In this study, a nonlinear dynamic model of a spur gear transmission system with non-uniform wear is proposed to analyze the interaction between surface wear and nonlinear dynamic characteristics. A quasi-static non-uniform wear model is presented, with consideration of the effects of operating time on meshing stiffness and gear backlash. Furthermore, a nonlinear dynamic model with six degrees of freedom is established considering surface friction, time-varying gear backlash, time-varying meshing stiffness, and eccentricity, and the Runge-Kutta method applied to solve this model. The bifurcation and chaos in the proposed dynamic model with the change of the operating time and the excitation frequency are investigated by bifurcation and spectrum waterfall diagrams to analyze the bifurcation characteristics and the dimensionless meshing force. It is found that surface wear is generated with the change in operating time and affects the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the spur gear system. This study provides a better understanding of nonlinear dynamic characteristics of gear transmission systems operating under actual conditions.

The study presents a profile design method to improve the wear performance of misaligned water‐lubricated bearing based on the modified Archard model. This method takes into account the variation of the film thickness under the mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (mixed‐EHL). A transient hydrodynamic Reynolds equation model with the Patir–Cheng flow factors is used to predict the evolution of the mixed‐EHL performance over time. The Archard model is extended to predict the time‐varying wear based on the fatigue concept. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed profile design method; the simulation results, including the transient contact pressure, wear depth and wear volume, between the considering and not considering the profile design are compared. To gain insight, several illustrative examples are presented to show the amelioration of the profile design. Parametric studies are reported to show the applicability of the profile design and emphasise the profile height selection. Therefore, the profile design is an extraordinary method to reduce the edge wear.

At present, the mean value of the meshing stiffness and the gear backlash is a fixed value in the nonlinear dynamic model. In this study, wear is considered in the model of the gear backlash and time-varying stiffness. With the increase of the operating time, the meshing stiffness decreases and the gear backlash increases. A six degrees-of-freedom nonlinear dynamic model of a new rigid-flexible gear pair is established with time-varying stiffness and time-varying gear backlash. The dynamic behaviors of the gear transmission system are studied through bifurcation diagrams with the operating time as control parameters. Then, the dynamic characteristics of the gear transmission system are analyzed using excitation frequency as control parameters at four operating time points. The bifurcation diagrams, Poincaré maps, fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectra, phase diagrams, and time series are used to investigate the state of motion. The results can provide a reference for the gear transmission system with wear.

In this study, a new rigid–flexible gear with metal rubber is proposed to reduce the vibration of the gear transmission system. A nonlinear dynamic model with nine degrees of freedom considering bearing clearance, gear backlash, surface friction, and time-varying meshing stiffness is established. The nondimensional dynamic model of the transmission system is obtained and the bifurcation characteristics of the new rigid–flexible gear pair and the rigid gear pair are analyzed when the damping coefficient is, respectively, 0.03 and 0.1. The result shows that the motion state of the rigid–flexible gear pair is more stable. The dynamic responses of the rigid gear pair and the rigid–flexible gear pair are compared as well through numerical analysis and experiment to illustrate the advantage of the rigid–flexible gear pair in vibration reduction. The results can provide reference for vibration reduction of the novel gear transmission.

Nonlinear vibration, a main factor affecting the dynamic stability, widely exists in the transmission system. In addition, geometric eccentricities caused by the manufacturing errors are inevitable in the gear transmission system, which may lead to the excessive nonlinear vibration. In order to suppress the nonlinear vibration under the excitation of the geometric eccentricities, a rigid–flexible gear pair consisting of the ring gear, the composite material, and the hub is proposed in this study. A dynamic model with nine degrees-of-freedom which considers geometric eccentricities is proposed to analyze the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the rigid–flexible gear pair. Furthermore, the dynamic characteristics of the rigid–flexible gear pair and the rigid gear pair are compared within a wide range of operating conditions. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the rigid–flexible gear pair has better vibration suppression effect on the system.