Investigation of load distribution among teeth of an aero-engine spline coupling

Abstract

Involute spline coupling is a significant part in power transmission system, and the research on the rules of the load distribution among the teeth of it is extremely important for the working reliability. The work reported here calculated the actual meshing teeth, using the method loaded step by step considering the backlash, calculated the deformation and load distribution of spline coupling by the method, established the finite element model, simulated it for the deformation of teeth, and validated against the deformation calculated using the method loaded step by step. The results show that due to the large backlash under the working conditions given in this paper, the actual meshing teeth of spline is less, deformation obtained by finite element method is consistent with the deformation obtained by the method loaded step by step, and the first meshed tooth is out of shape seriously, whereas the second tooth will most likely to fail. It is concluded that increasing the actual meshing teeth and then reducing fretting wear can improve stability and reliability of spline coupling as well as reduce the failure.