Wear simulation of spur gears

This paper deals with prediction of wear in spur gears, which has been calculated using an approach in which the wear depth on a tooth surface is integrated over time using the Euler integration method. Variations in pressure distribution over the surface have been considered, as well as changes in curvature and surface profile of the teeth as they wear. The paper focuses on the use of an appropriate wear model for simulating wear using calculated conditions between high‐performance slow‐running lubricated spur gears. A numerical model for prediction of surface interaction of spur gears developed earlier by the authors has been applied as the basis for the simulation of wear using different wear models. Owing to the nature of the wear models, methods of calculating the contact temperature have been investigated for the specific case of interacting gear teeth. It was found that a linear wear model, when compared with a more complex oxidation model and with a model based on adsorption of lubricant molecules, satisfactorily predicts wear. It was also found that it is the geometry of the gears that causes sliding velocity to be the dominant wear‐inducing factor, and so determines the general nature of the wear behaviour.