Vibration response mechanism of fixed-shaft gear train with cracks based on rigid-flexible coupling dynamics and signal convolution model

Affected by external flexible transfer path of fixed-shaft gear train, internal gear meshing vi-bration signals that representing the healthy state of gear will convolve with modal information of gearbox housing and become much more complicated. Moreover, gear crack fault features of fixed-shaft gear train are relatively weak and complex, which are difficult to diagnose. Therefore, to reveal the origination mechanism of crack fault, a rigid-flexible coupling dynamics model of fixed-shaft gear train with full consideration of flexible housing is firstly established, then a signal convolution model is proposed to solve housing vibration response signal by combining internal excitation and external transfer path. Thereinto, as internal influence factor, time-varying meshing stiffness that drives excitation forces is used to reflect excitation characteristics under normal and crack state; as external influence factor, flexible transfer path that includes modal characteristics of gearbox housing is calculated by finite-element-method. Through the estab-lished models, modulation sideband features of housing vibration response signals are selected as crack fault indicator. Corresponding vibration response mechanism is revealed clearly under normal and different crack degrees in simulations. Experimental results keep good consistency at crack fault features with simulation signals and verify the effectiveness of the proposed models.