PSI - Issue 80

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 ScienceDirect Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect ScienceDirect ScienceDirect Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000

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ScienceDirect Fracture, Damage and Structural Health Monitoring A Finite Element Methodology for the Fatigue Analysis of High Performance Electric Motor Gears Fracture, Damage and Structural Health Monitoring A Finite Element Methodology for the Fatigue Analysis of High Performance Electric Motor Gears Fracture, Damage and Structural Health Monitoring A Finite Element Methodology for the Fatigue Analysis of High Performance Electric Motor Gears Fracture, Damage and Structural Health Monitoring A Finite Element Methodology for the Fatigue Analysis of High Performance Electric Motor Gears Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia Fracture, Damage and Structural Health Monitoring A Finite Element Methodology for the Fatigue Analysis of High Performance Electric Motor Gears Procedia Structural Integrity 80 (2026) 232–243 2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Ferri Aliabadi 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.02.023 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi The continuous advancements in electric motor technology (Guiducci et al., 2023; Mangeruga et al., 2019) have heightened the demand for high-performance gearboxes design (Z. Chen et al., 2020) that ensure efficiency, reliability, and lightweight design. In recent years, the structural study of gearboxes has increased its importance, due to the widespread adoption of electric motors in various industrial and automotive applications (Khaleel et al., 2023). Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, electric motors typically operate at higher rotational speeds and deliver higher torque from standstill, which imposes significantly greater mechanical loads on gearbox components. This new usage necessitates a deeper understanding of structural integrity, fatigue behavior, and dynamic response of gearbox systems to ensure reliability, performance, and safety under these more demanding conditions (Phelan et al., 2018). As a result, advanced structural analysis, including Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental validation, has become essential for optimizing gearbox design in the context of modern powertrain technologies (Mangeruga et al., 2023; Puglisi et al., 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Abstract The growing demand for high-performance electric motors challenges gearbox design, particularly regarding fatigue life. This study presents a Finite Element methodology for analyzing the structural behavior of a high-performance electric motor gearbox. A detailed simulation of gear mesh operation was conducted, focusing on the contact history of a single tooth. Through a sensitivity analysis, it was determined the number of teeth to be included in the computational domain. Non-essential sections of the gear were simplified as cylindrical surfaces. The discretization strategy emphasized precision in critical areas related to the safety factor while reducing complexity in less relevant regions to optimize computational efficiency. Multiple modeling approaches were evaluated, including the impact of shafts, bearings, and reaction forces from adjacent gears. The final simulation incorporated microgeometry effects. Simulations were carried out excluding thermal effects and giving a special attention to defining appropriate boundary and initial conditions. Once the model representing the best compromise between results accuracy and computational time has been developed, a complete gear meshing fatigue analysis was performed using the multiaxial Dang Van method, providing a comprehensive framework for predicting gearbox performance under high-cycle fatigue. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Keywords: Finite Element, Electric motor, Gear, Transmission, High cycle fatigue * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-059-205-6163. E-mail address: simone.messina@unimore.it 1. Introduction The continuous advancements in electric motor technology (Guiducci et al., 2023; Mangeruga et al., 2019) have heightened the demand for high-performance gearboxes design (Z. Chen et al., 2020) that ensure efficiency, reliability, and lightweight design. In recent years, the structural study of gearboxes has increased its importance, due to the widespread adoption of electric motors in various industrial and automotive applications (Khaleel et al., 2023). Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, electric motors typically operate at higher rotational speeds and deliver higher torque from standstill, which imposes significantly greater mechanical loads on gearbox components. This new usage necessitates a deeper understanding of structural integrity, fatigue behavior, and dynamic response of gearbox systems to ensure reliability, performance, and safety under these more demanding conditions (Phelan et al., 2018). As a result, advanced structural analysis, including Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental validation, has become essential for optimizing gearbox design in the context of modern powertrain technologies (Mangeruga et al., 2023; Puglisi et al., 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Abstract The growing demand for high-performance electric motors challenges gearbox design, particularly regarding fatigue life. This study presents a Finite Element methodology for analyzing the structural behavior of a high-performance electric motor gearbox. A detailed simulation of gear mesh operation was conducted, focusing on the contact history