SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER 565

An investigation of the fatigue and fretting

performance of a representative aero-engine spline
coupling

S B Leen¤ , T H Hyde, C H H Ratsimba, E J Williams and I R McColl

School of Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering and Management, University of Nottingham, UK

Abstract: The fatigue behaviour of a representative high-performance aero-engine spline coupling

is investigated under test conditions designed to simulate in-service conditions. The test load
cycles consist of major cycle torque and axial load, simulating maximum thrust, combined with
minor cycle rotating bending moment and fluctuating torque, simulating life-limiting conditions at
take-off. The objective of the study is to develop understanding of the fatigue behaviour of the
coupling over a range of loading conditions, including interaction between low-cycle fatigue,
fretting fatigue and fretting wear. This information is necessary for the development of fatigue
and fretting-fatigue life prediction techniques. The test results are interpreted with the help of
three-dimensional finite element models, which include the frictional contact between the spline
teeth.

Keywords: aero-engine, spline coupling, fatigue testing, frictional contact, slip, cyclic torque, rotating
bending moment, fretting, fretting fatigue

NOTATION F1 , F2 tooth contact forces at the open ends of the

externally and internally splined shafts
a Hertzian contact semiwidth respectively
a1 axial direction contact width h spline tooth height
a2 tooth flank direction contact width J 1 , J 2 section moduli of torsion of the externally and
c Hertzian contact semiwidth of stick zone internally splined shafts respectively
D pitch circle diameter Kt torsional shear stress concentration factor
Db inside diameter of the externally splined shaft N number of spline teeth
Do external diameter of the internally splined shaft Nm estimated number of major load cycles to crack
Dre root diameter of the external spline teeth initiation
Dri root diameter of the internal spline teeth p contact pressure along the spline contact surface
Dte tip diameter of the external spline teeth p(x) contact pressure along the horizontal coordinate
Dti tip diameter of the internal spline teeth for Hertzian contact
ey engineering strain corresponding to 0.1 per cent p0 mean contact pressure for the spline contact
proof stress surface
F axial force applied to spline coupling P normal applied load for Hertzian contact
Fn normalized axial force q(x) surface shear traction along the horizontal
Fmyp maximum elastic axial force capacity of the coordinate for Hertzian contact
nominal, externally splined shaft Q tangential applied load for Hertzian contact
r spline fillet radius
rp radius of the pitch circle
The MS was received on 25 January 2002 and was accepted after revision T torque
for publication on 29 July 2002. Tn normalized torque
¤ Corresponding author: School of Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing
Engineering and Management, University of Nottingham, University Park, Tmyp maximum elastic torque capacity of the nominal
Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. externally splined shaft
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
566 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
x external spline tooth flank coordinate direction
y internal spline tooth flank coordinate direction
z axial direction along the spline contact region
âp helix angle at the pitch circle diameter
ä relative slip
tPCD
reduction in half-tooth thickness at the pitch circle
diameter due to profile modification, non-
dimensionalized via tooth thickness at the pitch
circle diameter
í coefficient of friction
ó normal (direct) stress
óy 0.1 per cent proof stress
ó0 underlying surface tension in contact problems
1 INTRODUCTION
Although spline couplings are well know to be susceptible
to fretting due to the relative movement between the
highly loaded teeth under cyclic loads [1–3], there is
remarkably little detailed information available on the
loading conditions which give rise to these mechanisms of
failure and on how these interact with more conventional
failure mechanisms, such as low-cycle or high-cycle plain
fatigue and sliding wear. Modern gas turbine aero-engines
are an example of an application where spline design is
critical to overall performance. Size reduction and torque
increase in the compressor–turbine shaft couplings repre-
sent strategic objectives in aero-engine transmissions
design. Spline design is generally based on established
stress analysis techniques which in turn are based on
conventional plain-fatigue failure, and clearance for ser-
vice tends to rely on satisfactory performance in develop-
ment testing. Consequently, methodical or systematic
testing of spline couplings with respect to likely failure
modes, such as low-cycle fatigue or fretting fatigue, is not
generally carried out. Splines are cleared for a safe number
of flight cycles, but the fatigue and fretting-fatigue
performance and the load space boundaries between plain-
fatigue failure and fretting-fatigue failure remain some-
thing of an uncertainty. Thus, to effect a step change in the
mechanical design of splines, greater knowledge of spline
behaviour is required. In addition to fretting and plain
fatigue, the issue of fretting wear is important due to the
interaction between fretting wear and fretting fatigue [4],
and the potential for reduced wear through greater under-
standing, and thus potential extension of spline service
life. It is this need for experimental data on the fatigue
and fretting behaviour of realistic couplings that motivated
the present work. The complexity of the frictional contact
behaviour between spline teeth, particularly when the
contact geometries are modified, e.g. barrelled, for more
optimum performance, necessitates computational model-
ling techniques for interpretation of the effects of different
loading conditions on surface and subsurface contact
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
variables, such as contact pressure, relative slip and stress
and strain distributions.
2 FRETTING-FATIGUE BACKGROUND
In order to illustrate the macroscopic variables important to
fretting fatigue, consider the Hertzian contact configuration
depicted in Fig. 1, the general solution for which is well
known, (see, for example, references [5] and [6]). For such
a configuration, fretting is normally associated with the
superposition of a cyclic tangential force §Q, which leads
to the development of a central zone of sticking
¡c < x < c, with partial slip zones occurring at the edges
c < jxj < a. For a given coefficient of friction, í the size
of the central stick zone is given by
s















