Dynamic modeling of a gear transmission system containing damping particles using coupled multi-body dynamics and discrete element method

The reduction in vibration in gear transmission systems is an engineering task. Particle damping technology attenuates vibration by means of friction and inelastic collisions between damping particles. This study proposes a dynamic model for a spur gear transmission system that contains damping particles inside the holes on gear bodies, using two-way coupling with multi-body dynamics and discrete element method. The equations of motion for the multi-body system are derived using Euler–Lagrange formalism. The discrete element method with a soft contact approach is used to model the dynamic behavior of damping particles. Hertzian contact theory and Coulomb friction theory are applied to modeling contacts. The effects of particle radius, coefficient of friction and restitution coefficient on the dynamic characteristics are explored. Numerical results show that vibration in the transmission is appreciably attenuated by the particle damping mechanism and that the contact friction, and not contact damping, dominates the energy dissipation of the multi-body system in such a centrifugal scenario.