Tip relief designed to optimize contact fatigue life of spur gears using adapted PSO and Firefly algorithms

This paper examines the dynamic performances of circular profile modifications designed to optimize the contact fatigue life of spur gears. It combines the PSO and Firefly metaheuristics to a gear dynamic/degradation model. The objectives are to analyse the ability of optimal corrections to reduce dynamic loads and dynamic transmission error (DTE), and to describe the influence of the modification variables. To reduce computation efforts, the study modifies the original metaheuristics. In the proposed adaptation of the Firefly algorithm, the particle movement hinges on the brightest firefly perceived through the light-absorbing medium. This change reduces the number of function evaluations per iteration. The analysis shows that while the correction length is more influential, both modification amount and length alter the gear behavior, whereas the curvature radius influence remains modest. Curved corrections are more effective in ameliorating contact fatigue life, whereas larger curvature radii are better at reducing the DTE. Compared to the original gear set, the PSO and Firefly versions showed that optimized modifications engender substantial enhancements of the fatigue resistance. Moreover, optimal profiles also reduce both DTE and dynamic factors, but the inverse cannot be assumed.