c Q
ˆ 1¡ (1)
a íP
The expression for the contact semiwidth a is well known
[5]. Although the sizes of the stick and slip zones vary with
the cyclic alternation of Q, equation (1) corresponds to the
extremes of the tangential load cycle. Fretting-fatigue
cracks are generally found to initiate from within the partial
slip zones, i.e. c < jxj < a; in fact, experiments often show
that the cracks initiate near the stick–slip interface (see, for
example, references [3] and [6]). In the partial slip regions,
the shear traction q(x) is simply equal to í p(x), reaching a
maximum at the stick–slip interface, x ˆ c, while the
expressions for the distribution within the stick region,
which were first derived by Cattaneo [7] and Mindlin [8],
may be found elsewhere (see, for example, reference [5]).
Another important parameter for fretting-fatigue perform-
ance assessment is the slip amplitude. Poritsky [9] has
presented an expression for the amplitude of slip displace-
ment for the Hertzian contact of Fig. 1, for example.
Despite appreciable research and proposed parameters
and approaches, no single fretting-fatigue parameter for
general application has been established. However, it is
generally accepted that there is a set of primary variables
which includes normal contact load, coefficient of friction
and slip amplitude [10]. The importance of normal load
Fig. 1 Hertzian contact geometry (deformed) and definition of
contact parameters
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE
and coefficient of friction is related to their effect on the
local contact stresses via the contact pressure and shear
traction distributions. The importance of slip amplitude is
related to fretting damage and the interaction between
fretting wear and fretting fatigue. Figure 2 schematically
illustrates the effect of slip amplitude in terms of minimiza-
tion of fatigue life and increasing wear and this relationship
has been interpreted as the initiating fretting-fatigue cracks
being worn away with increasing slip amplitude [11]. There
is generally a range of slip amplitudes within which fretting
cracks are initiated but do not become worn away, so that
fatigue life is significantly reduced in this range. Vincent
et al. [12] have shown, via the concept of fretting maps,
that the fretting damage is related to the slip amplitude.
The main forms of damage were shown to be no
degradation, cracking and wear, depending on the slip
amplitude. Recently, Hills and Urriolagoitia-Sosa [13] have
suggested that a suitable set of four quantities for fretting
fatigue characterization are p(c), q(c), u(a) and ó 0, i.e. the
contact pressure and surface shear traction at the stick–slip
interface, the maximum slip at the edge of contact and the
underlyng surface stress. The latter generally consists of a
plain fatigue stress augmented by a contact stress such as
the trailing-edge tensile stress. Thus, in the absence of a
general parameter, the following factors should be consid-
ered in the fretting-fatigue assessment of components:
(a) existence and location of a stick–slip interface;
(b) slip amplitude;
(c) normal contact load or local contact pressure;
(d) tangential load, coefficient of friction or local shear
traction;
(e) underlying tensile stress.
However, owing to the complexity of the fretting process
and, in particular, the importance of non-mechanical
variables, such as tribological properties and material
Fig. 2 Typical relationship between fatigue life and wear rate as a function of slip amplitude. (After Vingsbo and
Soderberg [11])
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002
567
microstructures, as well as chemical processes, it would
appear that a purely analytical approach, based on solid
mechanics, will not suffice. Therefore, the present work
seeks to underpin and provide data for representative
simplified testing to predict the fatigue life, including
fretting-fatigue effects, of spline couplings.
3 FATIGUE OF SPLINE COUPLINGS
The mechanical behaviour of straight-sided splines and
their plain fatigue and wear behaviour has received consid-
erable attention [14–21]. Spline couplings typically have
three main sources of stress concentration important for
plain fatigue:
(a) spline root torsional stress concentrations;
(b) spline fillet bending stress concentrations;
(c) frictional contact stress concentrations.
There is a transition in torque and axial load distributions
through the coupling and, depending on the relative
torsional stiffnesses of the shafts, it is possible that the
transition can occur almost entirely at one end of the
coupling, thus leading to failure at the associated position.
Volfson [14] has shown that
F1 J 1
ˆ (2)
F2 J 2
where F1 and F2 represent the tooth contact forces at the
open ends of the externally and internally splined shafts
respectively, and J 1 and J 2 represent the corresponding
shaft section moduli of torsion (Fig. 3). As pointed out by
Volfson, standard tests have confirmed the expectation that
fatigue failure will occur at section A– A when J 2 . J 1
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
568 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
Fig. 3 Schematic section through splined coupling, and repre-
sentative tooth contact forces associated with torque
transfer between shafts [14]
and at section B–B when J 1 . J 2 . Gradual transfer of load
from one shaft to the other can be achieved by gradually
increasing the torsional stiffness of the externally splined
shaft from section B–B to A–A and/or gradually decreas-
ing the torsional stiffness of the internally splined shaft in
the same direction.
The local elastic torsional shear stress in the spline root
due to the applied torque can be obtained using the
following expression for spline root shear stress concentra-
tion factor [21]:
r



1 h
Kt ˆ 1 ‡
2 r
where h is the tooth height and r is the spline root fillet
radius. The corresponding nominal shear stress is the value
at the pitch circle diameter (PCD) for a solid shaft with
outside diameter equal to Dte and inside diameter equal to
Db . Typical values of K t range from 1.8 to 2.5. In addition,
Volfson [14] pointed out that the stress concentration factor
becomes greater, by about 25 per cent, when the effect of
tooth bending is also considered. A similar expression
exists for K b, an elastic stress concentration factor for tooth
bending stresses. The shear stress concentration can also
be obtained from elastic finite element (FE) analyses or
photoelastic stress analysis. The present authors have
recently investigated the stress distributions in the coupling
geometry studied here [22], including comparisons of
FE-predicted spline root torsional stress against both
photoelastic and boundary element (BE) results. The FE-
and BE-calculated values for K t were both found to be
aproximately 1.55 while the photoelastic measurements
gave a value of 1.63, compared with a value of 1.61 from
equation (3). For elastic–plastic loading where significant
Table 1 Composition of spline CrMoV steel
C Si Mn P S
(wt %) (wt %) (wt %) (wt %) (wt %)
0.35–0.43 0.1–0.35 0.4– 0.7 ,0.007 ,0.002
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
plastic strains may be developed, it is necessary to use FE
analyses.
4 SPLINE TESTING AND GEOMETRY
The present work is concerned with the type of couplings
employed in gas turbine aeroengines to connect together
the low-pressure (LP) turbine and compressor shafts in
triple-spool engines. Such couplings are designed for
torque and axial load transmission and experience wide
variations in torque between take-off, cruise and landing
conditions, so that effective profile modification of the
teeth requires a full understanding of consequential effects.
In addition, the ever-present drive to improve engine
efficiency requires increased torque density and reduced
shaft and coupling diameters. However, the shafts and
couplings also experience rotating bending moments,
particularly during take-off, landing and other manoeuvres,
due to engine gyroscopic effects and carcass deformation-
induced shaft misalignment.
The helical spline couplings were manufactured from
a high-strength chromium–molybdenum–vanadium steel,
with a composition as shown in Table 1, using the
manufacturing route employed for service aero-engine
(3) shafts. Prior to final machining, the components were
through-hardened to a Vickers hardness of 460– 490 HV
30. After final machining, the externally splined shaft was
gas nitrided to a minimum surface hardness of 820 HV 30.
The compound layer had a thickness of about 6–7 ím and
was not removed. The splines were not actively lubricated
during testing but did receive an initial coating of oil
lubrication prior to assembly, consistent with industrial
practice. The oil used was Mobil1 Jet Oil II, which has a
viscosity varying from 5 cSt at 100 8C to 25.3 cSt at 40 8C.
The specimens have 18 teeth on a reduced diameter,
relative to full-size aero-engines splines, to make them
suitable for the small-scale shaft test facility employed. The
teeth, however, are typical of those employed on full-size
couplings. Figure 4 shows the spline geometry, together
with definitions of the contact axial length coordinate z, the
tooth flank contact width coordinate x and the maximum
possible contact dimensions a1 and a2 . Non-dimensiona-
lized geometrical parameters for the tooth involute are
shown in Table 2. Non-dimensionalization is effected via
the PCD. More detailed information has been presented
elsewhere [22].
It is well known from contact mechanics that a sharp
corner on one of the contacting components leads to a
Cr Mo Ni V
(wt %) (wt %) (wt %) (wt %) Fe
3.0–3.5 0.8– 1.10 ,0.3 0.15–0.25 Remainder
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE 569

