Influence of spline tooth wear on self-excited vibration of floating splined rotor: Numerical and experimental investigation

Abstract

Spline tooth wear affects the dynamic characteristics of the floating splined rotor, leading to significant nonlinear phenomena. This study develops a three-dimensional model of the spline based on the observed wear morphology of floating splines. Taking into account the uneven stress distribution along the tooth facewidth direction, a stiffness and damping model for the worn spline is derived and applied to the floating splined rotor. The results show that spline tooth wear reduces natural frequencies and increases both the likelihood and the amplitude of self-excited vibrations of the splined rotor. Investigations using the spline-rotor test rig revealed that the frequencies of self-excited vibrations during speed up and speed down experiments vary due to different wear degrees on the working and non-working tooth surfaces. Furthermore, for the floating splined rotor with spline tooth wear, the likelihood of self-excited vibrations decreases as the applied torque increases.