SBIR/STTR
Enhanced Prediction of Gear Tooth Surface Fatigue Life, Phase I
Project Introduction
Sentient will develop an enhanced prediction of gear tooth surface fatigue life with rigorous analysis of the tribological phenomena that contribute to pitting failure. Advanced mixed-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) models that are capable of fully describing the tribology of the mating gear teeth will be utilized to determine the influence of surface roughness and asperity interaction on the stresses driving the degradation of the surface. These factors are not rigorously addressed by currently available solutions. The lubrication analysis will be coupled with a damage accumulation algorithm that takes into account fatigue initiation at the level of the material microstructure. This integrated software will be the world's first physics-based gear tooth life estimation model with rigorous consideration of lubrication and pitting/scuffing damage progression in nominally loaded and misaligned gears. When complete, an end-user of the software will input the design parameters of a gearbox along with a mission load spectrum, and the software will output the estimated service lives of its gears. If the historical or anticipated load spectrum happens to change, the altered spectrum can be input and the life recomputed. This flexibility provides the most accurate and up-to-date estimations of both the current gearbox health and of the remaining life.
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Anticipated Benefits
Potential NASA Commercial Applications: There is enormous commercial potential for design software that fills the gaps in current understanding of gearbox life. Traditionally, due to a lack of fundamental understanding and methods to incorporate gear teeth interaction, gearboxes are simply "overdesigned" by incorporating large safety factors. However, this approach becomes problematic in applications where constrained weight and space are desirable (e.g. aerospace, wind turbines, etc.). The proposed software provides a more rigorous analysis of gear tooth life based on a fundamental understanding of the tribological phenomena at the gear mesh. This software will provide a means of optimizing gearbox designs for weight and size, as well as improved estimations of gearbox life under variable loading. This latter factor is a proving to be of significant interest in both commercial and military applications, as it is an enabling technology for condition-based maintenance strategies.
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
Glenn Research Center
(GRC)
|
Lead Organization | NASA Center | Cleveland, OH |
| Sentient Corporation | Supporting Organization | Industry | Idaho Falls, ID |
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Organizational Responsibility
Responsible Mission Directorate:
- Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)
Lead Center / Facility:
- Glenn Research Center (GRC)
Responsible Program:
- SBIR/STTR
Project Management
Program Director:
Program Manager:
Principal Investigator:
- Nathan Bolander
Project Duration
Start: Jan 2010
End: Jul 2010
Technology Maturity (TRL)
| Start: | 3 |
| Current: | 3 |
| Estimated End: | 3 |
Applied Research
Development
Demo & Test
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