Fatigue analysis of girth gear of a rotary dryer

Goksel Saracoglu, Ahmet Yapici

PII: S1350-6307(16)30341-7
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2016.05.024
Reference: EFA 2911

To appear in:

Received date: 21 January 2016

Revised date: 16 May 2016
Accepted date: 19 May 2016

Please cite this article as: Saracoglu Goksel, Yapici Ahmet, Fatigue analysis of girth gear
of a rotary dryer, (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2016.05.024

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Fatigue Analysis of Girth Gear of a Rotary Dryer

Goksel Saracoglu, Ahmet Yapici
Mechanical Engineering Dep., Iskenderun Technical University, 31200 Iskenderun, Hatay,
Turkey

ABSTRACT

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This paper describes the fatigue failure of girth gear manufactured from low alloy cast steel of
rotary dryer in a chemical plant. The cracks of T-section web of the girth gear occurred at the

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end of 25 year working period because of stress intensity factor. Because of normal condition
of working surfaces of teeth, spare gear was not thought and repair welding was the only

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option. Nickel based super alloy electrode was used for repairing and it had been successful
until the new gear was ordered. The factors behind the fatigue failure and the reasons of

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temporary repairment were discussed using the cause-effect diagram. Higher grade bolt using
instead of design grade, insufficient stiffener of web, insufficient preparation of repair
welding and wide seciton welding beads at the welding deposits were found as the reasons of

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changing the girth gear with the new one.
Key Words: Fatigue failure analysis; Finite element analysis; girth gear; repair welding;
nickel base super alloy
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1. Introduction
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram and photograph of the girth gear of a rotary dryer in a
chemical plant. The gear was fabricated from low alloy cast steel. Due to its inclination
(1°18') and a lifter flights system, the dryer operating at 2.5 rpm makes the product drive
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along its inside mixing it with hot gases about 130C. In this way, the material gets dry slowly
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and the gases full of humidity leave the dryer being vacuumed by the fan.
The average gross weight of the dryer when it is operating is about 160 tonnes. Static weight
of product is 55 tonnes. When the dryer was operating, reaction force of the product falling
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from the lifters in the drum approaches to about 80 tonnes.

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(a) (b)
Fig. 1. The dryer and its girth gear (a) Schematic view of the girth gear (b) The photograph of
the dryer and the gear.


Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 326 613 5600- 4602
E-mail addresses: yapiciahmet@gmail.com (A. Yapici), goksel.saracoglu@gmail.com (G. Saracoglu)
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Table 1. Girth gear geometric feature and power requirement of the dryer.

Motor power 200 kW

Motor/pinion speed 1500 / 24 rpm

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Pinion/girth gear theeth quantity 17 / 158

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Modulus 32

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Width of girth/pinion gear 380 mm / 410 mm
Primitive diameter of girth/pinion gear 5,056 mm / 544 mm

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The ring gear was made in two sections and symmetrical to permit reversal in order to obtain
wear on both sides of the teeth (Table 1). Each half of the girth gear was connected to each

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other using a total of eight 5.6 grade M30*120 bolts. Twelve spring plates spaced equally
were bolted to shell and the gear to allow for thermal growth of the dryer’s shell. The main
characteristic of the reversible spur gear system is high output torque and specific loads on the
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tooth flanks call for special materials to be used. The girth gear and pinion gear were
manufactured of DIN 17205 GS-30 Mn 5 cast steel and wrought steel. The pitch diameter of
the girth gear and outer diameter of the shell were 5056 mm and 3750 mm, respectively.