Fig. 4 (a) Schematic half-section of splined coupling geometry showing important features and z coordinates
normalized with the PCD; (b) schematic diagram of spline teeth showing notation for definition of involute
teeth profile, as well as tooth flank contact width a2 and tooth flank coordinate directions x and y

singularity in stress for elastic behaviour [5]. Conventional the use of barrelling at the ends of contact to reduce the
spline couplings involve a number of such sharp corners, stress concentration effects and referred to the work of
specifically at the z ˆ 0 and z ˆ a1 (Fig. 4a) and x ˆ 0 and Lundberg [23] who calculated the profile correction re-
x ˆ a2 (Fig. 4b) edges of contact. Johnson [5] discussed quired for uniform pressure along the length of a roller on a
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
570 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL

Table 2 Dimensions of internal and external spline teeth, non-dimensionalized with

respect to the PCD
Dimension External spline Internal spline
Normal pressure angle 308 308
Hand of helix Left Left
Base diameter 0.863 78 0.863 78
Pitch circle diameter (PCD) 1.0 1.0
Helix angle at the PCD 8.278 788 8.278 788
Major diameter 1.027 45 1.068 79
Minor diameter 0.931 12 0.972 47
Fillet radius 0.032 12 0.035 58
Normal circular tooth thickness 0.084 26 0.084 26
Note that the flat spline root is of the side-fitting type.

flat plate (e.g a roller bearing), although the profile

correction is difficult to manufacture and is correct only at
the design load. The same technique can be employed in
spline teeth to reduce the end of engagement (i.e. z ˆ 0,
a1 ) stress concentrations. This is illustrated schematically
in Fig. 5 and is achieved by the gradual reduction in the
tooth thickness from a central axial segment towards the
ends of engagement. This introduces an additional com-
plexity into spline design. It becomes necessary to carry
out iterative calculations to determine the optimum dis-
tribution of tooth thickness reduction to achieve a sensibly
uniform pressure along the length of engagement, thus also
giving a uniform transfer of torque. However, consideration
needs to be given to performance under load variations.
The manufacture of the splines as well as their analysis and
design thereby becomes significantly more complex due to
the dependence of the contact area on torque level and the
incomplete nature of the contact below the design torque.
More importantly, the profile correction increases the
potential for fretting-induced failure, due to increased slip Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of spline fatigue test rig showing
amplitudes and the potential for stick regions with adjacent horizontal and vertical loading rams
partial slip zones, under the rotating bending moments,
which are superimposed on the major cycle torque and
axial load. envelope consisting of the combined major and minor cycle
Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the test rig loading sequence as illustrated in Fig. 7. Each major cycle
employed for the fatigue testing. The horizontal actuators E involves the application of a mean torque TMEAN and axial
and F provide the cyclic torque while the vertical actuators load that are ramped up over a 4 s period and then held
A to D provide the axial load and rotating bending moment; constant while 500 minor cycles are superimposed. Each
greater detail has been given elsewhere [24]. The fatigue minor cycle consists of a sinusoidal torque fluctuation (§10
tests conducted simulate the key life-limiting loading per cent of TMEAN ) and a rotating bending moment of
experienced by the splines during a typical civil flight constant magnitude, applied in phase at a frequency of 5 Hz.

Fig. 5 Schematic illustration of the external spline tooth geometry modification to effect reduction in the contact
stress peaks at ends of engagement and give more uniform spline load transfer
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6 S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE 571

Fig. 7 Schematic diagram of major and minor loading cycles, simulating large torque and axial load with
superimposed rotating bending moment and fluctuating torque, for spline fatigue testing

The non-dimensionalized design torque Tn and axial
load Fn values for the coupling are 0.818 and 0.032
respectively, where T n and Fn are defined as follows:
T F
Tn ˆ , Fn ˆ
Tmyp Fm
yp
where T and F are the torque and axial load respectively.
Tm m
yp and F yp are the maximum elastic torque and axial load
capacities respectively for a shaft with outside diameter
equal to the root (minor) diameter of the external spline
and inside diameter equal to 0.52D, the z ˆ a1 inside
diameter of the externally splined shaft. T m m
yp and F yp are
based on the 0.1 per cent proof stress of the spline material.
5 FATIGUE TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 3 presents a summary of the fatigue test results,
showing the applied major and minor cycle loads, together
with the estimated number of cycles to crack initiation and
the tooth number and axial positions of cracking. It should
be noted that, in all cases, cracking was confined to the
externally splined shaft. Cracks in the teeth reduce the
torsional stiffness of the coupling and the number of major
(4)
cycles to crack initiation is estimated, by back extrapola-
tion, from the maximum twist versus major cycle number
plot for each test. Figure 8 shows the plot for test 7, where
crack initiation was estimated to have occurred at or before
1490 major cycles.
The fatigue results can be categorized into three types of
behaviour. Tests 1 to 5 used a range of major cycle loads
higher than the design load. All showed a similar type of
failure, with cracks initiated in the root-fillet region at the
high-torque end of the externally splined shaft, i.e. at
z º a1 . This failure position corresponds to section A–A
of Fig. 3 and is consistent with the fact that J 2 . J 1 for the
splines tested. As discussed below, these results are
classified as low-cycle fatigue failures. Test 6 produced no
visiable fatigue cracks after 3:5 3 104 major cycles but did
exhibit extensive debris. Tests 7 and 8 were carried out with
the design major cycle loads, i.e. torque and axial load, but

