12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007

Automatic CAD-FEM procedure for gear analysis

A.O. Andrisano* G. Bertacchi† M. Faggioni ‡
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
SIMECH Laboratory

Abstract—The interest on gear noise problems is
increased remarkably in the last ten years. Variable mesh
stiffness, impacts and backlash affect the transmission error,
main source of in desiderate noise. The control of gear
geometry, as well as the influence of contact ratio and loads,
plays a key role in this effort. In the present paper, a CAD-FEM
methodology for spur gears is proposed. This tool provides the
exact gear geometry, the relative position and the FEM mesh for
a wide family of spur gears. The software generates the gear
profiles from parameters describing the ‘‘user rack’’. Particular
attention is paid on simulating the enveloping process in the
presence of protuberance and semi-topping in the cutting tool.
The shaving manufacturing process is also taken into account. A
parametric approach is developed to generate the FEM mesh
according to the teeth profile geometry. Finally a test case is
presented to prove the accuracy of the static analysis.
Keywords: Gear, train, profile, mesh, involute
In the present paper a CAD-FEM procedure is described
to create, automatically, FEM models in the simple case
of a spur gear pair. The tool provides exact gear geometry,
relative positioning and the automatic mesh for a wide
family of gears. Parameters describing standard and non-
standard cutting tools, i.e. with protuberance and semi
topping, and a particular manufacturing process, i.e.
shaving, are also taken into account. A parametric routine
allows controlling the automatic generation of the mesh
for all gear bodies, considering an arbitrary number of
relative positions within a mesh cycle. All single steps can
be run continuously without any loss of time for the user.
In order to validate the model, some case studies are
presented and results prove how the static analysis can be
performed accurately in a very simple way.
In the following sections general analytical equations for
spur gear profiles are given. Then an automatic mesh
procedure is described to generate nodes and elements for
a spur gear pair for different relative positions. Finally one
case study is shown.

I. Introduction II. Rack parameters

In the past fifty years many papers were published on In the present section a general description of the
simulating manufacturing processes of very many geometry of a complex rack profile is given. Particular
different types of gear drives. Great efforts were made in attention is paid to parameters which define non-standard
order to formulate a detailed analytical description for tools; i.e. racks having protuberance and semi topping.
enveloping processes, in order to control singularity
phenomena due to undercutting problems and to simulate
the behaviour of contact surfaces when a load is applied.
An example is the authoritative work in gear science due
to Litvin [1-2]. Many authors focus their attention in
simulating the static behaviour, once the shapes and
layout of gears are known. For this purpose Finite
Elements Method (FEM) was intensively used [3-4] for: a) b)
bending fatigue; contact pressure and subsurface shear
stresses. When the dynamic behaviour is considered, FEM
can be used to evaluate the static transmission error
(STE), source of parametric excitation [5-6]. Although the
Finite Element Analysis is a very powerful tool, there are
some drawback in the case of gears; the need of studying
different relative positions of the gear body, with different
contact points, produces a waste of time in creating CAD c)
and FEM models; furthermore, each configuration Fig. 1 : a) Geometrical parameters defining the profile of the rack; b)
Point of intersection between different rack segments; c) Lagrange
requires a different meshing process, which can be very
parameters and extreme values.
time consuming especially when high accuracy is
required. Figure 1 a) shows the notation used: α*n is the pressure

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12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007

angle of the rack, α*pro is the pressure angle of the

Equation (1) states that the sliding velocity v τ , of S2 with
protuberance and α*sto is the pressure angle of the semi-
respect to S1, must be normal to the enveloping curve σ1.
topping segment. Pro and Sto are the protuberance and
Equation (2) transforms reference system 1 to 2 by
semi-topping magnitudes respectively. rp, rp1, rp2 and rq
expressing the motion of S1 and S2 with respect to Sf using
are fillet radii between generating segments. ( )* specifies
the Lagrange parameter φ through the matrix M21. R is the
parameters in the normal plane with respect to parameters
generating radius of gear’s primitive.
in the transversal plane. Introducing a reference frame
O1x1y1 , where y1 corresponds to the axis of the rack tooth,
and Lagrange parameters θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4 and θ5 according to
figure 1 c), each straight segment of the rack profile can
be analytically described as follow:

xi = xTi + θi ⋅ Sin(α∗i ) (1)

yi = θi ⋅ Cos(α∗i )