of a single tooth. Through a sensitivity analysis, it was determined the number of teeth to be included in the computational domain. Non-essential sections of the gear were simplified as cylindrical surfaces. The discretization strategy emphasized precision in critical areas related to the safety factor while reducing complexity in less relevant regions to optimize computational efficiency. Multiple modeling approaches were evaluated, including the impact of shafts, bearings, and reaction forces from adjacent gears. The final simulation incorporated microgeometry effects. Simulations were carried out excluding thermal effects and giving a special attention to defining appropriate boundary and initial conditions. Once the model representing the best compromise between results accuracy and computational time has been developed, a complete gear meshing fatigue analysis was performed using the multiaxial Dang Van method, providing a comprehensive framework for predicting gearbox performance under high-cycle fatigue. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Keywords: Finite Element, Electric motor, Gear, Transmission, High cycle fatigue * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-059-205-6163. E-mail address: simone.messina@unimore.it 1. Introduction The continuous advancements in electric motor technology (Guiducci et al., 2023; Mangeruga et al., 2019) have heightened the demand for high-performance gearboxes design (Z. Chen et al., 2020) that ensure efficiency, reliability, and lightweight design. In recent years, the structural study of gearboxes has increased its importance, due to the widespread adoption of electric motors in various industrial and automotive applications (Khaleel et al., 2023). Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, electric motors typically operate at higher rotational speeds and deliver higher torque from standstill, which imposes significantly greater mechanical loads on gearbox components. This new usage necessitates a deeper understanding of structural integrity, fatigue behavior, and dynamic response of gearbox systems to ensure reliability, performance, and safety under these more demanding conditions (Phelan et al., 2018). As a result, advanced structural analysis, including Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental validation, has become essential for optimizing gearbox design in the context of modern powertrain technologies (Mangeruga et al., 2023; Puglisi et al., 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi 1 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Engineering Department Enzo Ferrari, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena (MO), Italy. a simone.messina@unimore.it, b francesco.manni@unimore.it, c matteo.giacopini@unimore.it Abstract The growing demand for high-performance electric motors challenges gearbox design, particularly regarding fatigue life. This study presents a Finite Element methodology for analyzing the structural behavior of a high-performance electric motor gearbox. A detailed simulation of gear mesh operation was conducted, focusing on the contact history of a single tooth. Through a sensitivity analysis, it was determined the number of teeth to be included in the computational domain. Non-essential sections of the gear were simplified as cylindrical surfaces. The discretization strategy emphasized precision in critical areas related to the safety factor while reducing complexity in less relevant regions to optimize computational efficiency. Multiple modeling approaches were evaluated, including the impact of shafts, bearings, and reaction forces from adjacent gears. The final simulation incorporated microgeometry effects. Simulations were carried out excluding thermal effects and giving a special attention to defining appropriate boundary and initial conditions. Once the model representing the best compromise between results accuracy and computational time has been developed, a complete gear meshing fatigue analysis was performed using the multiaxial Dang Van method, providing a comprehensive framework for predicting gearbox performance under high-cycle fatigue. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Keywords: Finite Element, Electric motor, Gear, Transmission, High cycle fatigue * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-059-205-6163. E-mail address: simone.messina@unimore.it 1. Introduction The continuous advancements in electric motor technology (Guiducci et al., 2023; Mangeruga et al., 2019) have heightened the demand for high-performance gearboxes design (Z. Chen et al., 2020) that ensure efficiency, reliability, and lightweight design. In recent years, the structural study of gearboxes has increased its importance, due to the widespread adoption of electric motors in various industrial and automotive applications (Khaleel et al., 2023). Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, electric motors typically operate at higher rotational speeds and deliver higher torque from standstill, which imposes significantly greater mechanical loads on gearbox components. This new usage necessitates a deeper understanding of structural integrity, fatigue behavior, and dynamic response of gearbox systems to ensure reliability, performance, and safety under these more demanding conditions (Phelan et al., 2018). As a result, advanced structural analysis, including Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental validation, has become essential for optimizing gearbox design in the context of modern powertrain technologies (Mangeruga et al., 2023; Puglisi et al., 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. 