Table 3 Summary of loading conditions, estimated numbers of cycles to failure and failure locations for spline fatigue tests
Test parameters¤ Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5 Test 6 Test 7 Test 8
Major cycle torque overload (%) 39 39 39 30 20 0 0 0
Major cycle axial overload (%) 24 24 39 30 20 0 0 0
Minor cycle bending moment 122 122 39 30 20 0 200 125
overload (%)
Estimated number of major cycles 450 450 530 1500 3450 .3.5 3 104 1490 12 021
to initial crack
Estimated number of minor cycles 2.3 3 10 5
2.3 3 10 5
2.7 3 105
7.5 3 10 5
1.7 3 10 6
.1.7 3 10 7
7.45 3 10 5
6.01 3 106
to initial crack
Circumferential position of 18 and 1 to 4 18 3 All 17, 18, 1 None 6 to 10 18 and
cracking in terms of tooth and 2 1 to 3
numbers
Axial position z of crack initiation z º a1 z º a1 z º a1 z º a1 z º a1 — 0.7a1 –0.87a1 0.7a1 –0.94a1
¤ The minor cycle fluctuating torque is always 10% of the major cycle torque and the design bending moment is approximately 5% of the design torque.
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
572 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL

Fig. 8 Measured twist angle of spline versus number of major cycles for test 7

with significant rotating bending moment overloads of 200
per cent and 125 per cent respectively. These conditions
were chosen as the most likely combination for fretting
fatigue failure, because the torque-induced normal load is
too low to cause low-cycle fatigue failure, as in tests 1 to 5,
but high enough to facilitate fretting action, as in test 6.
The overload superimposed rotating bending moment gives
rise to a cyclic subsurface stress field and oscillatory
relative slip, potentially producing stick and adjacent
partial slip regions in the axial direction on the teeth, due
to the axial profile modification. Tests 7 and 8 produced
cracks within the length of engagement, i.e. within the
0 , z , a1 region, and, as discussed below, these cracks
appear to have originated from within the tooth contact
regions and to be due to fretting fatigue.
Tests 1 and 2 were carried out under identical loading
conditions, i.e. 39 per cent torque and 122 per cent bending
moment overloads, and demonstrate good repeatability
with respect to estimated numbers of major cycles to crack
initiation, i.e. about 450 cycles in both cases. Knowledge of
the expected failure time from test 1 permitted observation
of the early cracking behaviour in test 2, while the cracks
were still very short but observable via 33 magnification,
since they initiated just outside or at the z ˆ a1 end of
engagement. The initial cracks were easily observable on
application of the major cycle loads due to the separation
of the crack faces. These cracks were inclined initially at
about 458 to the spline axis, thus identifying the major
cycle loads as the dominant factor controlling crack
growth. In addition, a number of such cracks, parallel to
each other and distributed over the spline root axial
segment either side of the z ˆ a1 end of engagement, were
produced. This can be seen from Fig. 9, which shows the
test 1 specimen. Because test 2 was stopped early during
the crack growth stage, it is possible to follow crack
propagation. The initial cracks in the root increased in

Fig. 9 Crack propagation path in test 1, with the corresponding tooth numbers. One of the 458 inclined cracks in
the spline root is circled. The cracks tended to reorient in the neighbourhood of the teeth to a direction
transverse to the spline axis (white rectangle)
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6 S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE
depth towards the bore of the externally splined shaft and
increased in length at an angle of about 458 to the spline
axis, towards the adjacent contact tooth flank, again
apparently predominantly under the influence of the major
cycle torque overload. At the contact tooth flank the cracks
come under the influence of the contact and the rotating
bending moment stress fields and reorient to a direction
approximately transverse to the shaft axis (see Fig. 9). It is,
however, important to note that the initial cracking appears
to be unrelated to the frictional contact. The externally
splined shaft from test 1 was sectioned to reveal the full-
depth crack faces in teeth 2 and 3 (Fig. 10). It can be seen
that the 458 crack orientation is maintained throughout the
depth of the crack except in the region of the tooth where
cracks transverse to the shaft axis are observed. For tests 3
to 5, a reduction in all overload magnitudes was applied,
maintaining equal percentages of overload in major cycle
loads and bending moment. These tests produced almost
identical fatigue failures with those of tests 1 and 2, but
with increasing numbers of cycles to failure, as shown in
Table 2. From these results, a log T –log N m relationship
was produced for predictive purposes [24], where N m is the
estimated number of major cycles to crack initiation. The
small difference between the estimated numbers of cycles
to failure for tests 1 and 2 and test 3 suggests that the
bending moment does not play a significant role in the
fatigue failures of tests 1 to 5.
For tests 1 to 5 the cracks were found to be located at or
adjacent to the 908 position, as defined in Fig. 11. This
is the circumferential position at which the maximum
bending-induced tensile stresses occur simultaneously
with maximum instantaneous torque, i.e. peak minor cycle
torque superimposed on major cycle torque. Thus, the 908
position experiences the maximum spline root and fillet
torsional shear stress concentration simultaneously with
maximum tensile bending stresses due to the bending
moment. Therefore these teeth give the worst combination
of conditions with respect to crack initiation and growth.
Fig. 10 A through-depth fatigue fracture in the externally
splined shaft from test 1, inclined at 458 to the spline
axis
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002
573
Fig. 11 Axial section through the externally splined shaft FE
model showing the tooth numbers and associated
reference angular positions, as well as the orientation of
the B+ bending moment
Test 6 used the design loads and was stopped after
3:5 3 104 major cycles. While there was significant wear
along the contact regions, there were no observable cracks.
Prediction of the number of cycles to failure for the test 6
loads using the log T –log N m relationship and the asso-
ciated constants obtained from tests 3 to 5, gives a value of
5:25 3 104 major cycles, which is consistent with the
results obtained [24].
On removal from the rig, the splines from tests 7 and 8
exhibited extensive wear debris in the neighbourhood of
the contact regions, of at least similar extent to that
observed after test 6. As test 6 ran for a much greater
number of cycles, this suggests that the increased bending
moment of tests 7 and 8 was responsible for the higher
wear observed, via increased slip amplitude. The most
obvious difference between the fatigue cracking of tests 7
and 8 and that of tests 1 to 5 is that the former produced
cracks located within the axial length of engagement, in
regions of significant fretting. Cracks are situated between
z ˆ 0:7a1 and 0:87a1 for test 7 (Fig. 12), and between
z ˆ 0:7a1 and 0:94a1 for test 8. The fact that test 6, which
was carried out with the design major cycle loads and
slightly less than the design bending moment, did not fail
after 3:5 3 104 major cycles, indicates that the rotating
bending moment overload plays a significant role in the
failures of tests 7 and 8. The failures of tests 7 and 8 appear
to be of a high-cycle nature, associated with the large
numbers of minor cycles, 7:5 3 105 and 6 3 106 cycles
respectively. However, the axial locations of cracking do
not correspond to stress concentrations, such as the spline
root torsional shear stress concentrations of tests 1 to 5, so
that the failures do not appear to be attributable to plain
fatigue. The cracks are located on teeth 6 to 9 in test 7 and
on teeth 18 to 3 in test 8. Because of inaccessibility of the
crack initiation region for tests 7 and 8, it cannot be stated
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
574 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
Fig. 12 Fatigue cracking in the externally splined shaft from test
7 showing appreciable debris in the neighbourhood of
the contact regions
conclusively where along the tooth flank x direction (Fig.
4b) the cracks started. Certainly, on interruption of the
tests, cracks were found to exist both on the tooth flanks
and in the spline root and fillet regions. However, as can be
seen by comparing Figs 12 and 9, the crack growth patterns
of tests 7 and 8 are quite different from those of tests 1 to 5.
The latter featured sets of long parallel cracks both initiated
and propagated at about 458 to the shaft axis. By contrast,
the net direction of the cracks in Fig. 12 is transverse to the
shaft axis, both in the root-fillet region and across the teeth,
although there are smaller 458 cracks in the root-fillet
regions. These trends lend further support to the significant
effect of bending moment on the failures of tests 7 and 8
and suggest fretting fatigue as the likely mechanism.
Fig. 13 Discrete axial profile modification data and associated polynomial curve fit for splined couplings tested
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
6 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
A fundamental simplification in modelling is apparent for
the case of cyclically symmetric loading, such as torque
and axial load, assuming identical spline teeth. Invoking
the cyclic symmetry assumption means that only one 208
segment of the coupling needs to be modelled for the
torque and axial load case, i.e. major cycle loading, with
appropriate cyclic symmetry boundary conditions being
applied to the model. This facilitates a high level of mesh
refinement and thus detailed stress, strain and contact
variable results. Such a cyclic symmetry model forms the
basis for one of the modelling approaches adopted. The
details have been presented elsewhere [25], including
the frictional contact modelling details, the modelling of
the helix angle and the axial profile modification details, in
the form of a set of polynomial coefficients for a sixth-
order polynomial fit to the modified profile geometry.
Figure 13 illustrates the set of profile modification data
and the corresponding polynomial fit. Figure 14 shows the
cyclic symmetry model employed for the major cycle load
analyses. The basic Coulomb friction model [26] with
isotropic friction is employed throughout and the frictional
contact conditions are introduced via the penalty method
with an allowable elastic slip of 0:0005a2 [26]. The more
exact Lagrange multiplier approach, which enforces exact
sticking (zero slip) when the interfacial shear stress is less
than the critical shear stress ôcrit ˆ í p, where p is the local
(nodal) contact pressure, was found to be prohibitively time
consuming and prone to convergence difficulties for the
18-tooth model described below. One of the most important
uncertainties in the fretting assessment of spline couplings
is coefficient of friction. Cylinder-on-flat fretting tests on
the nitrided agasinst non-nitrided spline material have
shown that, for unlubricated cases, í increases gradually,
over the first 1000–2000 fretting cycles, from an initial
value of 0.3–0.5 to a final steady state value of 0.7–1.0,
depending on the applied stroke and normal load. For an
initially well-lubricated contact, the value remains steady at
about 0.15 over 18 000 cycles. These values are for a fixed
normal load with superimposed cyclic tangential displace-
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE 575

