Numerical and Experimental Analysis of the Oil Flow in a Planetary Gearbox
Source abstract
Abstract
The circular layout and the kinematics of planetary gearboxes result in characteristic oil flow phenomena. The goal of this paper is to apply a new remeshing strategy, based on the finite volume method, on the numerical analysis of a planetary gearbox and its evaluation of results as well as its validation. The numerical results are compared with experimental data acquired on the underlying test rig with high-speed camera recordings. By use of a transparent housing cover, the optical access in the front region of the gearbox is enabled. Different speeds of the planet carrier and immersion depths are considered. A proper domain partitioning and a specifically suited mesh-handling strategy provide a highly efficient numerical model. The open-source software OpenFOAM® is used.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Tribology and Lubrication Engineering · Gear and Bearing Dynamics Analysis · Vibration and Dynamic Analysis
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Gear Research Center (FZG), Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, Germany
Funding
the Open Access Publishing Fund of the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano
References (41)
Show source-provided references
1. Schudy, J. (2010). Untersuchungen Zur Flankentragfähigkeit von Außen-Und Innenverzahnungen. Einflüsse Auf Das Grübchen-, Grauflecken- Und Verschleißverhalten, Insbesondere Bei Langsam Laufenden Getriebestufen. [Ph.D. Thesis, Technical University of Munich].
2. Efficient CFD Simulation Model for a Planetary Gearbox10.1007/s10010-018-0280-2 ↗
3. Untersuchung Der Leerlaufverluste in Einem Planetengetriebe Für Windkraftanlagen Mit Mine-Ralölbasischen Und Biologisch Schnell Abbaubaren Schmierstoffen
4. Kettler, J. (2002). Ölsumpftemperatur von Planetengetrieben, FVA. FVA Heft 639.
5. da Costa, D. (2015). Power Loss in Planetary Gear Transmissions Lubricated with Axle Oils. [Master’s Thesis, University of Porto].
6. Höhn, B.R., Stahl, K., Schudy, J., Tobie, T., and Zornek, B. (2012). FZG Rig-Based Testing of Flank Load-Carrying Capacity Internal Gears. Gear Technol., 60–69.
7. de Gevigney, J.D., Changenet, C., Ville, F., Velex, P., and Becquerelle, S. (2013, January 4–5). Experimental Investigation on No-Load Dependent Power Losses in a Planetary Gear Set. Proceedings of the International Gear Conference, Valencia, Spain.
8. Experimental investigations on churning power losses generated in a planetary gear set10.1299/jamdsm.2017jamdsm0079 ↗
9. Analysis of Flow Regimes and Associated Sources of Dissipation in Splash Lubricated Planetary Gear Sets10.1115/1.4051389 ↗
10. Maccioni, L., and Concli, F. (2020). Computational Fluid Dynamics Applied to Lubricated Mechanical Components: Review of the Approaches to Simulate Gears, Bearings, and Pumps. Appl. Sci., 10.10.3390/app10248810 ↗
11. Bianchini, C., Da Soghe, R., Errico, J.D., and Tarchi, L. (2017, January 26–30). Computational Analysis of Windage Losses in an Epicyclic Gear Train. Proceedings of the Turbo Expo, Charlotte, NC, USA.10.1115/GT2017-64917 ↗
12. Bianchini, C., Da Soghe, R., Giannini, L., Fondelli, T., Massini, D., Facchini, B., and D’Errico, J. (2019, January 17–21). Load Independent Losses of an Aeroengine Epicyclic Power Gear Train: Numerical Investigation. Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2019: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Phoenix, AZ, USA.10.1115/GT2019-91309 ↗
13. Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) for gears: Contact and bending fatigue behavior10.1016/j.prostr.2017.12.003 ↗
14. Analysis of power losses in an industrial planetary speed reducer: Measurements and computational fluid dynamics calculations10.1177/1350650113496980 ↗
15. Thermal and efficiency characterization of a low-backlash planetary gearbox: An integrated numerical-analytical prediction model and its experimental validation10.1177/1350650115622363 ↗
16. Low-Loss Gears Precision Planetary Gearboxes: Reduction of the Load Dependent Power Losses and Efficiency Estimation through a Hybrid Analytical-Numerical Optimization Tool [Hochleistungs- Und Präzisions-Planetengetriebe: Effizienzschätzung Und Reduzierun10.1007/s10010-017-0242-0 ↗
17. Numerical modeling of the churning power losses in planetary gearboxes: An innovative partitioning-based meshing methodology for the application of a computational effort reduction strategy to complex gearbox configurations10.1002/ls.1380 ↗
18. Concli, F., and Gorla, C. (2017, January 22–24). CFD Simulation of Power Losses and Lubricant Flows in Gearboxes. Proceedings of the American Gear Manufacturers Association Fall Technical Meeting 2017, Colombus, OH, USA.
