Numerical model for bending fatigue life estimation of carburized spur gears with consideration of the adjacent tooth effect

[Display omitted] •A model was proposed for bending fatigue life prediction of carburized spur gears.•Finite element, elastic–plastic correction, and strain-life methods were used.•The effect of the adjacent tooth on bending fatigue lives was investigated.•Bending fatigue lives were reduced when adjacent tooth effect was considered.•A modifying analytical factor was proposed to account for the adjacent tooth effect. In this paper, a computational model for bending fatigue failure prediction of case hardened spur gears is proposed. The model consists of finite element gear and fatigue failure models, and it accounts for the actual stress–strain state at the tooth root by accounting for local elastic–plastic correction. By employing the proposed model, the effect of the adjacent tooth on bending fatigue lives is investigated. It is observed that bending fatigue lives can vary by approximately 22% when accounting for the adjacent tooth effect. Therefore, this effect should be considered when estimating bending fatigue lives of spur gears.