Fig. 14 One-tooth cyclic symmetry model of helical splined coupling with axial profile modification

ment. Assuming initially lubricated spline contact suggests
a value of about 0.15 for í. Assuming unlubricated contact
suggests that í does not increase to the higher steady state
values of the cylinder-on-flat tests, due to the small number
of minor cycles per major cycle and the intermittent nature
of the major cycle loading. However, it is likely that
lubricant may become squeezed out of the high-pressure
contact regions. Consequently, a value of 0.3 is employed
as a median value. The effect of different values is further
discussed below. The thrust washers of Fig. 4 absorb the
thrust loads that may push the shafts together and permit
articulation of the coupling on the spherical contact
surfaces. These surfaces are modelled as conical, with
initial contact occurring on the outer edges, which is
consistent with the post-test observed wear scars on these
surfaces.
The second modelling approach adopted is an 18-tooth
model, including frictional contact between the teeth. This
approach is necessary to simulate the behaviour of
the spline teeth under the rotating bending moment and
fluctuating torque, i.e. minor cycle loading, due to the lack of
cyclic symmetry. The helical geometry and axial profile
modification were incorporated, as for the cyclic symmetry
model. Figure 15 shows the separated 18-tooth model
components. Because of the need to model all teeth, the 18-
tooth model is limited to a coarser mesh than the cyclic
symmetry model, as illustrated in Fig. 16, which shows the
contrasting spline flank and root meshes. The cyclic
symmetry model has 54 987 nodes and 48 656 elements
while the 18-tooth model has 43 740 nodes and 33 786
elements. In both cases, eight-noded three-dimensionalbrick
elements are employed. The primary purpose of the 18-tooth
model is to facilitate understanding of the frictional contact
interaction between the teeth due to the minor cycle loads, for
the purpose of interpreting the test results and, in particular,
for identification of conditionsconduciveto fretting fatigue.
Accurate modelling of the minor cycle loads requires
simulation of a 3608 rotation of the bending moment in the
FE analysis and simultaneous variation in the fluctuating
torque. Such detail is prohibitively expensive, computation-
ally, for the present large meshes so that a more simplified
approach is necessary. The approach adopted is to simulate
only the instantaneous extreme loading situations and thus
to estimate the envelope of response. Because the fluctuat-
ing torque is in phase with the rotating bending moment,
these extreme loading situations are:

Fig. 15 Expositions of (a) the internally splined shaft component and (b) the externally splined shaft component
for the 18-tooth FE model
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
576 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
Fig. 16 Axial cross-section views showing comparative detail of the spline tooth meshing refinement for (a) one
tooth on the 18-tooth FE model and (b) the cyclic symmetry FE model
(a) the simultaneous application of a positive bending
moment, about a reference axis (see Fig. 11) with the
maximum total torque (i.e. major torque plus minor
torque), hereafter referred to as B+, and
(b) the simultaneous application of a negative bending
moment, about the same reference axis, with the
minimum total torque, hereafter referred to as B¡.
In effect, the minor cycle loading is simulated by only
two extreme instantaneous loading scenarios. It is neces-
sary to simulate a number of such minor load cycles until
approximate convergence with respect to stick–slip zone
resolution and slip distributions. Both spline modelling
approaches employ the empirical engineering stress–strain
curve shown in Fig. 17.
7 FE INTERPRETATION OF SPLINE FATIGUE
TEST RESULTS
The failure lives of tests 1 to 5, all less than 1 3 104 cycles
(see Table 3), correspond to premature failure, which is
consistent with the fact that the major cycle loads, torque
and axial load, in all cases, were greater than the design
loads. Also, in all these cases, the failure position, i.e. the
spline root region, just outside the z ˆ a1 end of engage-
ment, corresponds axially to the region of peak torsional
shear stress concentration on the externally splined shaft,
since this is the location of 100 per cent torque take-up.
This is demonstrated, for example, by Fig. 18, which shows
the von Mises stress distributions versus distance around
the tooth flank, fillet and root, at different axial positions
for a 40 per cent major cycle overload, i.e. corresponding to
tests 1 to 3; these peak spline root von Mises stresses are
dominated by the torsional shear stress concentration. This
is also the position of maximum principal plastic strain
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
range due to the major load cycle. The 458 orientation of
the initial spline root cracks, which is perpendicular to the
direction of the maximum principal strain and stress,
together with the high strength of the spline material,
suggest that either the maximum principal plastic strain or
the maximum principal stress range is the controlling
fatigue parameter in these tests. In addition it has been
shown in reference [24] that the relationship between the
maximum principal plastic strain range in the spline root
and the number of major cycles to crack initiation is
a linear relationship on a log–log plot, with material
constants typical of similar high-strength steels. The
predicted von Mises and maximum principal stresses from
the 18-tooth FE model, for tests 1 to 5, show that the
highest values of these stress measures, over the complete
major and minor load cycle, occur on tooth 18, at the
z ˆ a1 spline root location, for the B+ moment orientation.
For test 1, the B+ maximum principal stress value on tooth
18 at this position is 6 per cent higher than the largest
major cycle value, which is the same on all teeth and occurs
at the same position, and 9 per cent higher than the largest
B¡ minor cycle value, which occurs on tooth 9 at the same
axial and spline root position. In addition, the tooth 18,
z ˆ a1 , spline root location is the position of greatest
maximum principal stress range for the minor cycle. This
is consistent with the observation made in section 5 that the
908 position is the critical circumferential position for crack
initiation and growth.
The main objective of the 18-tooth model analysis is to
establish whether or not the FE results for tests 7 and 8
support the occurrence of fretting fatigue failure for these
cases. To this end, attention has been focused on the
predicted slip distributions during minor cycling, along the
axial direction, since this is the direction of modified tooth
profile for reduced contact pressure, potentially leading to
increased slip. A study of the evolution of slip with
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE 577

Fig. 17 Experimentally determined (engineering) stress–strain curve for the spline material

Fig. 18 The von Mises stress distributions versus tooth flank position, starting from the contact side, for different
axial positions along the length of engagement, z º 0, a1 , on the externally splined shaft
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
578 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL

Fig. 19 (continued over)

Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6 S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE
Fig. 19 Resultant relative slip distributions versus axial position at mid-tooth flank node on teeth 9 and 18 for
(a) test 7, B+ and B¡, (b) tests 1 to 3, B+ and B¡ and (c) test 8, B+ and B¡
numbers of minor cycles showed that little change occurs
after the second cycle. Consequently, for the purposes of
comparing the relative slip distributions for different test
conditions, the results after two such cycles are presented
here. In addition, attention is focused on teeth 9 and 18
since these two positions are representative of the extremes
of the minor load cycle.
Figure 19a shows the resultant relative slip distributions
versus axial position at the mid-tooth flank nodes of teeth 9
and 18, for test 7 loading conditions under the B+ and B¡
moment orientations. The most important aspect here is the
existence of a sharp increase in slip amplitude from less
than 0:0005a2 to about 0:006a2 between z º 0:7a1 and
z º 0:85a1 for both teeth and for both bending moment
orientations, while there is actually a stick–slip interface
on tooth 9 at z º 0:5a1 for both moment orientations, and
on tooth 18 for the B+ orientation. The slip is seen to be at
a minimum or zero (i.e. stick) in and adjacent to the axially
unmodified segment, 0:81a1 < z < 0:45a1 , increasing
slightly towards the z ˆ 0 end, but increasing more
significantly and monotonically towards the z ˆ a1 end.
The maximum value under the action of the rotating
bending moment is found to occur at the z ˆ a1 end for all
cases, similar to a Hertzian-type fretting contact. For a
typical a2 value of 2 mm, these results predict a significant
increase in relative slip from about 2 to 10 ím over the
z º 0:7a1 to 0:85a1 axial segment, with a maximum value
of about 20 ím at z ˆ a1 . As illustrated schematically in
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002
579
Fig. 2, such slip amplitudes, together with a high normal
load and cyclic substrate stress, which also exist here, are
typical of those associated with fretting fatigue situations.
The FE predictions therefore suggest that fretting fatigue is
likely to occur somewhere between z º 0:7a1 and a1,
depending on the interaction between slip amplitude,
subsurface stresses, normal load (contact pressure), coeffi-
cient of friction and material properties.
Figure 19b shows the corresponding FE results for
the loading conditions of tests 1 to 3; also shown for
comparative purposes are the tooth 9, B+ results for test 7.
The main differences between this result and that of test 7
is the absence of a sharp increase in slip amplitude, or
stick–slip interfaces, near the z ˆ a1 end. The results for
tests 4 and 5 show similar trends. Figure 19c shows the
corresponding results for the load conditions of test 8,
again including the test 7 result for tooth 9, B+. These
results show similar characteristics to those of test 7,
namely sharp increases in slip amplitude with stick–slip
interfaces towards the z ˆ a1 end of engagement and
maximum slip at z ˆ a1 . However, the slip amplitudes are
significantly smaller than those of test 7; i.e., for a typical
a2 value of 2 mm, the maximum slip is only about 8–
10 ím, and the axial segment of sharp increase is now
between z º 0:85a1 and a1 . These latter predictions,
together with the significantly reduced bending moment
and associated stresses, are consistent with the larger
number of cycles to cracking in test 8, i.e. 6:01 3 106
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
580 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
minor cycles, than in test 7, i.e. 7:45 3 105 minor cycles,
and also with the fact that the fatigue cracks of test 8 are
closer to the z ˆ a1 end.
For completeness, with respect to fretting contact
variables, Figs 20a and b show the predicted distributions
of non-dimensionalized contact pressure at the mid-tooth
flank nodes of teeth 9 and 18 for the B+ and B¡ moment
orientations of tests 7 and 8, including the major cycle
distributions. The non-dimensionalization is effected via a
mean contact pressure p0 calculated by assuming the
applied torque per tooth to have its centre of action at
the PCD and dividing the associated force value by the
estimated initial tooth contact area:
T cos âp
p0 ˆ
Nrp a1 a2
where N is the number of spline teeth, rp is the pitch circle
radius, a1 =cos âp is the helical contact length, a2 is the
tooth flank contact width and T is the applied torque. The
effects of minor cycle torque and the rotating bending
moment on the major cycle distributions are similar for
both tests and, as expected, vary with axial position but are
more pronounced at the ends of engagement. Thus, for
example, for test 7, Fig. 20a shows that, for the B+ loading
situation (Figs 11 and 4a), the pressure on tooth 18
increases significantly at and near the z ˆ 0 end and
decreases significantly at and near the z ˆ a1 end, with
little change over the intermediate region 0:18a1 <
z < 0:7a1 . For the B¡ loading situation the pressure on
tooth 18 decreases at and near the z ˆ 0 end but also
decreases generally over the complete length of engage-
ment because the minor cycle torque is at the trough at this
instant. For the B+ situation, tooth 9 experiences negligible
change at the z ˆ 0 end and over the length 0 < z < 0:9a1
but there is an approximately 25 per cent increase at the
z ˆ a1 end. For the B¡ loading situation, tooth 9
experiences an approximately 15 per cent increase at the
z ˆ 0 end, little change for 0:1a1 < z < 0:8a1 but a
significant dramatic decrease over the segment
0:8a1 < z < a1 to a minimum value of almost zero at
z ˆ a1 . Comparison of the contact pressure results of Fig.
20 with the relative slip results of Fig. 19 shows that the
large relative slip values towards the z ˆ a1 end, which
occur for both teeth considered, and for both the B+ and the
B¡ moment orientations, do not necessarily coincide with
a reduction in contact pressure but indeed, for the B+
moment orientation on tooth 9, coincide with an increase in
contact pressure.
8 DISCUSSION
The mesh employed for the 18-tooth model would need to
be significantly more refined, at least on the teeth where
failure is experienced, in order to obtain accurate near-
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
surface fretting stresses for life prediction. This was not
possible due to the significant computational overhead
associated with accurate slip calculation on all 18 teeth, for
the complex major and minor loading cycle simulations
and because it was not possible to identify a priori the teeth
most likely to give fretting-fatigue failure. The present
study has identified the critical teeth for the loading
conditions tested.
A constant coefficient of friction of 0.3 was assumed to
apply over the complete contact surface. For analysis
purposes, it is necessary to make such an assumption, but
real spline teeth experience both spatially and temporally
varying friction conditions depending on local contact
pressure, lubrication conditions, fretting debris action, etc.
However, the predicted slip, as well as the resolution of
(5)
stick–slip interfaces, depends strongly on the assumed
coefficient of friction. For example, reference [25] dis-
cusses the effect of í on major cycle contact variables and
stresses. The effect of í on minor cycle slip distributions,
which will be discussed in detail elsewhere, has been
assessed via additional 18-tooth analyses for 0:15 <
í < 0:8 for tests 7 and 8. In summary, with increasing í,
the contact changes from complete sliding to complete
stick, the developing stick–slip interface moves from the
z=a1 ˆ 1 end along the full length, the predicted slip
amplitude decreases and the maximum always occurs at the
z=a1 ˆ 1 end. Combined with an expected reduction in
frictional stresses, this suggests less risk of cracking and
possibly increased wear for low í. For intermediate í, with
a stick–slip interface, the slip amplitudes lie within the
typical cracking damage range (see Fig. 2). For high values
of í the results suggest reduced risk of fretting wear
relative to lower values of í, due to the reduced slip values.
More importantly, reduced risk of cracking is also sug-
gested, relative to intermediate í values, due to (a) the
expected similar levels of frictional stresses [25] and (b)
the absence of slip.
As described above, it was necessary to employ a
simplified load cycle for the FE analyses. Clearly, given the
non-linear nature of frictional contact it would be prefer-
able to simulate the precise minor cycle loading for more
accurate determination of the fretting variables. The ass-
umption of negligible manufacturing variations between
the spline teeth represents another potential source of error
between the FE predictions and the spline behaviour. For
example, tooth pitch variations will affect the load per
tooth and thus the contact tractions and slips. Detailed
measurements of the spline teeth have been obtained for all
the splines tested and it is intended to deal with the effects
of the tooth-to-tooth geometrical variations in future work.
One of the main objectives of this work was to determine
the contact pressure and relative slip conditions associated
with fretting fatigue failure in splines. The intention is not
to apply the present small-scale spline results directly to
full-scale splines, but rather to employ a proposed new
methodology for fretting fatigue of splines. This involves
a simplified complete-contact test specimen which is
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE 581