Where i can be 2, 3 and 4 according to figure 1 b). xTi are

the extension intersections of the ith rectilinear rack’s Fig. 2 : Reference systems
profile with the abscissa.
With the same approach fillet arcs can be described with
the following expressions:

rpj ⋅ Cos (θ j rpj )

x j = xcj + (2)
Cos (β)
y j = ycj + rpj ⋅ Sin (θ j rpj )

Fig. 3: Different enveloped curves along gear profile

where j can be 1 and 5. Points Cj, and Ti are described by
figure 1 b). In the case of spur gear, the helix angle β
must be set to zero. Note that radii rp1 and rp2 were
neglected and substituted by a discontinuity at points P
and Q.
According to literature [1-2] equations (3) and (4) can be
applied to equations (1) and (2) to generate correspondent
profile curves of the gear tooth. The following analytical
expressions can be calculated for the enveloped profile:

III. Mesh equations xi = RCos (φi ) + ( Rφi − xTi )Cos (α∗i ) Sin(α∗i + φi ) (5)
Let us consider the generation of the gear profile σ2 by yi = − RSin(φi ) + ( Rφi − xTi )Cos (α∗i )Cos (α∗i + φi )
means of an envelope of a rack profile σ1, see Figure 2.
Three reference systems are introduced:
x j = Aj ⋅ Cos (φ j ) + G j ⋅ Sin(φ j )
(6)
-Sf (Ofxfyf) fixed reference; y j = G j ⋅ Cos (φ j ) + Aj ⋅ Sin(φ j )
-S1 (O1x1y1) moving respect to Sf;
-S2 (O2x2y2) moving respect to Sf; where i can be 2, 3 and 4 and j can be 1 and 5 according to
Figure 3. R is the pitch radius of the gear.
where σ1 is fixed in S1 and σ2 is fixed in S2. Aj and Gj can be defining as follow:
ξ is a local variable that identifies a point on the curve σ1
and φ is local variable that identifies a point on the curve ycj 2
σ2. The parameter φ depends on φ; P1 and P2 are the same Aj = R ± ycj − rpj (7) a
2
point P represented in the reference systems S1 and S2. ycj + ( xcj − φ j R)
2

The spur gear manufacturing process can be described by

means of meshing equation and a transformation matrix 2
M21. G j = Rφ j ± xCj − rpj
(x Cj −φ j R) (7) b
2
yCj + ( xCj − φ j R )
2

f (ξ, φ) = n1 (ξ) ⋅ v τ (ξ, φ) = 0 (3)

Note that in equations (7) one consider ‘’+’’ when j=1
O 2 P2 (ξ, φ) = M 21 (φ) ⋅ O1P1 (ξ) (4) and ‘’-‘’ for j=5.
It is clear from Figure 3 that each different part of the

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12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007
profile can be described as an involute curve (equation
(5)) or a trochoidal curve (equation (6)), and the existence
or extension of these curves depends on the values of rack
parameters. No analytical expression exists in literature in
order to calculate the intersection points between these
curves. Therefore, points B, B1 and B2 are numerically
calculated, with a modified Newton-Rapson technique,
which assures the convergence in a finite number of steps.
IV. Involute profile
A general mesh for a true involute profile is formulated
considering Ie nodes along the involute profile and Iss
nodes along the tooth thickness (see Figure 4). All nodes
create equally spaced lines of mesh in both radial and
circumferential directions. In order to generate a set of
equally spaced nodes in the radial direction, the
intersection of the involute curve with a generic
circumference of radius RCi is calculated.
xi 2 + yi 2 = RCi 2 (8)
Using equation (8) in equation (5) one obtains:
2
x  RCi 
φi = Ti − Tan ( α∗i ) +   −1 (9)
R  RCos ( α∗ι ) 
 
