An Analytical Determination of Speed Factor in Gear Designs

Dynamic photoelasticity, fatigue testing and cumulative-damage

concept enable an analytical determination of speed factor
formerly expressed in empirical forms

by S. Shimamura and Y. Noguchi

ABSTRACT---In practical gear design, the "speed f a c t o r " is d e t e r m i n a t i o n of the speed factor for spur gears as stated
usually e m p l o y e d which is defined as a ratio of the allow- below.
able stress a t r e q u i r e d running speed of the gear system First, f r o m a d y n a m i c photoelastic test of a pair of
to t h e stress a t zero speed. A t present, several expres- spur gears, the following results were obtained:
sions for the speed factor are r e c o m m e n d e d b y several (1) A t a c o n s t a n t speed and t o r q u e and a t the same
authorities; however, those are almost all empirical and point of engagement, the m a x i m u m fillet stress did not
n o t analytical. h a v e a specific c o n s t a n t value b u t had s o m e w h a t scat-
T h e present paper aims to c o n t r i b u t e to an analytical tered values due to the v i b r a t i o n of gear system under
operation.
(2) T h e m e a n value of the scattered stresses was almost
S. S h i m a m u r a and Y . Noguchi are Senior Research Officer and Research
Officer, respectively, Government Mechanical Laboratory, Tokyo, J a p a n . c o n s t a n t and less d e p e n d e n t on t h e running speed of
P a p e r was presented by title at Second S E S A International Congress on gears; however, the range of scatter, i.e., the standard
Experimental Mechanics held in Washington, D. C., on Sept. 2 8 - 0 c t . 1, deviation, was significantly d e p e n d e n t on the speed and
1965. rapidly increased w i t h an increase in the speed.
N e x t , flexural fatigue testing was c o n d u c t e d w i t h the
1.0 epoxy resin, the photoelastic material, and the S - N dia-
9 S.E(Aath0~s)for D~i,i.g P~nion g r a m was determined.
tOOrpm
oS.F..( ,, )" Drivee•ear Finally, the c u m u l a t i v e - d a m a g e concept was applied
400 into the fatigue failure of the gear t o o t h where the above-
d e t e r m i n e d h y s t o g r a m of fillet stresses and the S - N dia-
g r a m were used; then, the allowable m e a n stress which
ensures 107 e n d u r a n c e was e s t i m a t e d for each running
| 800 speed. A n analytical value of t h e speed factor was then
d e t e r m i n e d b y dividing the allowable stress b y the
fatigue s t r e n g t h of the m a t e r i a l a t 107 cycles. T h e
speed factor thus o b t a i n e d was c o m p a r e d w i t h the con-
v e n t i o n a l expressions for the speed factor.
.6 o
9 1200
C)
List of Symbols
,<.s
(.,.3
N = n u m b e r of cycles to failure
N t = n u m b e r of cycles to failure u n d e r constant ampli-
t u d e of a l t e r n a t i n g stress, St
c,, N t = n u m b e r of cycles to failure u n d e r varying ampli-
co tude of a l t e r n a t i n g stress
nt = n u m b e r of cycles of stress, St
no = sum o f n i
S = alternating stress or m a x i m u m fillet stress
= m e a n of S
a = s t a n d a r d deviation of S

Introduction
0 I i i i i i t i
T h e s p e e d f a c t o r , a s d e f i n e d i n e q (1), is u s u a l l y
0 2 4 6 8 to 12 I+ t6
a d o p t e d i n g e a r - d e s i g n p r a c t i c e t o e n s u r e t h e life o f
ClRCUMFEI~ENTIAL SPEEO i. m/s,, gear system under operation:
Fig. 1--Speed factor vs. circumferential speed. Authors' allowable stress a t r e q u i r e d running speed
result is compared with conventional expressions for the speed factor =
allowable stress a t zero speed
speed factor. Curves represent following expressions, re-
spectively (v -----circumferential speed in m/sec or f/min): (1)
1. Speed factor = 10/(10+v) ( v : m / s e c ) (after R6tscher) Now, several expressions for the speed factor are
2. Speed factor = 1 - - (~/~/84) ( v : f / m i n ) (after AGMA) recommended by several a u t h o r i t i e s a s s h o w n in
3. Speed factor = 1200/(1200+v) ( v : f / m i n ) (after Birth)
4. Speed factor = 600/(600+v) ( v : f / m i n ) (after Birth) F i g ~ 1; h o w e v e r , t h e s e a r e mostly empirical and not
5. Speed factor = 78/(78.1. ~/~) ( v : f / m i n ) (after Rusmussen) analytical.
6. Speed factor = {150/(200+v)} -I- 0.25 (v:f/min) (after AGMA
for nonmetallic gear) From the viewpoint of the fatigue strength, the