The girth gear had been used from the year of 1986 to 2014. The dryer including the girth
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gear was operating for 24 years and any change or repair had not been carried out. At the end
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of 25 year working period, the 5.6 grade bolts connecting each half of the gear began to break.
8.8 and 10.9 grade bolts were used due to absence of 5.6 grade bolt on the local market.
However, these higher grades of bolts had not given a solution to breaking problem and
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ASTM A 193 Grade B7 quality bolts were used on the gear body. Approximately one year
later, through thickness cracks started at the re-entrant corners of the web of the T-section
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girth gear during routine visual inspection (Fig. 2). The web thickness was 60 mm and re-
entrant corners were transition areas of the web from T-section to bolted flange connections
of spring plates. There were no cracks on the other locations of the gear body.
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When these cracks were observed on the gear body, the surface condition of the gear teeth
was still in good condition despite of having some pittings and deformation at the working
surface of the teeth. The other surfaces of the teeth had not been worked and the gear could be
reversed for approximately the same working time. Due to this condition of the gear, spare
girth gear was not thought and repairing the gear by welding was planned. Nickel based super
alloy electrode was choosen for this repairment of the cast steel gear. During planned
maintenance time of the plant, the cracks were repaired after the gouging the cracked area of
the gear but some repaired areas of the gear web were cracked again not only at the heat
affected zone of the welding, but also at the center of the welding deposit. Almost all re-
entrant corners at the front and back of each flange of the gear body were cracked and welded.
This situation lasted until the change of the gear with new one.
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(a) (b)

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Fig. 2. A crack view of the girth gear. (a) remote view (b) close view.

Girth gears and their encountered problems are not covered sufficiently in the literature. Satter

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and friends investigated wear problem of teeth of a girth gear of a cement plant and polluted
environment caused by clinker and cement particles caused the wearing of teeth and
aggravated by excessive runouts of the mill because of sagging [1]. Uherek described material
selection and construction for large gears according to ANSI/AGMA 6014-A06 and
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ANSI/AGMA 2001-D04 Codes [5] [2]. In this paper, overhang deflection modes of the girth
gears, comparison of gear materials for pitting resistance and bending strength were
evaluated. Brenton Smith from IMIU Ltd prepared notes on a mill gear failure. In this study, a
girth gear which was used for a period of 12 years was investigated because of cracking of
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working surface of teeth due to a gap occured between the half segments of it [3]. It was
stated in this paper that vibration analysis and periodic control of joints of the ring gear were
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very important parameters in these open large gears. Desir investigated repair weldings of
some low frequency heavy machinery and stated that nickel base super alloy electrodes are
useful especially on repairment of cast steels because of high elongation and eliminating
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Sigma Phase [4].

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2. Analysis of the factors that led to change the gear

The type and extent of the cracks that have been occured at the re-entrant corners of the gear
body is shown in the photographs (Fig.2). No tooth fractures or cracks have been observed on
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any of the gears examined. Also, there was no sign of pitting, although light pitting could
have occurred at the working surface of the teeth. Probable causes of the cracks just described
were looked for by constructing a cause and effect (CE) diagram shown in Fig. 3. This type of
diagram is useful in identifying various causes of industrial problems [l]. Here the major
cause headings are: materials/design, repair, measurement and driven machinery. Specific
causes have been created under each major heading. The major advantage of the CE diagram
is that it shows all the probable causes of the crack problem at a glance.
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Fig. 3. Cause-Effect diagram of the girth gear changing
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3. The review of the gear material and design in regards of ANSI/AGMA 2001–D04
Code
The girth gear material was GS-30 Mn 5 low alloy cast steel of DIN 17250 (C: 0.34%, Mn:
1.4%, Si: 0.3%, P: 0.025%, S: 0.025%). The ultimate tensile and yield strength of the material
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are 600 MPa and 392 MPa, respectively. Surface hardness of the material was in the range of
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175-215 HBr. Material of the pinion gear was of F.125 forged steel of UNE Norm.
In order to keep weight of the girth gear minimum, T-section design was used along the entire
circumference of the girth gear except for junction places where spring plates bolted to the
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gear via flanges which was spaced 1,260 mm equally at the inside circumference of the gear.
Web of the T-section has a section of 60 mm thickness and 200 mm height. This web has an
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33 mm re-entrant corners to the flanges where 12 parts spring plates bolted to the gear (Fig.
4).
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Fig. 4. Schematic view of the junction location of the girth gear with the spring plate.

