Coefficient of friction of a starved lubricated spur gear pair

The frictional power loss issue of gear pairs becomes an important concern in both industry and academia due to the requirement of the energy saving and the improvement of power density of gear drives. A thermal starved elastohydrodynamic lubrication model is developed to study the tribological performance of a spur gear pair under starved lubrication conditions. The contact pressure, the film thickness, the temperature rise, the frictional power loss, as well as the coefficient of friction are evaluated by considering the variation of the curvature radius, the sliding/rolling motion, and the load distribution of gear tooth within the meshing period. Effects of lubrication starvation condition, load and speed on the coefficient of friction are studied.