Numerical and Experimental Analysis of the Oil Flow in a Planetary Gearbox

Abstract

The circular layout and the kinematics of planetary gearboxes result in characteristic oil flow phenomena. The goal of this paper is to apply a new remeshing strategy, based on the finite volume method, on the numerical analysis of a planetary gearbox and its evaluation of results as well as its validation. The numerical results are compared with experimental data acquired on the underlying test rig with high-speed camera recordings. By use of a transparent housing cover, the optical access in the front region of the gearbox is enabled. Different speeds of the planet carrier and immersion depths are considered. A proper domain partitioning and a specifically suited mesh-handling strategy provide a highly efficient numerical model. The open-source software OpenFOAM® is used.

Keywords

• CFD
• planetary gearboxes
• high-speed camera
• lubrication
• oil flow