Determination of the ISO face load factor in spur gear drives by the finite element modeling of gears and shafts

The face load factor is a common coefficient used in gear design standards that takes into account the uneven distribution of load across the face width of the gears caused by the mesh misalignment. In this paper, a finite element model that includes the gears and the corresponding shafts is proposed. The results obtained from the application of finite element analysis to this model are compared with those obtained from application of the ISO Standard 6336 coefficient-based method (Method C). The influence of the length of gear shafts, the face width of the gears, the relative position of the gears over their shafts, the ratio between the pitch radii of the gears and the radii of their shafts, and the relation between the mesh misalignment and the face load factor, have been investigated.