1 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Engineering Department Enzo Ferrari, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena (MO), Italy. a simone.messina@unimore.it, b francesco.manni@unimore.it, c matteo.giacopini@unimore.it Abstract The growing demand for high-performance electric motors challenges gearbox design, particularly regarding fatigue life. This study presents a Finite Element methodology for analyzing the structural behavior of a high-performance electric motor gearbox. A detailed simulation of gear mesh operation was conducted, focusing on the contact history of a single tooth. Through a sensitivity analysis, it was determined the number of teeth to be included in the computational domain. Non-essential sections of the gear were simplified as cylindrical surfaces. The discretization strategy emphasized precision in critical areas related to the safety factor while reducing complexity in less relevant regions to optimize computational efficiency. Multiple modeling approaches were evaluated, including the impact of shafts, bearings, and reaction forces from adjacent gears. The final simulation incorporated microgeometry effects. Simulations were carried out excluding thermal effects and giving a special attention to defining appropriate boundary and initial conditions. Once the model representing the best compromise between results accuracy and computational time has been developed, a complete gear meshing fatigue analysis was performed using the multiaxial Dang Van method, providing a comprehensive framework for predicting gearbox performance under high-cycle fatigue. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi Keywords: Finite Element, Electric motor, Gear, Transmission, High cycle fatigue * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-059-205-6163. E-mail address: simone.messina@unimore.it 1. Introduction The continuous advancements in electric motor technology (Guiducci et al., 2023; Mangeruga et al., 2019) have heightened the demand for high-performance gearboxes design (Z. Chen et al., 2020) that ensure efficiency, reliability, and lightweight design. In recent years, the structural study of gearboxes has increased its importance, due to the widespread adoption of electric motors in various industrial and automotive applications (Khaleel et al., 2023). Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, electric motors typically operate at higher rotational speeds and deliver higher torque from standstill, which imposes significantly greater mechanical loads on gearbox components. This new usage necessitates a deeper understanding of structural integrity, fatigue behavior, and dynamic response of gearbox systems to ensure reliability, performance, and safety under these more demanding conditions (Phelan et al., 2018). As a result, advanced structural analysis, including Finite Element (FE) modeling and experimental validation, has become essential for optimizing gearbox design in the context of modern powertrain technologies (Mangeruga et al., 2023; Puglisi et al., © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Ferri Aliabadi Abstract The growing demand for high-performance electric motors challenges gearbox design, particularly regarding fatigue life. This study presents a Finite Element methodology for analyzing the structural behavior of a high-performance electric motor gearbox. A detailed simulation of gear mesh operation was conducted, focusing on the contact history of a single tooth. Through a sensitivity analysis, it was determined the number of teeth to be included in the computational domain. Non-essential sections of the gear were simplified as cylindrical surfaces. The discretization strategy emphasized precision in critical areas related to the safety factor while reducing complexity in less relevant regions to optimize computational efficiency. Multiple modeling approaches were evaluated, including the impact of shafts, bearings, and reaction forces from adjacent gears. The final simulation incorporated microgeometry effects. Simulations were carried out excluding thermal effects and giving a special attention to defining appropriate boundary and initial conditions. Once the model representing the best compromise between results accuracy and computational time has been developed, a complete gear meshing fatigue analysis was performed using the multiaxial Dang Van method, providing a comprehensive framework for predicting gearbox performance under high-cycle fatigue. © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Professor Ferri Aliabadi 1 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Engineering Department Enzo Ferrari, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena (MO), Italy. a simone.messina@unimore.it, b francesco.manni@unimore.it, c matteo.giacopini@unimore.it Simone Messina 1, a,* , Francesco Manni 1, b , Matteo Giacopini 1, c Simone Messina 1, a,* , Francesco Manni 1, b , Matteo Giacopini 1, c Simone Messina 1, a,* , Francesco Manni 1, b , Matteo Giacopini 1, c Simone Messina 1, a,* , Francesco Manni 1, b , Matteo Giacopini 1, c Simone Messina 1, a,* , Francesco Manni 1, b , Matteo Giacopini 1, c 1 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Engineering Department Enzo Ferrari, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena (MO), Italy. a simone.messina@unimore.it, b francesco.manni@unimore.it, c matteo.giacopini@unimore.it 1 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Engineering Department Enzo Ferrari, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena (MO), Italy. a simone.messina@unimore.it, b francesco.manni@unimore.it, c matteo.giacopini@unimore.it Keywords: Finite Element, Electric motor, Gear, Transmission, High cycle fatigue * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-059-205-6163. E-mail address: simone.messina@unimore.it 1. Introduction