Because of that the rim thickness is a significant parameter in the design, there is a minimum
value of the thickness specified by the rating standards to ensure any bending strength failure
of teeth would travel through the base of the tooth and not through the rim of the blank. The
ANSI/AGMA 2001–D04, the most conservative Code in this concern, suggests designs
having a backup ratio mB > 1.2 for T-section gears.

𝑚𝐵 = 𝑡𝑅 ⁄ℎ𝑡
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where:


𝑚𝐵 is back-up ratio, 𝑡𝑅 is gear rim thickness below the tooth 
 root, ℎ𝑡 is gear tooth whole
depth.

The girth gear has a 1.4 back-up ratio and this value suggests that the cracking of the web is

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not related to rim thickness which should be strength to any bending failure of a tooth.

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The number of stiffeners (the bolted flanges of spring plates in this situation) is a function of
the web height of the gear. As the diameter of the gear increases, the distance between

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stiffeners becomes a greater influence factor on rim deflection. To provide adequate support,
stiffeners should be placed about 1,000 mm apart for tee designs. The girth gear investigated

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has stiffeners placed 1,200 mm apart along the circumference.

When the drum is starting to rotate, the torque and radial load applied by the pinion is 796 x
105 N·mm and 1 x 105 N, respectively. The effective loaded length over which the local

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vertical stress due to radial load of the pinion gear is found as 578 mm and therefore the
distance between the each stiffener should be about half of the stiffener distance of the girth
gear in the regards of the Code EN-1993-6:2007 (Fig. 5). This situation is seen in the older
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girth gear of another dryer of the plant. Web section of this gear has I-section instead of T-
section all over the circumference of the gear and this girth gear has been used for 36 years.

At this point, it is seen that the negative effect of the distance between each stiffener of the
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gear caused cracking at the re-entrant corners of the web (uherek) .

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Fig. 5. Effective loaded length of T-section according to the EN-1993-6:2007 [6].

4. Fatigue strength of re-entrant corners of the web in regards of BS 5400-10:1980

Code
Fig. 6 is related to non-welded designs of the Code BS 5400-10:1980 [7]. Because of that
fatigue strength is sensitive to the shapes, the Code categorizes all non welded designs into
some classes taking into account of their geometries. Each class has two fatigue curves. If a
detail has already cracked, mean-line fatigue curve is used for its survival with 50%
probability. Naturally, in this situation, allowable stress value is higher than the stress of the
crack-avoided detail which is designed for its survival with 97.7 probability and design
fatigue curve is used [8].
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Fig. 6. Non-welded details classification [7].
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Endurance limit of the components is obtained under conditions of zero mean stress. But,
in the real world, a lot of components such as this girth gear are exposed mean stress. This
situation reduces the endurance limit of the components. Therefore, this endurance limit must
be corrected according to the Goodman’s curve and stress range will be a decisive parameter.
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If the drum is rotated, the stress in the girth gear structure at the meshing area with the
pinion will be reached to a maximum level. If the motion is ongoing after the meshing region,
the stress at this point will return to their initial values. This means that, with each revolution,
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the stresses in the structure will undergo a fluctuation of fatigue loading. The total number of
fatigue cycles N experienced by structure which was in continous use for about 90% of the
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time during the period of service is given approximately by: 2.5 x 60 x 24 x 365 x 25 x 0.9 =
2.9 x 107 . This is a large number of cycles and the girth gear structure presumably failed by
high-cycle fatigue [8].
According to the BS 5400 Code, failure areas of the girth gear is classed as ‘C’. Since
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fatigue life of the girth gear (N) is approximately 2.9 x 10 7, reference stress range of fatigue
design curves (∆𝜎) is found as 55 MPa. We can see that a ‘C’ non-welded detail needs to be
subjected to a stress range of 75 MPa to make it break after 2.9 x 107 cycles in mean-line
fatigue curve. The presence of a re-entrant corner implies the existence of a stress
concentration. Radius of the corners (r), web height (W) and spring plate connection area web
height (H) are taken as 33 mm, 200 mm and 239 mm, respectively. Stress concentration factor
(KRC) is found as 1.9 at the curve of the Code. The stress range in the failure area of the gear
must therefore have been approximately 40 MPa to make it break after 2.9 x 107 cycles.
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(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Summary of σr-N curves. (a) design stress curves. (b) mean-line stress curves [2].

