LAUSR

Abstract Pitting is one of the fault forms of gears, which directly causes a reduction in gear time-varying meshing stiffness (TVMS). In this paper, the probability distribution model of gear TVMS is established with random pitting. Firstly, a distribution model of tooth surface pitting is proposed based on the Monte Carlo method, which considers the relationship of tooth surface fault degree and pits number. Then, the TVMS with different characteristics of pitting is calculated by combining image processing. Pits number and distribution parameters of pitting are taken as random variables. The probability distribution models of TVMS with random pitting of tooth surfaces are established. Furthermore, the influence of pits number and distribution parameters on gear meshing stiffness are investigated. The results show that the probability distribution models of TVMS of gears with random pitting agree well with the normal distribution with angular displacement.