218 I M a y 1967
speed factor is a safety factor ensuring the same en-
durance life of gears for various running speeds.
T h e n the speed factor shall be determined from the
following three points.
(1) Since it is the usual practice to express a life
of a gear as a period, i.e., hours or years, and not
cycles to failure, an increase in running speed re-
stilts in an increase in n u m b e r of stress cycles per
unit time; so, for a certain predetermined life ex-
pressed in years, more stress cycles m u s t be endured
to failure. I n this connection, it is clear t h a t the
greater the speed the less the allowable stress,
namely, the lower the speed factor to be employed;
this is easily evaluated from the S - N diagram of the
gear material. I n the scope of the present paper
this factor is not included.
(2) I f the mean of the tensile fillet stresses (or
the m a x i m u m shearing stresses in the vicinity of
the point of engagement) increases with the in-
crease in the running speed, the allowable design
stress shall be reduced to ensure same life (in cycles),
and this is also easily determined from S - N diagram.
As clarified below, the mean of d y n a m i c stresses was
less dependent on the speed in the present test
condition, and therefore this factor was not con-
sidered.
(3) Finally, the most interesting is an effect of
the scatter of dynamic stresses, t h a t is, how the
value of S shall be selected to ensure the same
life for different running speeds when the relative
degree of scatter in d y n a m i c stresses, i.e., coeffi-
cients of variation, is known. The aim of the
present paper is focused on this point.
The present paper aims to contribute to an ana-
lytical determination of the speed factor and is
composed of three parts such as d y n a m i c photo-
elasticity, fatigue testing and application of the
cumulative damage concept.
Dynamic Photoelasticity in Spur Gears
A n application of the d y n a m i c a l photoelastic
technique in the stress analysis of operating gears is
n o t new. F r o m the Coker's age, several photo-
elasticians have tried to determine the d y n a m i c
stresses in gears photoelasticallyl-l~ however,
f r o m the authors' viewpoint, those were m o s t l y
trials and no contributions were m a d e to an ana-
lytical determination of the speed factor. T h e
reason why the former work in this b r a n c h has
failed to clarify the nature of d y n a m i c stresses in
gears is, very likely, as follows: lack of a suitable
photoelastic material, high-sensitivity p h o t o g r a p h i c
material and high-intensity stroboscopic light
source. At present, with those materials and
devices of m u c h higher quality, it is more feasible
to apply the photoelastic technique to d y n a m i c -
stress problems in gears.
Model Gear
T h e driving pinion and the driven gear were of
the same design, t o o t h profile of the s t a n d a r d in-
volute of pressure angle 20 deg, 4 module, pitch
diameter 148 mm, 37 teeth. A circular blank
turned from epoxy-resin plate 5.6-mm thick was
carefully machined b y the P f a u t o r gear-hobbing
machine. T h e completed model was annealed in an
electrical furnace according to the usually employed
t e m p e r a t u r e cycle before testing. T h e fringe value
of the epoxy material was 1.05 k g / m m / f r i n g e .
Test Setup
T h e test setup used is roughly illustrated in Fig.
2. The driving pinion g~ is driven b y a d-c m o t o r M,
and the driven gear g2 is connected with a electrical
d y n a m o m e t e r D. B y elaborate control of the
m o t o r and d y n a m o m e t e r , the required torque within
Fig. 2 - - T e s t s e t u p (C = c a m -
era, D = d y n a m o m e t e r ; F =
filter; G = t a c h o g e n e r a t o r ;
gl a n d g2 = d r i v i n g pinion and
driven gear; L1, L2 and L3 =
lenses; M = d- m o t o r ; m =
mirror; P~ and P= = p o l a r i z e r
and analyzer; Q~ and Q2 =
q u a r t e r - w a v e plates; S =
strobolume; T = torque-
meter)
Experimental Mechanics ] 219