Taguchi -design ANOVA analysis of tribological performance of misaligned contaminated EHL contact

Abstract

It is critical in the mechanical systems like gears and bearings because it is necessary to understand and mitigate the phenomenon of wear and surface degradation under real-like operating conditions of misaligned and contaminated elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contacts in order to investigate tribological performance. A Taguchi design of experiment and analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used on the research to systematically analyze the influence of rotational velocity (( v ): 250–500 rpm), misalignment angle (α: 0°–1°.1°), and the contaminant concentration (C: 5–10 g/L) of wear (W), and the surface roughness parameters (Ra, Rt, Rz, Ry), as well as, the vibration values (RMS, Peak, and P-P). The notable results indicate that the rotational velocity effects are significant when related to wear (F-value: 542.67, p < 0.0018) as well as the surface roughness (e.g., Ra: F-value: 61.39, p < 0.0159), whereas the impact of misalignment angle and concentration of a contaminant is not as marked. Regression models ( R 2 > 0.9168) and 3D surface plots provide optimum conditions to use to achieve minimal wear and roughness where the ideal parameter settings should be of an equal nature to achieve the best performance with the desirability results. The research inference is that the Taguchi-ANOVA strategy is an effective method to come to the conclusion of the factors and interactions that are remarkable and that can be used to offer practical evidence on how to affect vitality and productivity of EHL contacts in business settings. Future work incorporating variable loads and lubricant types is explicitly recommended to extend the model’s engineering relevance.