scope:

Involute splines are widely used in mechanical systems to connect power transmitting gears to their supporting shafts. These splines are as susceptible as gears to manufacturing variations, which change their loading pattern and may eventually lead to failures. The influence of manufacturing variations of spline teeth on performance and failure mechanisms of spline couplings is available in the literature. Similarly, the influence of manufacturing variations of gear teeth on gear tooth stresses, and gear noise has been extensively studied. However, the effects of manufacturing variations of spline teeth on gear tooth contact, noise, and stresses remain unseen in publications. This study investigates how manufacturing variations of spline couplings affect gear performance. A parametric study was done on a spur gear set and a helical gear set to determine the amount of gear mesh misalignment caused by manufacturing variations of spline teeth. Spline parameters, such as tooth alignment and spline side fit were considered. The changes in gear contact and bending stress patterns were also investigated.