
ABAQUS input format it is possible to use commercial pre-processors as well. In turn the preprocessor is able to write mesh related data. Calculix is a very powerful tool of analysis, highly
configurable allowing the user to have complete control over the analysis, with more than 18
types of analysis covering most fields of study finite element. Calculix's user can modify any
variable on the analysis at discretion, the huge amount of information and documentation on the
web make CalculiX a great alternative for the development of research projects.
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CalculiX GraphiX (CGX):


CalculiX user interface is cgx program, which allows one to create the geometric model,
making the mesh, generate the loads and constraints and post-processing of information.
Although it contains a graphical display area and certain model selection activities are made
possible through the computer mouse, most of the work is done by typing text on a command
line. Therefore it must know the name and syntax of each command. Despite this the quality of
documentation and logic handled at the command causes the program is easily manageable,
where skilled users might include their own functions. For example someone may need his own
functions to manipulate the result-data or he may need an interface to read or write his own
results format.
After the analysis is completed (on CCX), the results can be visualized by calling the
CGX program again in an independent session. The program is primarily controlled by the
keyboard with individual commands for each function. Only a subset of commands which are
most important for post-processing is also available through a pop-up menu. Also, a cut through
the model can be done which creates a section and it is possible to zoom through the model.
Shaded animations of static and dynamic results, the common color plots and time history plots
can be created.

3.3 Element Used for meshing: Linear brick element (C3D8)


Eight-node brick element (C3D8 and F3D8)
The C3D8 element is a general purpose linear brick element, fully integrated (2x2x2 integration
points). The node numbering follows the convention of Figure 3.1 and the integration points are

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numbered according to Figure 3.2. This latter information is important since element variables
printed with the * keyword are given in the integration points.

Fig 3.1 8-node brick element (courtesy: mit.edu[9])

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Fig 3.2 2x2x2 integration point scheme in hexahedral elements (courtesy: mit.edu[9])

Although the structure of the element is straightforward, it should not be used in the
following situations:

due to the full integration, the element will behave badly for isochoric material behavior,
i.e. for high values of Poisson's coefficient or plastic behavior.

the element tends to be too stiff in bending, e.g. for slender beams or thin plates under
bending.

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3.4 Geometry Creation and Mesh generation :


AUTO-CAD:

AutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting. The
software supports both 2D and 3D formats. The software is developed and sold by Autodesk,
Inc. It had become the most ubiquitous design program in the world, utilizing functions such
as polylines and curve fitting. The AutoCAD software is now used in a range of industries,
employed by architects, project managers and engineers. AutoCAD was initially derived from
a program called Interact, which was written in a proprietary language. The first release of the
software used only primitive entities such as polygons, circles, lines, arcs and text to construct
complex objects. Later, it came to support custom objects through a C++ application
programming interface. The modern version of the software includes a full set of tools for
solid modeling and 3-D. AutoCAD also support numerous application program interfaces for
automation and customization.
DWG (drawing) is the native file format for AutoCAD and a basic standard for CAD data
interoperability. The software has also provided support for design Web format (DWF), a
format developed by Autodesk for publishing CAD data.

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Geometry creation [9]:

Open up CAD program and draw


concentric circles of the Pitch
Diameter (D), Base Circle diameter
(DB), Outside Diameter (DO), and
Root Diameter (DR). Make sure the
circles are concentric.

1) Draw a line from the circle center


to the base circle perpendicular to
your grid. In other words at 0, 90,
180 or 270 degrees.
2) Draw a line 1/25th of the Base
Circle Radius (RB) long (FCB =
.9396) at a right angle from the end
of that line. This line is now tangent
to the base circle.
3) Radially copy the two lines make
14 copies at 2.29 degrees apart
(ACB), for a total of 15 line pairs.
Depending on the diameter of the
gear you may need more or less
lines, smaller gears need more,
larger gears may need a smaller
22

fraction of RB (base circle radius).

4) Number each set of lines, starting


with 0 for the first one, going to 14
Drawing shows the two lines, and
the copies of the line laid out and
numbered

5) Extend the tangent line for each


copy so it's length is the 1/25th of the
base circle radius (FCB) times the
number that you have next to that
tangent line (0 x FCB, 1 x FCB, 2 x
FCB14 x FCB) extend them from
the tangent point. Drawing shows
the tangent lines extended, and the
length of tangent #14.

