On the existence of self-excited vibration in Thin Spur Gears: A theoretical model for the estimation of Damping by the energy method

The gear is a cyclic symmetric structure, and each tooth is subjected to a periodic mesh force. These mesh forces have the same phase difference tooth by tooth, which can excite gear vibrations. The mechanism of additional axial force caused by gear bending is shown and examined, which can significantly affect the stability of a self-excited thin spur gears vibration. A mechanical model based on energy balance is then developed to predict the contribution of additional axial force, leading to the proposed numerical integration method for vibration stability analysis. By analyzing the change in the system energy, the occurrence of the self-excited vibration is validated. A numerical simulation is carried out to verify the theoretical analysis. The impacts of modal damping, contact ratio, and the number of nodal diameters on the stability boundaries of the self-excited vibration are revealed. The results prove that the backward traveling wave of the driven gear as well as the forward traveling wave of the driving gear encounter self-excited vibration in the absence of sufficient damping. The model can be used to predict the stability of the gear self-excited vibration.