Spiral Bevel Gears Nonlinear Vibration Having Radial and Axial Misalignments Effects

In gear transmissions, vibration causes noise and malfunction. In actual applications, misalignments contribute to intensifying the destructive effect of vibrations. In this paper, the nonlinear dynamics of a spiral bevel gear pair, with small helix angle, considering different misalignments, are deeply investigated. Axial misalignment, radial misalignment, and the combination of these two types are considered in this study. The governing equation is numerically solved through an implicit Runge–Kutta scheme. Since the main goal of this study is the analysis of the dynamic scenario, the mesh stiffness of the gear pair is obtained from the literature. The dynamical system is nonlinear and time-varying; it is analyzed through time responses, phase portraits, Poincare maps, and bifurcation diagrams. Results show that, among the considered three cases with different types of misalignments, the spiral bevel gear with axial misalignment is the worst destructive case; aperiodic, subharmonic, and multiperiod responses are observable for this case. It is interesting that the chaotic responses for the case, having both types of misalignments, are less likely for the case with axial misalignment, only.