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6) Starting at tangent line #0, draw a


line from the end of tangent #0 to
then end of tangent #1, from the end
of tangent #1 to tangent #2, tangent
#2 to tangent #3 and so on. You
should now have a very close
approximation of the involute curve
starting at the base circle and
extending past the addendum circle.
Trim the involute curve to DO, the
outside diameter of the gear.
Drawing shows the involute drawn
along the ends of the tangent lines.

7) Erase all the tangent lines, leaving


the involute curve generated by the
process. Make a line that goes from
the intersection of the involute curve
and the pitch diameter circle (D) to
the center of the gear. Note that this
will not be the same as the line going
from the start of the involute at the
base circle (DB) to the center.
8) Draw a second line of the Gear
tooth spacing (GT) radially from the
first line; usually this is best
accomplished by radially copying
the line from the first. 3.60 degrees is
of the gear tooth spacing
(GT=14.4 degrees).
9) Now mirror a copy of the involute
curve around this second line, make
sure you leave the original curve,
thus copying the other side of the
involute 7.20 degrees (1/2 GT) from
the pitch circle (D) intersection with

24

the involute.

10) Erase the radial lines, leaving the


two involute curves. Draw a line
from the start of each involute at the
base circle to the center of the gear.
Trim those lines to the Root
Diameter (DR) circle.

11) Erase all the circles except the


Root Diameter (DR) circle. Draw a
curve from the outside tip of one
involute to the other, which has a
center at 0,0 (the center of the gear)
thus drawing the outside of the tooth
(the curve has the radius of RO).
12) Radially copy the completed
gear tooth 25 times around the Root
Diameter (DR) circle, spacing the
copies 14.4 degrees apart (GT),
making 25 gear teeth (T) in total.
13) Erase the Root Diameter (DR)
circle and make a curve (or straight
line) between ends of two teeth
which has a center (the center of the
gear).

25

Fig 3.3 3-teeth Spur gear used for analysis

Fig 3.4 Extruded Spur gear


26

Fig 3.5 Spur gear with aero-fin hole

GMSH:
Gmsh [17] is a three-dimensional finite element mesh generator with a build-in CAD
engine and post-processor. Its design goal is to provide a fast, light and user-friendly meshing
tool with parametric input and advanced visualization capabilities.
Gmsh is built around four modules: geometry, mesh, solver and post-processing.
Geometry module is used to define geometrical objects such as points, lines, surfaces and
volumes while mesh module is used to create mesh (nodes and element topology). All
instructions of the modules are prescribed either interactively using the graphical user interface
(GUI) or in text files using Gmsh's own scripting language.

27

Finite Element Mesh Generation:


A finite element mesh is a positioning of a given subset of the three-dimensional space
by elementary geometrical elements of various shapes. The mesh generation is performed in the
bottom-up flow i.e., lines are discretized first; the mesh of the lines is then used to mesh the
surfaces; then the mesh of the surfaces is used to mesh the volumes. In this process, the mesh of
an entity is only constrained by the mesh of its boundary. For example, in three dimensions, the
triangles discretizing a surface will be forced to be faces of tetrahedra in the final 3D mesh only
if the surface is part of the boundary of a volume. This automatically assures
the conformity of the mesh. Every meshing step is constrained by a size field (sometimes
called characteristic length field), which Gmsh 2.7 prescribes the desired size of the elements
in the mesh. This size field can be uniform or specified by values associated with points in the
geometry.
Gmsh is good at:

Generating 1D, 2D and 3D simplicial finite element meshes for CAD models in their
native format

Specifying target element sizes accurately. It provides several mechanisms to control the
size of elements in the final mesh: through interpolation from sizes specified at geometry
points and using flexible mesh size fields.

Running on low end machines and machines with no graphical interface.

Visualizing and exporting computational results in great variety of ways.

Creating simple extruded geometries and meshes with the help of respective commands.

