Wind turbine gearboxes are subjected to contact loads during operation
resulting in contact fatigue damage in the gears
which significantly affects their service life. To accurately predict the contact fatigue life of gears
this study takes a 6 MW wind turbine gearbox operating at Dabancheng Wind Farm
Xinjiang
as the research object. A gearbox dynamic model considering both internal and external excitations is established to calculate the dynamic meshing forces of each helical gear pair. The analysis incorporates local material properties and residual stresses in the gears. By applying the Dang Van multiaxial fatigue criterion combined with - curves
the fatigue damage distribution in the helical gears under contact loading is analyzed. Fatigue hotspots are identified
and critical operating conditions are extracted to develop a surrogate model
which quantifies the contact fatigue damage and estimates the contact fatigue life of each gear over a 20-year design period. The results indicate that the engage-in and recess points of external meshing pairs in helical gears are the primary fatigue hotspots
making them more susceptible to fatigue failure. Among all gears
the sun gears exhibit the most severe contact fatigue damage
with estimated contact fatigue life of 8 years for the high-speed sun gear and 21 years for the low-speed sun gear. Conversely
the planetary gears in both stages show relatively lower fatigue damage
with their contact fatigue life exceeding 30 years. The ring gear experiences the least fatigue damage
LI N P, XU P C, LEI Y G, et al.A self-data-driven method for remaining useful life prediction of wind turbines considering continuously varying speeds[J]. Mechanical systems and signal processing, 2022, 165: 108315.
FENG Y H, QIU Y N, CRABTREE C J, et al.Monitoring wind turbine gearboxes[J]. Wind energy, 2013, 16(5): 728-740.
NEJAD A R, GAO Z, MOAN T.On long-term fatigue damage and reliability analysis of gears under wind loads in offshore wind turbine drivetrains[J]. International journal of fatigue, 2014, 61: 116-128.
DONG W B, NEJAD A R, MOAN T, et al.Structural reliability analysis of contact fatigue design of gears in wind turbine drivetrains[J]. Journal of loss prevention in the process industries, 2020, 65: 104115.
HE H F, LIU H J, ZHU C C, et al.Study on the gear fatigue behavior considering the effect of residual stress based on the continuum damage approach[J]. Engineering failure analysis, 2019, 104: 531-544.
WANG W, LIU H J, ZHU C C, et al.Effect of the residual stress on contact fatigue of a wind turbine carburized gear with multiaxial fatigue criteria[J]. International journal of mechanical sciences, 2019, 151: 263-273.
REZAEI M, POURSINA M, JAZI S H, et al.Calculation of time dependent mesh stiffness of helical planetary gear system using analytical approach[J]. Journal of mechanical science and technology, 2018, 32(8): 3537-3545.
CHEN Z G, SHAO Y M.Dynamic simulation of spur gear with tooth root crack propagating along tooth width and crack depth[J]. Engineering failure analysis, 2011, 18(8): 2149-2164.
IEC 61400-1, Wind energy generation systems-part 1: design requirements[S].
BÖHME S A, SZANTI G, KESKI-RAHKONEN J, et al. Tooth flank fracture-an applied fatigue study of case hardened bevel gears[J]. Engineering failure analysis, 2022, 132: 105911.
VELEX P.Mechanical engineering ch. 4: on the modelling of spur and helical gear dynamic behaviour[M]. Rijeka: IntechOpen, 2012: 75-106.
JOHNSON K L.Contact mechanics[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987: 1-452.
DONG W B, XING Y H, MOAN T, et al.Time domain-based gear contact fatigue analysis of a wind turbine drivetrain under dynamic conditions[J]. International journal of fatigue, 2013, 48: 133-146.
LIU H L, LIU H J, BOCHER P, et al.Effects of case hardening properties on the contact fatigue of a wind turbine gear pair[J]. International journal of mechanical sciences, 2018, 141: 520-527.
GERMANISCHER L.Rules and guidelines IV industrial services: part I: guideline for the certification of wind turbines[M]. Hamburg: Germanischer Lloyd, 2010: 1-384.
BÖHME S A, VINOGRADOV A, PAPUGA J, et al. A novel predictive model for multiaxial fatigue in carburized bevel gears[J]. Fatigue & fracture of engineering materials & structures, 2021, 44(8): 2033-2053.