PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Engineering and Applied Science: Mechanical Engineering

This dissertation research focuses on evaluating the nonlinear dynamics of driveline systems employed in motor vehicles with emphasis on characterizing the excitations and response of right-angle, precision hypoid-type geared rotor structure. The main work and contribution of this dissertation is divided into three sections. Firstly, the development of an asymmetric and nonlinear gear mesh coupling model will be discussed. Secondly, the enhancement of the multi-term harmonic balance method (HBM) is presented. Thirdly and as the final topic, the development of new dynamic models capable of evaluating the dynamic coupling characteristics between the gear mesh and other driveline structures will be addressed. A new asymmetric and nonlinear mesh model will be proposed that considers backlash, and the fact that the tooth surfaces of the convex and concave sides are different. The proposed mesh model will then be fed into a dynamic model of the right-angle gear pair to formulate the dimensionless equation of motion of the dynamic model. The multi-term HBM will be enhanced to simulate the right-angle gear dynamics by solving the resultant dimensionless equation of motion. The accuracy of the enhanced HBM solution will be verified by comparison of its results to the more computationally intensive direct numerical integration calculations. The stability of both the primary and sub-harmonic solutions predicted by applying multi-term HBM will be analyzed using the Floquent Theory. In addition, the stability analysis of the multi-term HBM solutions will be proposed as an approximate approach for locating the existence of sub-harmonic and chaotic motions. In this dissertation research, a new methodology to evaluate the dynamic interaction between the nonlinear hypoid gear mesh mechanism and the time-varying characteristics of the rolling element bearings will also be developed. The time-varying mesh parameters will be obtained by synthesizing a 3-dimensional loaded tooth conta (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Teik Lim PhD (Committee Chair); Sundaram Murali Meenakshi PhD (Committee Member); Dong Qian PhD (Committee Member); David Thompson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mechanics