Gear Noise & Vibration: Why it is Important - Plus Cheat Sheet
In most industrial environments, gears and/or gear trains will be present in some form. Their prevalence reflects their importance; machine tools, motor vehicles, maritime propulsion systems, and the turbo-pumps used in liquid-propellant rocket engines are but a few of an almost infinite number of examples of important applications of gearing.
From a noise & vibration perspective, geared systems pose a number of complex (and interesting) problems. It is perhaps paradoxical that a large number of gear noise & vibration problems, specifically those related to mechanical faults in geared systems, can be traced back to two frequencies: the Gear Mesh Frequency (GMF) and the Gear Natural Frequency (GNF).
It with this paradox in mind that the Gear Noise & Vibration cheat sheet has been compiled as part of a Rotating Machinery Diagnostics Series. The intention is to provide a condensed and accessible summary explanation of gear noise & vibration, as well as the relations between commonly observed mechanical faults, noise sources and the GMF & GNF.
The sheer number of combinations and arrangements of gears is nothing short of incredible, being limited only by the ingenuity and creativity of the gear design engineer. As such, we restrict ourselves here to only the simplest cases of greatest applied interest, and which are known to occur most commonly during operation.
If you find this cheat sheet helpful, please feel free to check out and download my other cheat sheet in the following post: Overview of Synchronous Vibration.
Rotating Machinery Vibration Series
This post is part of the Rotating Machinery Vibration Series. Feel free to check out my other related posts;
- Overview of Synchronous Vibration - Plus Cheat Sheet
- Gear Noise & Vibration: Why it is Important
- Machinery Condition Monitoring: A High-Level Overview
- Basic Elements of Machinery Diagnostics: An Overview