Using equally spaced values of RCi (initial and final
values of the radius correspond to radii at point Bl and
Bl+1) a set of different Φi (i = 1,..,Ie) can be evaluated.
These values are substituted into equation (5) to obtain
Cartesian coordinates of the nodes for the involute profile.
In order to generate nodes along the circumferential
direction at radius RCi , the relative value Φi is divided by
the number of nodes Iss. Each series of values allows
calculating the Cartesian coordinates for each
circumferential line of mesh. Note that points Sl and Sl+1
are intersections between the tooth axis and the
circumference with minimum and maximum radius of the
involute profile.
Fig. 4: Mesh grid for involute profile
3
V. Trochoidal fillet
Figure 5 shows the mesh grid used for the fillet area. A
set of 2Isr+1 nodes (Hi,1) is considered on the fillet
surface from point A to point B. Cartesian coordinates of
these points are obtained by dividing the angular direction
ζi,1 (from ζ1,1 and ζ2Isr+1,1 ) into 2Isr equal parts and
substituting the equivalent Φi into equation (6).
Furthermore, the fillet area is divided into two different
regions: the right part, from point B to F, and the left part,
from F to A. Both parts have Isr elements. Point E and
point D are defined as intersections between the
circumference of radius Rir =Rfe – gfe / 2 (Rfe and gfe are
respectively radius and tooth thickness at point B) and the
tooth axis and the straight line connecting the centre of the
gear and point A. ∆1 and ∆2 are evaluated by dividing the
length of segment EC and the length of arc DE by Isr.
Cartesian coordinates of generic internal points Hi,j, along
a vertical line of mesh, can be evaluated by defining the
slope γ of the mesh line connecting point Hi,1 with point
Hi,iss+1 and dividing the segment into Iss parts of length ai.
Fig. 5: Trochoidal fillet’s nodes positions.
Polar coordinates of point Hi,j+1 can be simply evaluated
with the following equation, once the polar coordinates of
point Hi,j is known:
 ρi , j Sin (ζ i , j ) − ai Cos (γ i ) 
ζ i , j +1 = Arctg   (10)
 ρi , j Cos (ζ i , j ) − ai Sin (γ i ) 
 
ρi, j Cos (ζ i , j ) − ai Sin (γ i ) (11)
ρi , j +1 =
  ρi , j Sin (ζ i , j ) − ai Cos (γ i )  
Cos  Arctg  
  ρi , j Cos (ζ i , j ) − ai Sin (γ i )  
  
VI. Arc and rim
Figure 6 a) shows the mesh grid used for the arc
below the fillet region. Point N is the intersection between
the circumference of radius Rir =Rfe – gfe / 2 and the
straight line connecting the centre of the gear and point U
(point of separation between two contiguous teeth). Iss
and Iscp are number of nodes on the radial and
12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007

circumferential directions respectively, which define the following relationships :

radius and angular position of each point.
h h

∑ I Sin(α ) = r Sin(β ); ∑ I Cos(α ) = r Sin(β

i =1
i i h h
i =1
i i h h ) (14)

The polar description of the centre of the hth gear (rh , βh ),

depending on relative polar positions (Ii , αi) i=1,h , is given
by :

a) b) h h h
Fig. 6: Mesh grid for: a) arcs; b) gear rim sector rh = ∑I
i =1
i
2
+ 2∑ ∑ I i 2 I j 2Cos (α i − α j )
i =1 j = i +1
(15)
A similar approach is used to generate the grid in the rim  h 
area between circumferences of radii Rir and Rrim. Note  ∑ I i Sin(α i ) 
that Rrim is the inner radius of the rim. Coordinates of each β h = ArcSIN  i =1 

h h h

node are obtained considering Iccr and Iscp+Isr equally 

spaced node along radial and circumferential directions.
The position of nodes on the circumference of Rir depends
upon previous grids for fillet and root arcs.
VII. Shaving
The effect of the shaving process consists in the removal
of a stock of material from the profile of the tooth, in
order to improve the finishing of surfaces [6]. In many
cases this finishing process involves only the involute
region. For this reason the cutting tool can produce a
small step located in the fillet area, which can cause
increase in the stress distribution, when the load is
applied. Figure 7 shows that a typical shape of the step
can be mathematically described using two involute
curves, one arc and one trochoidal curve.
Using the meshing approach described in the previous
sections, a mesh grid for this geometry can be easily
generated.
 ∑ I i + 2∑ ∑ I i I j Cos (α i − α j ) 
2 2 2

 i =1 i =1 j = i +1 
These formulae are used when the gear train is composed
by an open and successive chain of gears. In order to
manage any configuration, we consider indices as a
possible path of power, that link the master gear with the
slave gear (hth). For this reason we create a dynamic
structure of the gear train, having a cell-like tree structure.
Each cell contains the identification number of the gear,
the number of slave cells and the list of pointers to slave
cells ( figure 8). A simple algorithm can find the shortest
path that connects the first cell with the hth one. In this
way equations (15) can be used with relative path
numeration instead of gear identifications numbers.
Let us calculate the relative rotation between pairs of gear
in contact. Consider the following two initial geometry
conditions: for any gear, the profile of first tooth is such as
its symmetry axis is overlapped with the absolute
abscissa; the first gear is forced by counter clockwise
torque. Than the first tooth of the first gear will touch on
its left side.
Let us define αppi as the tooth roll angle on the work pitch
point
α pp = A − ( B + C )
i
(16)