28

Fig 3.6 Spur gear with linear brick meshing

Fig 3.7 Spur gear loaded at HPSTC

29

Chapter4
Results & Discussions
4.1 Problem definition:
A gear having specifications of Module (M)=2, No. of teeth(N)=25 to study and

experiment is chosen from our reference thesis [1]. A load of 89MPa as given in thesis is applied
at the highest point of contact of gear teeth. The stress at root fillet region is of the value 168Mpa
which is much higher than the actual applied load. Then the stress relieving features are
introduced, which are the circular holes of different dimensions which decreased the stress at the
fillet to 124MPa. The stress relieving features used in the gear till date are circular holes or the
combination of circular and elliptical holes. Here we have tried an aerodynamic structured hole
in the path of stress flow analogy and the results are analysed. A segment of three teeth is
considered for analysis and stress relieving features of various sizes are introduced on gear teeth
at various locations.

30

4.2 Laminar flow analogy:


For relieving stress concentration in gears conventional methods used are making Fillets,
Notches and Holes.

Flow analogy with circular-shaped hole

Flow analogy with square-shaped hole.

Flow analogy with notch

The flow analogy is used to visualize the stress concentration. It gives us a physical
picture of why and where stress concentration exists and it can be used as a tool to decrease
stress concentration. The path of flow analogy in gear starts from highest point of application of
load and ends at the root fillet of the tooth. This indicates that lines of force travel from contact

31

point to root fillet, with gradual decrease in width of the flow pattern. So, the stress concentration
is more at the fillet region which causes breakage of the tooth. The problem of stress
concentration is solved by removing material in the path of stress flow analogy. When the
material is removed in the path of flow analogy, the lines of force will travel uniformly. In our
experiment, the material is removed in the shape of an aerodynamic fin which decreased the
maximum principal stress at the fillet.

4.3 Significance of Aero-fin hole:


The shape of aero-fin selected for this study is such that it modifies the stress flow into a
smoother way, i.e., smoother flow of stress is achieved best by an aero-fin type of design because
the curvy nature of this helps stress flow lines of stress to find a fluent path without any
interruptions, the shape becomes narrowed towards the fillet end which will help the stress lines
to flow smoothly to the fillet without increasing stresses.

4.4 Results: Stresses & Displacements of analysed gears


The gear without hole is examined to determine the maximum stress at the fillet and then
the aero-fin hole is introduced to gear. The position and size of the aero-fin hole can be varied by
changing input values of center of one of the arcs of hole and scaling factor using
Parametrization in Gmsh. Now, the gear is experimented with different modifications done to the
aero-fin hole by varying the parameters mentioned above. The stresses and displacements are
calculated and analyzed so that the maximum stress at the fillet is reduced which is the main aim
of this project.

32

The Fig 4.1 illustrates the co-ordinates of a focus point. It is considered as the centre of
aero-fin hole which is used for transformation of entire hole.

Fig 4.1 Centre of aero-fin hole

33

Stress and displacement in Normal Gear:

The maximum stress at the fillet is 168Mpa which much higher compared to the applied
load on the gear.
34

Results of the analysed gears are tabulated below:

Gear
No.
1

%
Displacement
%
Scaling
Stress
Stress
(mm)
Displacement
Of
(N/mm2)
Reduction
Reduction
Hole
38.7653, 0.75
98.3
41.48
0.00235
40.8
65.4081,
25.4
38.7663, 0.75
93.7
44.22
0.00235
40.8
65.4061,
25.4
38.7663, 0.70
89.3
46.84
0.00229
42.31
65.3061,
25.4
38.7663, 0.60
85.8
48.92
0.00224
43.57
65.5561,
25.4
38.7653, 0.60
83.6
50.23
0.00217
45.34
65.4081,
25.4

Center
of Hole

Table 4.1
According to the results tabulated above, the decrease in stress is 50.23%, whereas in the
reference thesis[1] stress is reduced by 24.07%. From this it can be inferred that aero-fin hole
serves better as a stress relieving feature compared to circular hole.

35

Stress and displacement in Gear 1(with aero-fin hole):

Gear 1 [table 4.1]


The maximum stress at the fillet is 98.3Mpa after the introduction of aero-fin hole with a scaling
factor of 0.75.

36

Stress and displacement in Gear 2 (with aero-fin hole):

Gear 2 [table 4.1]


The maximum stress at the fillet is 93.7MPa, which is obtained by changing the position of hole
and unvarying the scaling factor.
37

Stress and displacement in Gear 3 (with aero-fin hole):

Gear 3 [table 4.1]


The maximum stress at the fillet is 89.3MPa. The scaling factor is decreased to 0.7
38

Stress and displacement in Gear 4 (with aero-fin hole):

Gear 4 [table 4.1]


The maximum stress at the fillet is 85.8MPa. The stress is decreased by decreasing the
scaling factor to 0.6.

