To rapidly evaluate the meshing performance of manufactured face-gear drives, this study proposes an efficiency-optimized tooth contact analysis (TCA) method for measured gear flanks based on Ease-off surface. Initially, mathematical models of the pinion and face-gear tooth flanks are established. A TCA framework leveraging conjugate relationships and Ease-off surfaces is then developed. Subsequently, measured flank data are fitted into continuous error surfaces through Bicubic spline fitting, enabling full-tooth flank error mapping. These error distributions are integrated into the Ease-off surface model to simulate realistic meshing behavior, extracting critical performance metrics including contact paths and transmission errors. Validation through computational TCA, finite element analysis (FEA), and rolling tests confirm the method’s accuracy and computational efficiency.
Tang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.