Modal sensitivity of three-dimensional planetary geared rotor systems to planet gear parameters

A parameter study is presented to determine effects of planet gear design parameters on the global modal behaviour of planetary geared rotor systems. The modal sensitivity analysis is conducted using a three-dimensional dynamic model of a planetary geared rotor system for the number of planet gears, planet mistuning, mass of planet gears, gear mesh stiffness and planet gear speed. These parameters have varying impacts on both natural frequencies and mode shapes, therefore the sensitivity of the planetary geared rotor vibration modes to the planet gear parameters is determined by computing the frequency shifts and comparing the mode shapes. The results show that the mass and mesh stiffness of planet gears have a larger influence on the global dynamic response. Torsional modes and coupled torsional-axial modes are more sensitive to gear mesh stiffness whereas lateral vibration modes are more sensitive to gearbox mass. Planet mistuning results in coupling between lateral and torsional vibrations. The planetary gearbox becomes more rigid in the torsional-axial modes and more flexible in the lateral modes with an increase in the number of planet gears. Planet gears are also found to be having significant gyroscopic effects inside the planetary gearbox. The main original findings in this study can be directly used as initial guidelines for planetary geared rotor design.