.

Mathematical & Computational Applications,

Association for Scientific Researd:!.

VoL I,No. 1,pp. 36-43,1996

THE EFFECTS OF ADDENDUM MODIFICATION COEFFICIENT

ON TOOTH STRESSES OF SPUR GEAR

Sakarya University, Mechanical Engineering Department, Adapazarl- Tiirkiye

Gaziosmanpa~ University, Tokat-Tiirkiye

The effects of addendum modification coefficient on the root stresses of spur gear are investigated.
By considering positive and negative addendum modificated gears, distributions of root stresses are
determined by the finite element method. The root stresses of addendum modificated gears are
compared with those of standard gears. The problem is analyzed as one in the plane stress and,
also the plane strain.

In the study, the effects of addendum modification coefficient on spur gear tooth stresses
are investigated by the finite element method. The tooth stresses of positive and negative
addendum modificated gears are compared with those of standard gear.
There are various methods for increasing of load carrying capacity and reducing noise in
mating gears, and for obtaining certain distance between two axes of gears. These
methods are a) changing the pressure angle, b) modifying whole depth, c) modifying
tooth thickness and d) modification using addendum modification coefficient.
In the method of changing the pressure angle, tooth thickness is increased by increasing
the pressure angle and resulting in decrease of root stresses of the tooth. On the other
hand, the contact ratio and tip thickness is decreasing. Disadvantage of this kind of
modification is the need for special cutting tools. In modifying of whole depth of the
tooth, depending on the factor related to whole depth, whether thinner and higher tooth
or thicker and pump tooth is obtained. Disadvantage of the later method is also the need
for special tools. The modification by changing tooth thickness is rarely used in
application. The most commonly used modification method is the addendum
modification. The most important advantage of this method is that manufacturing of
modificated gears can be made by the base rack. The first systematic studies on
addendum modification are realized by R Buchanan, C. H. Wiebe, P. Hoppe, M.
Folmer, M. Maag, K. Kutzbach [1].
Principle of the addendum modification depends on changing the position of the base
circle center. It is possible to employ involutes belonging to two base circle center as
matched in accordance with the fundamental law of gearing. If we assume one of the
gears as a rack cutter whose tooth number is infinite, we can employ this gear in different
axes positions as matched. We can rematch gears having same reference profile. If rack
cutter is shifted (modified) as +xm from the pitch circle of the gear, positive addendum

modification is resuhed. Conversely, if rack cutter is shifted as - xm from the pitch circle
of the gear, negative addendum modification is resulted. Here, x represents addendum
modification coefficient.
The aim of the addendum modification involves preventing undercutting, rearranging the
distance between axes of the gear pairs, improvement of gears from the point of view of
load carrying capacity and surface pressure, and changing the contact ratio for reducing
noicse in gear sets. Generally, if addendum modification is implemented, several aims are
considered, simultaneously. The factors must be taken into account in addendum
modification are given below:
a) modification must be realized in some limitations of tolerance of addendum(hb)
b) the contact ratio (E) must be greater than I (E> I)

c) active profile must be possible high and in a suitable region

d) modification in high.power and speedy gears must be realized either from the point of

view of equivalent tooth fillet strength or minimum wear.

In the positive addendum modification, if x increases, tooth fillet stresses will be
decreased, tip thickness of the tooth and the contact ratio will be decreased. Negative
addendum modification is advised to be used in only necessity of certain axes distance
since it decreased the load carrying capacity of tooth. The contact ratio increases in the
negative addendum modification. It is limited by undercutting practically. It is only
possible for great tooth number.
It can be easily seen that the lower limit is determined by undercutting while the upper
limit is determined by tip thickness.
In the existing design formulas of tooth strength, the effect of addendum modification on
bending strength is calculated multiplying the bending strength of standard gear by form
factor which depends on the addendum modification coefficient [2]. Total addendum
modification coefficient given as;

Total addendum modification coefficient is expressed in Eq. (1) depending on tooth

number and pressure angle. Here, the distance between axes can be calculated using ~
after solving addendum modification coefficients.
In DIN 3992, total addendum modification coefficient Xt is determined in accordance
with total tooth number Zt and the properties to be given matching gears. In DIN 3994
and 3995, addendum modification coefficient (x) is advised to be equal Yz for gears. In
this method, the load carrying capacity in system improves and gears have properties of a
gear set. In evaluating the form factor, the effects of addendum shortened factor K is
neglected in DIN 3990. The value of K in the special addendum modification system
(x=0.5) is greater than in standard gear. So, it is not effective in calculating of the form
factor. The finite element method is used for an analysis, after the modeling of the exact
tooth geometry as a one to one correspondence with the original tooth shape. So the
resuhs of the stress analysis of gear tooth using the finite elements method shows reliable
performance.

