ABSTRACT
The study of gears lubrication has received a great deal of attention in research work for many decades. During gears running, meshing gears' teeth represent a non-conformal lubricated contact situation. Under loading conditions, Hertzian high contact pressure within the contact zone between the meshing gears' teeth is evident. It can develop significant surface stresses and affect lubricant viscosity by increasing it. Meanwhile, during teeth mesh the contact and lubrication behavior are basically influenced by gears kinematics, dynamics, materials properties, and lubricant characteristics. However, a comprehensive understanding of the lubrication behavior during gears mesh is still in need for further investigations. The present analytical approach simulated gears mesh by equivalent rigid discs. A close insight into the mechanism of lubricant film formation has shown that both hydrodynamic and squeeze actions contribute to lubricant film formation. The contribution of squeeze action is more pronounced than that due to hydrodynamic action. The complicated dynamic and contact conditions in gears during power transmission dictate the variation of generated film thickness values between meshing gears' teeth.