Uncertainty Quantification and Sensitivity Analysis for the Self-Excited Vibration of a Spline-Shafting System

Abstract Self-excited vibrations can occur in the spline-shafting system due to internal friction of the tooth surface. However, due to manufacturing errors, design tolerances, and time-varying factors, the parameters that induce self-excited vibrations are always uncertain. This study provides new insights into the uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis of a spline-shaft system suffering from self-excited vibrations. The nonintrusive generalized polynomial chaos expansion (gPCE) with unknown deterministic coefficients is used to represent the propagation of uncertainties in the rotor dynamics, which allows rapid estimation of the statistics of the nonlinear responses. Furthermore, the global sensitivity analysis of the stochastic self-excited vibration response of the rotor system with probabilistic uncertain parameters is evaluated by Sobol indices. The relative influence of different random parameters on the vibration behavior and initial displacement conditions for the occurrence of self-excited vibration is investigated. The accuracy of the adopted method based on the gPCE metamodel is validated by conventional Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). Finally, the effects of parameter uncertainties considering random distribution characteristics on the stochastic vibration characteristics of the rotor system are discussed, which demonstrates the need to consider input uncertainties in analysis and design to ensure robust system performance.