For the finite element model, first of all the region of the problem under consideration is
determined. In the finite element analysis of the gear, it was shown that the model,
consisting of one tooth and one module rim thickness, with simple supported along the
boundary is satisfactory to represent the problem region. Thus, it is first obtained the
region of one tooth with one module rim thickness. The most important phase of getting
the problem region is obtaining involute tooth profile. The inv(\lute profile of the tooth
obtained by computer program which is prepared by us. The computer program plots the
involute profiles ofmodificated gears (x= - 0.5, x= -0.3, x=0.3, x=0.5) and standard gear
(x=O). The involute profile program is added to the beginning of Lusas software which
makes finite element analysis.
When gear module (m), number of teeth (z), pressure angle ($) and addendum
modification coefficient (x) are given, the geometry of the problem is obtained in
computer. In addition to these parameters, when face width (F), loading angle (<1), the
force acting upon the gear (W) are given , calculation can be carried out.

..........
'.

'.

Figure 1. Thefinite element model and

Figure 2. Thefinite element mesh, boundary

used coordinate system.

conditions and applied load

Modulus
Number of teeth
Addendum
Dedendum
Rim thiclmess
Load
Elasticity modulus
Poisson's ratio

z
ht,
14

Tr
WfF
E
\)

4mm
26
4mm
5mm
4mm
1 kN/m
210 GPa
0.30

Addendum modification coefficients used in analysis are x= -0.5, x= -0.3, x=0.3, x=0.5.
For each tooth of different addendum modification coefficient a model is established,
Fig. (1) through Fig. (4). In our previous study [3] on the modeling for finite element
stress analysis of spur gears, it is shown that sufficiently accurate model is that a simple
tooth supported along its boundary and having one module rim thickness (Fig. 2). Load
is applied at the tip of the tooth as seen in the Fig. (2). Finite element mesh generation is
refined at the places where it is expected that stress distnbution might change rapidly.
In mesh generation, global coordinates X-Yare used. In the presentation of stress
distribution, coordinates x-yare used, Fig. (1). In the finite element analysis, 8-node
isoparametric plane finite elements are used.
rr.

i\\
\\

/
..1

-l.}
-:)
~

{..--

~
I

I,

i
\-1

'-'\~

I
I

\1

I
I

Tooth stresses of spur gear are analyzed by the finite element method as the plane stress
problem and plane strain one as well.
As the geometry of spur gear is always same in every cutting plane perpendicular to face
width of the gear, the problem can be treated as two-dimensional one, the plane stress or
the plane strain with respect to face width. In the calculation 8-node plane element is
used.

N1 = --4"(1-;)(1-,,)(1+;+,,)

N5 = ~(1-;2)(1-")

N 6 = 2(1 +~)(1_,,2)

N2 = -4"(1+~)(1-")(1'-~+")
1

N 3 = -4"(1+;)(1 +,,)(1-; -,,)

N7 = 2{1-~2)(1+,,)

N = -4"(1-;)(1+")(1+~+")

Ng =2(1-~)(1-,,2)

u= "N.u.
L..J
I

= NU

i=l

v= "N.v.
L..J
I

=NV

i=1

Strain vector can be expressed as

E=Bq

Where nodal-displacements vector q is

Element stiffuess matrix is

O

= to

J JBTDBdetJd~d"
-1

-1

The problem is analyzed for both the case of plane stress and plane strain. As the axis z is
normal to the xy~plane, in the plane stress az, 'hz, 'tyzstresses are zero. However, in the
plane strain Ez ,Yxz, Yyz are zero. In this study, we also take into account von Mises stress
(equivalent stress) aE in calculations. The stress aE, in general stress state, is given with
the following expression;
1

