Prediction of Gear Tooth Crack Propagation Path Based on Pseudo Evolutionary Structural Optimization

In an attempt to reduce the computational requirements on gear crack path prediction an efficient alternative method based on pseudo evolutionary structural optimization (ESO) is proposed in this paper. The novel method is self-evolutionary and does not require prior estimation of stress intensity factors neither initial crack location. During the evolutionary process, instead of removing materials with minimum stress in the design domain as in ESO, elements with maximum tensile stress are progressively eliminated and consequently a crack path is defined. The two-dimensional static analysis involves four finite element models of three successive teeth of a gear section with different backup ratios. The results have shown that the proposed method successfully predicts crack growth direction, which is into the gear rim for backup ratio less than unity or through the tooth foot for back up ratio equal to or greater than unity. The simulated results agree remarkably well with solutions, experimentally and analytically, proposed by previous rigorous procedures.

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