A review of vibration-based gear wear monitoring and prediction techniques

Gearbox plays a vital role in a wide range of mechanical power transmission systems in many industrial applications, including wind turbines, vehicles, mining and material handling equipment, oil and gas processing equipment, offshore vessels, and aircraft. As an inevitable phenomenon during gear service life, gear wear affects the durability of gear tooth and reduces the remaining useful life of the gear transmission system. The propagation of gear wear can lead to severe gear failures such as gear root crack, tooth spall, and tooth breakage, which can further cause unexpected equipment shutdown or hazardous incidents. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor gear wear propagation progression in order to perform predictive maintenance. Vibration analysis is a widely used and effective technique to monitor the operating condition of rotating machinery, especially for the diagnosis of localized failures such as gear root crack and tooth surface spalling. However, vibration-based techniques for gear wear analysis and monitoring are very limited, mainly due to the difficulties in identifying the complex vibration characteristics induced by gear wear propagation. Understanding the effect of gear wear on vibration characteristics is essential to develop vibration-based techniques for monitoring and tracking gear wear evolution. However, no research work has been previously published to summarize the research progress in vibration-based gear wear monitoring and prediction. To fill the research gap, this review paper aims to conduct a state-of-the-art comprehensive review on vibration-based gear wear monitoring, including studying the gear surface features caused by different gear wear mechanisms, investigating the relationships between gear surface features and vibration characteristics, and summarizing the current research progress of vibration-based gear wear monitoring. This review also makes some recommendations for future research work in this area. It is expected that this review will provide useful information for further development of vibration-based techniques for gear wear monitoring and remaining useful life predictions.