ABSTRACT
Gear lubrication is critically important to maintaining the integrity of operating gears,
the lubricant also protects asperity contact at the gear mesh thereby protecting the
gears from a deterioration process and surface failures. In this paper, the
investigation was centred on the application of the acoustic emissions (AE)
technology for monitoring the influence of oil film thickness variation on gear contact
and characterising the oil lubrication regimes in helical gear mesh. This investigation
employed a back-to-back gearbox test-rig with oil-bath lubrication. The results have
demonstrated a clear relationship between AE activity, operating temperature and
specific film thickness. The findings encourage the use of AE techniques to detect
and quantify the lubrication regimes during gear meshing.