Analysis of stress due to contact between spur gears

In this paper a study of the stresses in the contact zone among a couple of spur gears is realized using the finite elements method. The analysis is done by using a plane model involving the contact between two teeth. The geometry is defined according to the standards of the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA). The results obtained are compared with the value given by two others approaches. The first is the theory of Hertz when it is applied to two curved segments in contact. The second approach is the AGMA procedure for calculating contact stresses in spur gear. The results obtained are very similar either using FEM and Hertz's theory. The contact pressure obtained by FEM is lower than the one obtained by means of Hertz's theory, this fact reflects the influence of the geometry profile which allows the occurrence of contact zones with greater area, and therefore lower pressures.