Gear mesh stiffness is an important indicator for condition monitoring of gears as its value has been found to decrease with initiation of crack. In the current study, the effect of crack propagation path on mesh stiffness has been investigated. Elliptical cracks with different values of semi major and semi minor axes have been considered with same values of crack lengths along these paths. ANSYS 19 software along with FRANC 3D has been used to model the gears with cracks induced. Structural analysis has been performed through Mechanical APDL. The values of mesh stiffness have been found to vary significantly with change in path of crack progression.

Vibration response of gears is an important indicator for gear mesh analysis as its value has been found to changing drastically with increase in number of cracks in gears. In the current study, the effect on vibration response for healthy gear and cracked gear has been investigated. High frequency amplitude modulated signal is taken as input and provides an output which is envelope of the original signal. ANSYS 20 software, MSC ADAMS along with MATLAB have been used to model the gears with multiple cracks induced. Structural analysis has been performed through Mechanical APDL. The vibration response values have been found to vary significantly with increase in number of cracks.