crE = +[(ax -ayf +(ay -azf +{az -crJ2 +~'tx/ +'tyz2+'Cx(2)J

The most critical point of the involute spur gear is at tooth fillet. In the finite element
method the critical section of the tooth is obtained by using the coordinate of critical
point. At this point, the stress component required to be calculated reaches to its
maximum value. Tooth is cut along x-axis by using coordinate of this point, so critical
section of tooth has been determined. Along critical section, the magnitude and
distribution of the principal stresses (amax, amin), the maximum shearing stress ('tmax), von
Mises stress aE, as well as plane stress components (ax,cry,'txy)are obtained.
For comparing the plane stress solution with plane strain solution for a tooth of any
facewidth (F), by using a professional FEA software, like Lusas, it should be noted that
the software, in case of plane strain, takes thickness of elements as one unit in terms of
unit used in dimensions of the problem, instead of real thickness of the elements. for this

reason, plane stress solution can be converted to plane strain by replacing the elastic
properties in the manner given in the Tab. (2). Because the software uses real thickness in
the case of plane stress solution.
Table 2. Converting the solution of plane stress to plane strain.
Solution
Plane stress

to convert to
Plane strain

E is replaced by
E I l_u2

As it is seen in the Fig. (3-6), as the addendum modification coefficient is algebraically

reduced, tooth thickness at addendum is being decreased and fillet radius is being
increased, and vice versa.
In the curves, the horizontal axes shows the tooth thickness at critical sections. It should
be noted that tooth thickness has different value, for each modification coefficient,
although all horizontal coordinates change from 0 to 1. In the graphs, horizontal
coordinates (X/Sq) are obtained dividing the coordinate value, in mm, by the related tooth
thickness at the critical section, Sq.
The main results obtained from this investigation are summarized as follows :
1. It is possible to improve load carrying capacity of gears or to realize suitable center
distance by selecting the proper amount of addendum modification coefficient.
2. The stress concentration factor increases with an increasing addendum modification
coefficient x due to a decrease in the radius of curvature at tooth fillet. But the tooth
thickness at the critical section becomes higher with an increasing X, therefore tooth fillet
stresses are decreasing. In addition to these , with an increasing x, the tip thickness of the
tooth is decreasing.
3. A gear having few teeth has undercut. Undercutting can be prevented by using

addendum modification method.

4. In the range of negative modifications, the tooth thickness at the critical section
becomes smaller with a decreasing x, therefore tooth fillet stresses increase. Negative
addendum modification is used in great tooth number and to obtain certain axes distance.
5. The contact ratio of mating gears is decreasing with an increase in addendum
modification coefficient.
6. The stress values obtained from the plane stress solution and plane strain solution are
very close to each other in this problem but the results of plane strain are a little bit small
than those of plane stress.
The variation of the stresses ay, 'txy, amax, amin, 'tmax and aE are shown in the Fig. 8, 9,
...,13. The stress ax not shown in the figures. Because, it has approximately zero values
along the tooth thickness, as expected. As seen in the figures, for all stress components,
maximum values always occur in the tooth which has, algebraically, minimum addendum
modification coefficient. Variations of amax and contact ratio E, with respect to different
addendum modification coefficients, are shown in the Fig. (14).

-x=Q
x=+-0.3 ~x=+-O.5
- .x= -0.3
x= -0.5

-x=Q
x=>+0.3 -x=+-O.5
- x= -0.3 ---x= -0.5

yjSq

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.1

0.8

0.9

Figure 8. The stress ayfor different

addendum modification coefficients.

Figure 9. The stress 'txyfor different

addendum modification coefficients.

-x=Q
x=>+0.3 ~1I:=t0.5
- x= -0.3 ---x= -0.5

-x=Q
X=+-0.3 ~X=+0.5
- .x= -0.3
x= -0.5

Figure 10. The stress 'trnaxfordifferent

addendum modification coefficients.

Figure 11. The stress aEfor different

addendum modification coefficients.

amax[MPa]

1.2

r---

0.8

1.x=+-0~x~x=+0.5
- x= -0.3

0.2

o
x= -0.5

'().2

-x=O
x=>+0.3 ~x=>+0.5
- x= -0.3 ---x= -0.5

-----~
Figure 12. The stress arnaxfordifferent
addendum modification coefficients.

Figure 13. The stress aminfor different

addendum modification coefficients.

rO.5
X!(X2=O)

-0.5

+0.5

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