I) i is identificative number of the gear, A is a 180°

rotation of 180° if i≠1 (trick formula for obtain π for
any i≠1 )
Fig. 7: geometry of the profile after shaving process   
  ( 2i − 1) ⋅ ( i − 1) 
A = arccos  cos  π 
  i + i − 2 ⋅ −1 (i −1)  
VIII. Automatic two-dimensional gear train  2 ( ) 
configuration   2 
For this task we compute the polar position of each gear II) B is the correction derived by generation of the profile,
and the relative rotation between pairs of gear in contact. m is the module, Vi is the generating correction of the
Let us consider a train of n gears, (Ii , αi) i=1,n are polar ith gear:
pairs of relative configurations (project angle), (I1 , α1 ) is π ⋅m 2 ⋅ ViTan (α *i )
the position of the centre of the first gear, with respect to B= +
the housing, as well as (ri , βi ) is the polar position of the 4 ⋅ Ri 2 ⋅ Ri
centre of the ith gear respect to the housing. III) C is the correction derived by the drive assembling, αLi
By means of geometric considerations, one obtains the is the work angle of the ith gear:

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12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007

(
C = (Tan(α *i ) − α *i ) − ( Tan(α Li ) − α Li ) )
Define RotRelWheeli+1 as the tooth roll angle of the (i+1)th
gear, with i+1≠1
Rot RelWheeli+1 =αppi+1 +αprojecti+1 + E −τ [ E − F] (17)

I) αpp(i+1) is the pitch point angle of (i+1)th gear

II) αproject(i+1) is the project angle of (i+1) th gear
III) D is the angular tooth thickness on work pitch circle,
when i is odd then the right tooth side is the support ;
on the other way, when i is even, the left tooth side is
Fig. 8: b) model of automatic two-dimensional train of gear
the support. configuration
πm 
 1 + 3 ( −1)(i −1)   + 2Vi +1Tan (α i +1 ) 
D = ⋅ 2 + ( ( Tan(α i +1 ) − α i +1 ) − ( Tan(α Li +1 ) − α Li +1 ) ) 
 4  Ri +1 IX. Spur gear pair
   
 
Using information from the previous sections, all nodes
IV) E is the clearance angular thickness on work pitch of existing in half tooth can be described in terms of either
ith gear, when the supported side is left ( i is even) this Cartesian or polar coordinates. The mesh of a complete
part is void. tooth can be simply generated using symmetry with
  πm  respect to the tooth axis. With the same approach a
+ 2ViTan (α i )
1 i  πm   complete gear can be meshed, starting from coordinates
(
E =  1 + ( −1)  ⋅ 
2
)
  Ri
− 2 2
Ri
+ ( (Tan(α i ) − α i ) − (Tan(α L ) − α L ) )  
    of the nodes of one single tooth. In turn to export the
  
model to a FEM code (i.e. Nastran, Marc [7]), great
V) F is the angle on pitch circle between interax direction attention must be paid to numbering nodes and elements.
and left side of ithgear. Int is a function that calculates A FORTRAN routine is created to generate elements and
the integer of the argument between parenthesis nodes with the classical notation for quadrilateral
    
isoparametric elements. When all information from each
  
π m  2π − Rot Re lWheeli + α progettoi+1  2π − Rot Re lWheeli + α project tooth (substructure) is joined, the subroutine is able to
F = − Int  i +1
 
 Ri  πm  πm   store the number of the nodes located at the interfaces
  Ri  Ri   between substructures, to connect properly all
    
substructures.
The difference between parts Eth end Fth represents the Once it is know the relative position of a spur gear pair,
angular distance between the line connecting axes and in terms of centre distance and relative angular position, a
right side of the next tooth or the angular distance FEM model can be generated by repeating the mesh
between the line connecting axes and the left side of the process for both gears (see figure 8 a)).
tooth in object of the ith gear ; this value multiplied per the
transmission ratio (τ) transforms the angular position of
the ith gear in the contact angle of the (i+1)th gear.

a) b)
Fig. 9: a) FEM model for a spur gear pair; b) Detail of the notation for a
gear pair with semi-topping

In order to complete the procedure, the FORTRAN

routine creates a file in a suitable format (file extension
for Nastran, Marc [7]) for an arbitrary number of
relative positions, within a mesh cycle. Particular format
instructions are implemented to write each file and
provide information on the mesh grid, applied loads,
constraints, material properties, and all parameters for the
contact analysis.
Using this technique a batch file can be used to run
simultaneously all different Nastran files to analyze a
Fig. 8: a) table of gears’ tree complete mesh cycle automatically.