19. (2022, December 20). OpenFOAM. Available online: https://www.openfoam.com.
20. Cho, J., Hur, N., Choi, J., and Yoon, J. (2016, January 10–15). Numerical Simulation of Oil and Air Two-Phase Flow in a Planetary Gear System Using the Overset Mesh Technique. Proceedings of the Open Archives of the 16th International Symposium on Transport Phenomena and Dynamics of Rotating Machinery, ISROMAC 2016, Honolulu, HI, USA.
21. Benek, J., Steger, J., and Dougherty, F.C. (1983, January 13–15). A Flexible Grid Embedding Technique with Application to the Euler Equations. Proceedings of the 6th Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Danvers, CO, USA.10.2514/6.1983-1944 ↗
22. Benek, J., Buning, J., and Steger, J. (1985, January 15–17). A 3-D Chimera Grid Embedding Technique. Proceedings of the 7th Computational Physics Conference, Cincinnati, OH, USA.10.2514/6.1985-1523 ↗
23. (2022, December 08). STAR-CCM+. Available online: www.plm.automation.siemens.com.
24. (2022, December 08). ANSYS FLUENT. Available online: www.ansys.com.
25. Höhn, B.R., Stahl, K., Schudy, J., Tobie, T., and Zornek, B. Investigations on the Flank Load Carrying Capacity in the Newly Developed FZG Back-to-Back Test Rig for Internal Gears. Proceedings of the Fall Technical Meeting.
26. Laukotka, E.M. (2003). Referenzöle—Datensammlung, FVA. FVA Heft 660.
27. Versteeg, H.K. (1995). An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics—The Finite Volume Method, Pearson Education.
28. Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries10.1016/0021-9991(81)90145-5 ↗
29. Rusche, H. (2002). Computational Fluid Dynamics of Dispersed Two-Phase Flows at High Phase Fractions, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.
30. Conservative interpolation between volume meshes by local Galerkin projection10.1016/j.cma.2010.07.015 ↗
31. (2022, December 08). Python. Available online: https://www.python.org/.
32. (2022, December 08). SALOME. Available online: http://www.salome-platform.org.
33. CFD simulations of gearboxes: Implementation of a mesh clustering algorithm for efficient simulations of complex system’s architectures10.1186/s40712-021-00134-6 ↗
34. (2022, December 08). Bash. Available online: www.gnu.org/software/bash.
35. Concli, F., Schaefer, C.T., and Bohnert, C. (2020). Innovative Meshing Strategies for Bearing Lubrication Simulations. Lubricants, 8.10.3390/lubricants8040046 ↗
36. VIII. Stability of a viscous liquid contained between two rotating cylinders10.1098/rsta.1923.0008 ↗
37. A New Integrated Approach for the Prediction of the Load Independent Power Losses of Gears: Development of a Mesh-Handling Algorithm to Reduce the CFD Simulation Time10.1155/2016/2957151 ↗
38. A CFD analysis of the oil squeezing power losses of a gear pair
39. Korsukova, E., and Morvan, H. (2017, January 26–30). Preliminary CFD Simulations of Lubrication and Heat Transfer in a Gearbox. Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2017: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition GT2017, Charlotte, NC, USA.10.1115/GT2017-64520 ↗
40. Fondelli, T., Massini, D., Andreini, A., and Facchini, B. (2018, January 11–15). Three-Dimensional CFD Analysis of Meshing Losses in a Spur Gear Pair. Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2018: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition GT2018, Oslo, Norway.10.1115/GT2018-77141 ↗
41. Li, J., Qian, X., and Liu, C. (2022). Comparative study of different moving mesh strategies for investigating oil flow inside a gearbox. Int. J. Numer. Methods Heat Fluid Flow.10.1108/HFF-10-2021-0695 ↗