39

Stress and displacement in Gear 5 (with aero-fin hole):

Gear 5 [table 4.1]


The maximum stress at the fillet is decreased to 83.6MPa with the scaling factor of hole
as 0.6. The stress obtained is approximately half of the stress without aero-fin hole.
40

GRAPHS:

From the above graph it can be concluded that as the size of hole decreased, stress induced in the
gear decreased significantly due to the modulation of hole in the stress flow direction.

41

From this graph, as the scaling decreased, the displacement also decreased. This is because as the
hole size is less, material will be more due to which gear will be stiffer and finally displacement
will be lower.

42

Conclusion
The main aim of the above study is to relieve stress from the maximum value to as
minimum as possible. So the highest point of contact of teeth is selected as pressure application
point which causes highest stress.
Stress relieving feature having a shape of aero-fin is used in the path of stress flow which
helped to regulate stress flow by redistributing the lines of force. This also yielded better results
when compared to elliptical and circular holes.
In this study, the best result is obtained by introducing aero-fin hole at
(38.7653, 65.4083, 0) and having scaling factor of 0.6. The result displayed a stress reduction by
50.23% and displacement reduction by 45.34%.

Scope for further work:

Some more positions of the aero-fin shape can be experimented.

This can be extended to Bi-directional gears.

43

References
[1]

Hariharan_ME_Thesis, SPUR GEAR TOOTH STRESS ANALYSIS AND STRESS

REDUCTION USING STRESS REDUCING GEOMETRICAL FEATURES, Thapar Institute of


Engg. & Tech., 2006.
dspace.thapar.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/123456789/.../8048113.pdf

[2]

M.S.Hebbel, V.B.Math and B.G.Sheeparamatti, A Study on Reducing the Root Fillet

Stress in Spur Gear Using Internal Stress Relieving Feature of Different Shapes, International
Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 5, May 2009.
http://www.academia.edu/200020/A_Study_on_Reducing_the_Root_Fillet_Stress_in_Spur_Gear_Usi
ng_Internal_Stress_Relieving_Feature_of_Different_Shapes

[3]

Shanmugasundaram Sankar, Maasanamuthu Sundar Raj, Muthusamy Nataraj, Profile

Modification for Increasing the Tooth Strength in Spur Gear Using CAD, Scientific research,
September 2010.
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=2800

[4]

Ashwini Joshi, Vijay Kumar Karma, Effect on Strength of Involute Spur Gear by

Changing the Fillet Radius Using FEA, International Journal Of Scientific & Engineering
Research, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2010.
http://www.ijser.org/researchpaper%5CEffect-on-Strength-of-Involute-Spur-Gear-by-Changing-theFillet-Radius-Using-FEA.pdf

44

[5]

Fredette.L and Brown.M., Gear Stress Reduction Using Internal Stress Relief Features,

Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 119, pp. 518-521, 1997.

[6]

Sorin Cnnu, 3D CONTACT STRESS ANALYSIS FOR SPUR GEARS,

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania.


http://www.om.ugal.ro/AnnalsFasc8Tribology/pdf/2003/I-ANALE-120-CANANAU.pdf

[7]

Ali Raad Hassan, Contact Stress Analysis of Spur Gear Teeth Pair, World Academy of

Science, Engineering and Technology 58 2009.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/29351224/Contact-Stress-Analysis-of-Spur-Gear-Teeth-Pair

Books:
[8] Joseph Edward Shigley, Mechanical Engineering Design, McGraw Hill, 1986.
file:///E:/Shigley%27s%20Mechanical%20Engineering%20Design%209th%20Edition.pdf

Websites:
[9]

http://www.cartertools.com/involute.html

[10]

WWW.mit.edu

[11] www.wikipedia.org
[12] http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Drive/Gears.html
[13] http://www.gearsandstuff.com/gear_
[14] http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Machine_Design_II/pdf/2_3.pdf
[15]

http://www.tribology-nikas.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gear2.gif
45

[16]

www.bconverged.com

[17]

www.gmsh.org

46

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