scope:

AGMA standards use load reversal and reliability factors in the calculation of the rated load capacity for gear teeth. ANSI/AGMA 2101-D04 recommends the use of a load reversal factor of 1.0 for most gears which see one way bending, and 0.7 for gears such as idler gears and planet gears that see a fully reversing bending condition. Likewise, the standard uses a table format to assign a reliability factor based on a desired reliability level in an application.

This paper suggests two ways to calculate a load reversal factor which would be material specific, based either on Modified Goodman or Gerber Failure Theories. This paper further provides a method of calculating the reliability factors which very closely match the AGMA tables found in ANSI/AGMA 2101-D04.