BENDING STRESS ANALYSIS OF HELICAL GEARS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

This report presents the methodology and the approach taken in the analysis of a helical gear failure. It also presents the effects of bending stress on the failed helical gear, and how this bending stress changes with the change in tangential loading, on the gear tooth. The analysis presented in this report is one tooth analysis. The helical gear that is being analysed in this report is obtained from a gearbox of bus, which was experiencing gear failure. The report also presents the final results obtained from the analytical calculations, as well as the final results from the ANSYS simulation. Although there are a lot of different causes for gear failure, the contents of this report and the study conducted, is limited to failure caused by bending stress in helical gears. The report also presents the theory of the bending stress, and how it is used in analytical analysis of a helical gear failure. From the Lewis bending stress equation, the effects of the tangential loading are investigated (analytically). The report also contains a brief discussion on the obtained results from the Lewis bending stress equation, and also the ANSYS simulation results. The finite element analysis (FEA) results showed that the bending stress at higher tangential loads is higher at root of the gear tooth.