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12th IFToMM World Congress, Besançon (France), June18-21, 2007

X. Results ETS
40
The case study is used to validate the FEM procedure.
Once we choose all mechanical/geometrical parameters 39

and the number of meshing steps, the automatic procedure 38

performs the following steps for each incremental
meshing angle inside the meshing period: 37

ETS [micron]
• It constrains nodes at the inner diameter of gear 36
• It transforms the torque, applied to the pinion, in
35
some tangential loads applied on inner nodes of the
pinion rim. 34

• It creates a linear table of loads

33
• It runs the FEM solver [7] to find gear’s nodal
displacement and Von Mises stress. 32
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
At the end we can plot the static transmission error Meshing period
depending from mechanical end geometric properties. Fig 11: a) Von Mises stresses contour, b) mesh stiffness comparison
This method can be used with an iterative procedure that between CALYX (red line) and Marc (green line).
schedules incremental profile modifications in order to
optimize micro geometry properties. XI. Conclusions
In the present paper a new integrated CAD-FEM
Module 3 mm approach for spur gears is proposed. This CAD-FEM tool
Pressure Angle 20 deg automatically provides exact gear geometry, mesh grids in
Centres distance 111 mm
Nominal Torque
an arbitrary number of relative angular positions for a
470718.78 Nmm wide family of spur gears pairs. Application to case study
(pinion)
Table 2: common date for couple of gears shows complete portability for MSC Nastran, Marc
FEM packages and a good sampling of ETS.
GEOMETRIC
PINION GEAR
PROPERTIES
Number of teeth 28 43 XII. Acknowledgements
Face width 27 mm 27 mm The authors thank the Emilia Romagna Region for the
Tooth thickness
(on pitch circle)
6.1151 mm 6.7128 mm financing yield to the SIMEC laboratory aimed to support
Outer diameter 93.1 mm 139.7 mm the present work.
Root diameter 79.1 mm 126.2 mm
Addendum References
1.927 mm 2.74804 mm
modification
Inner diameter 40 mm 40 mm [1] LITVIN, F. L., Theory of gearing, Nasa reference publications
Hob tip radius 0.9 mm 0.9 mm 1212, AVSCOM Technical Report 88-C-035, Washington, DC,
1989.
MATERIALS
[2] LITVIN, F. L., Gear geometry and applied theory. PTR Prentice
PROPERTIES
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1994.
Young Modulus 206000 Mpa 206000 Mpa
[3] RAMAMURTI, V., NAYAK, H.V., SUJATA, C., Static and
Poisson’s ratio 0.3 0.3 dynamic analysis of spur and bevel gears using FEM, Mechanism
Density 0.00000785 kg/mm3 0.00000785 kg/mm3 and Machine Theory, 33(8), pp. 1177-1193, 1998
Type of [4] VILMOS, S., FEM stress analysis in hypoid gears, Mechanism
linear linear
modification and Machine Theory, 35(9), pp. 1197-1220, 2000.
Start roll angle at [5] MING-HAUNG, T., YING-CHIEN, T., A method for calculating
30.1569 deg 29.2127 deg
tip static transmission errors of plastic spur gears using FEM
Magnitude at tip 0.016 mm 0.018 mm evaluation, Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 27(4), pp.
Start roll angle at 345-357, 1997.
23.4334 deg 25.2079 deg
root [6] DUDLEY, D.W., TOWNSEND, D.P., Dudley’s Gear Handbook,
End roll angle at McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 1991.
14.4334 deg 20.5764 deg
root [7] MSC.MARC User’s Guide, MSC Software Corporation, 2003.
Magnitude at root 0.016 mm 0.018 mm [8] Vijayakar, S.M., 2003. Calyx Users Manual,
Table 3: Basic geometrical data for couple of gears Advanced Numerical Solutions, Hilliard, Ohio,
Table 2 and table 3 show date used in this paper for the USA.
test. We have considered 14 different relative positions to *
andrisano.angelo@unimore.it
complete a mesh cycle. The ETS is recorded and compare † bertacchi.gabriele@unimore.it
with the same values obtained with software CALYX ‡ faggioni.marcello@unimore.it
[8]. The Figure 11 b) shows that the average percentage
error is about 5%.