Fig. 20 Contact pressure distributions versus axial position at mid-tooth flank node on teeth 9 and 18 for B+ and
B¡ and major cycle load steps of (a) test 7 and (b) test 8
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
582 S B LEEN, T H HYDE, C H H RATSIMBA, E J WILLIAMS AND I R McCOLL
designed to mimic the local spline contact conditions
predicted from the spline FE model, to furnish crack
initiation lives, without recourse to spline tests [22]. The
interpretation of the experimental tests via the FE analyses
has furnished a basis for validation of the latter method-
ology, which will be dealt with in future work. Application
of the simplified specimen methodology to full-size splines
is premised on FE modelling of such splines, using the
modelling techniques, methodology and experimental data
developed here and in related work, e.g. evolution of
friction, wear behaviour, correlation between test and
analyses. However, the correlation between the small-scale
FE and test results of this study could, in principle, be used
as an alternative approach, via matching of the local spline
contact conditions, to identify loads likely to give fretting
fatigue in full-size splines also, i.e. by identifying full-size
loading conditions which give the same FE-predicted slips
and contact pressures that are known to give fretting fatigue
in the small-scale tests. Vincent et al. [27] have proposed
the use of fretting maps, both running condition fretting
maps and material response fretting maps, to identify the
contact operating conditions that give rise to the different
responses of no degradation, cracking and wear. The
simplified specimen methodology provides a vehicle for
the development of such maps for splines to generalize the
present work. In addition, future work will address the
effect of variation in spline geometrical and loading
parameters on both plain fatigue and fretting variables,
such as slip, contact pressure and spline root stresses, for
the development of general design guidelines.
9 CONCLUSIONS
1. The mode of loading affected the mode of failure of the
splines tested. Major cycle torque overload was shown
to produce low-cycle plain fatigue failure, at the high-
torque position of the externally splined shaft, in the
root– fillet region, with crack initiation occuring outside
the tooth contact regions.
2. A one-tooth cyclic symmetry FE model and an 18-tooth,
3608, FE model of the spline correctly predicted the
axial and circumferential locations of the plain low-
cycle fatigue failures. This was in the spline root axial
location with the maximum principal plastic strain range
due to major cycle loading and on the tooth with the
greatest maximum principal stress and stress range due
to minor cycle loading.
3. Minor cycle rotating bending moment overloads re-
sulted in fatigue cracks within the length of engagement
and under the spline tooth contact regions. It was
concluded that these cracks were most probably caused
by fretting fatigue, due predominantly to the increased
relative slip associated with the bending moment over-
loads. For design loads, no observable fatigue cracking
occurred, although extensive wear debris was produced.
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6
4. The 18-tooth, 3608, FE model of the spline predicted a
sharp transition in slip and the existence of stick–slip
interfaces at the approximate axial positions of cracking
for the tests considered to have failed due to fretting
fatigue.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council and Rolls–Royce plc
for funding the research, as well as Mr J. Taylor, formerly
of Rolls– Royce plc, Mr T. R. Hyde, Dr I. J. Richardson and
Mr J. Chapman for the spline testing.
REFERENCES
1 Newley, R. A. The mechanisms of fretting wear of misaligned
splines in the presence of a lubricant. PhD thesis, Imperial
College, London, 1978.
2 Ku, P. M. and Valtierra, M. L. Spline wear—effects of design
and lubrication. Trans. ASME, J. Engng for Industry, Novem-
ber, 1975, 97(B4), 1257–1263.
3 Waterhouse, R. B. Fretting fatigue. Int. Mater. Rev., 1992,
37(2), 77–97.
4 Bill, R. C. Fretting wear and fretting fatigue—how are they
related? Trans. ASME, J. Lubric. Technol., April 1983, 105,
230–238.
5 Johnson, K. L., Contact Mechanics, 1985 (Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge).
6 Hills, D. A. and Nowell, D. Mechanics of Fretting Fatigue,
1994 (Kluwer, Dordrecht).
7 Cattaneo, C. Sul contatto di due corpi elastici: distribuzion
locale sforzi. Reconditi Accad. Naz. Lincei, 1938, 27, 342–
348, 434–436, 474–478.
8 Mindlin, R. D. Compliance of elastic bodies in contact. Trans.
ASME, J. Appl. Mechanics, 1949, 16, 259–268.
9 Poritsky, H. Stress and deflections of cylindrical bodies in
contact with application to contact of gears and of locomotive
wheels. Trans. ASME, J. Appl. Mechanics, 1950, 17, 191–201.
10 Dobrimirski, J. M. Variables of fretting process: are there 50
of them? In Standardisation of Fretting Fatigue Test Methods
and Equipment, ASTM STP 1159 (Eds M. H. Attia and R. B.
Waterhouse), 1992, pp. 60–66 (American Society for Testing
and Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
11 Vingsbo, O. and Soderberg, D. On fretting maps. Wear, 1988,
126, 131–147.
12 Vincent, L., Bertheir, Y., Dubourg, M. C. and Godet, M.
Mechanics and materials in fretting. Wear, 1992, 153, 135–
148.
13 Hills, D. A. and Urriolagoitia-Sosa, G. Brief note: some
observations on the parametric relationships in Hertzian
fretting fatigue tests. J. Strain Analysis, 2000, 35(5), 441–443.
14 Volfson, B. P. Stress sources and critical stress combinations
for splined shaft. J. Mech. Design, July 1982, 104, 551–556.
15 Leikin, A. S. and Vasil’eva, G. A. Stress concentration and
distribution in straight-sided splined shafts in torsion. Russ.
Engng J., 1974, 54(3), 39–43.
S00402 # IMechE 2002
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FATIGUE AND FRETTING PERFORMANCE
16 Ivanov, S. I. Residual stresses and fatigue resistance of splined
shafts. Soc. Engng Res., 1985, 5(7), 5–7.
17 Levina, Z. M. Friction and wear in spline connections. Mach.
Tooling, 1966, 37(11), 14–21.
18 Levina, Z. M. and Reshetov, D. N. Cyclic sliding in spur gear
splined joints and nominal calculation of their wear-resistance.
Russ. Engng J., 1974, 54(7), 11–17.
19 Skundin, G. I. and Nikitin, V. N. Wear resistance of straight
splined joints. Russ. Engng J., 1971, L1(5), 8–11.
20 Tjenberg, A. Load distribution in the axial direction in a
spline coupling. Engng Failure Analysis, 2001, 8, 557–570.
21 Tjenberg, A. Load distribution and pitch errors in a spline
coupling. Mater. Des., 22, 2001, 259–266.
22 Leen, S. B., Hyde, T. R., Williams, E. J., Becker, A. A.,
McColl, I. R., Hyde, T. H. and Taylor, J. W. Development of
a representative test specimen for frictional contact in splined
joint couplings. J. Strain Analysis, 2000, 35(6), 521–544.
23 Lundberg, G. Elastische Berührung zweier Helbräume.
Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at The University of Auckland Library on May 16, 2015
S00402 # IMechE 2002
583
Forsch. Geb. Ingenieurwesens, 1939, 10, 201–210.
24 Leen, S. B., Ratsimba, C. H. H., Williams, E. J. and
McColl, I. R. Fatigue of a representative aeroengine splined
coupling. In Fatigue 2002, Proceedings of the 8th Interna-
tional Fatigue Congress (Ed. A. F. Blom), Stockholm,
Sweden, June 2002, Vol. II, pp. 1079–1086.
25 Leen, S. B., Richardson, I. J., McColl, I. R., Williams, E. J.
and Hyde, T. R. Macroscopic fretting variables in a splined
coupling under combined torque and axial load. J. Strain
Analysis, 2001, 36(5), 481–497.
26 ABAQUS User’s and Theory Manuals, Version 6.1, 2001
(Hibbit, Karlsson, and Sorensen, Pawtucket, Rhode Island).
27 Vincent, L., Berthier, Y. and Godet, M. Testing methods in
fretting fatigue: a critical appraisal. In Standardisation of
Fretting Fatigue Test Methods and Equipment, ASTM STP
1159 (Eds M. H. Attia and R. B. Waterhouse), 1992, pp. 33–48
(American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania).
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 37 NO 6