Coupled Bending-Torsional Nonlinear Vibration and Bifurcation Characteristics of Spiral Bevel Gear System

A spiral bevel gear system supported on thrust bearings considering the coupled bending-torsional nonlinear vibration is proposed and an eight degrees of freedom (8DOF) lumped parameter dynamic model of the spiral bevel gear system combined with time-varying stiffness, static transmission error, gear backlash, and bearing clearances is investigated. The spiral bevel gear system is analyzed with the equations of motion and the dynamic response is solved using the Runge-Kutta method. The effects of mesh frequency, mesh damping coefficient, load coefficient, and gear backlash are revealed, which describe the true mesh characteristics of the spiral bevel gear system. The bifurcation characteristics as jump discontinuities, periodic windows, and chaos are obtained by studying time histories, phase plane portraits, Poincaré maps, Fourier spectra, and global bifurcation diagrams of the gear system. The results presented in this study provide some useful information for engineers in designing and controlling such gear systems.