5. Finite-Element Analysis NU
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Once the failure analysis had been accomplished based on the fatigue curves of the Codes , it
was decided to embark on a finite-element (FE) analysis of the stresses in the region of the
cracked area.
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Finite element model was built out of 3D solid elements and consisted of 299,173 nodes and
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246,733 elements. Mesh convergence studies are performed on a static structural and natural
frequency model.

Transient dynamic analyses are carried out for three different time intervals to capture all
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stress responses affecting the point of concern. These intervals and the delta time step sizes
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are:

 0 to 100 ms interval with 0.5 ms delta time step,

 0 to 10 ms interval with 0.2 ms delta time step,
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 0 to 1 ms interval with 0.02 ms delta time step.

Stress distribution in girth gear was plotted in Figure 8. The stress range between 60-80 MPa
values is recorded around point-01 and this situation is consistent with the findings using the
EN 1993-6:2007 and BS 5400 Codes. The other points has an approximately 16 MPa stress
level which is considerably below yield strength and fatigue endurance limit points.

It is observed that peak stress reaches its highest value of 120 MPa at point-1 in the first
interval. This peak stress values are related to start-up of the drum and more precise transient
dynamic analyses are needed to see the maximum stress levels encountered during and after
the impact of pinion to girth gear at start-up. A contour plot is added as well, at the specific
time when peak stress level is recorded at time-history plots.
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(a) (b)

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Fig. 8. Stress ranges at re-entrant corners. (a) encountered stress level at each re-entrant
corner. (b) re-entrant point number location at the gear.
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Based on the results from 0 to 100 ms analysis, it is observed that there are stress waves
which are only captured with few points (thus the peak stress cannot be captured). Fig. 9
shows time history data of von Mises stress, again at 12 critical points. It is now observed that
two peaks are now captured with more points and the peak is calculated to be 200 MPa. This
value is over the endurance limit (100 MPa). It is also observed that two peaks appear for
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point-01.
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Fig. 9. Stress fluctuations encountered during 0-10 ms interval with 0.2 ms delta time step.

0 to 1 ms results show a more refined region, in order to capture peak stress levels
experienced at critical Point-01, which is near to pinion in the studied configuration (Fig. 10).
It is observed at this level, von Mises stress values at Point-01 reaches 300 MPa which is over
the fatigue endurance limit. The location and the stress value indicate that there can be fatigue
fracture at critical location (Fig. 11).
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Fig. 10. Stress fluctuations encountered during 0 to 1 ms interval with 0.02 ms delta time step.
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Fig. 11. Stress concentration at the re-entrant corner during start-up of the dryer.

6. Measurement

Root clearance of girth gear of rotary drums with pinion gear is diminished in time because
of wearing of trunnion rollers. At the end of every six month working period, this clearance
should be checked. If this periodic control is not carried out, the clearance under the three per
cent of gear module affects the working condition of the girth gear negatively. This clearance
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may also be different at all the primitive diameter of the ring gear due to probable shell
ovality and assembly false of spring plates.

Root clearances of the girth gear which has a module of 22 were measured at eight or ten
points of the gear circumference, periodically. The clearance was about 7,2 mm, but after
repair welding period of the gear, it was found that this clearance was in the range of 8.9-13.6

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mm and the clearance of product exit side of the gear was bigger than other side of the gear
about 1 mm (Fig 12).

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Fig. 12. The relationship between root clearances of the girth gear and repaired locations.

Ovality limit of the 3,75 m diameter drum is 0.4%. When cracking problem was encountered
on the web of the gear, it was decided to check ovality and exantricity condition of the drum.
Measurement was carried out at 26 different location of drum length and at the end of this
study it was found that the ovality and exantricity of the shell area where the gear was bolted
to were 10 mm and 3 mm, respectively (Fig. 13). Ovality and exantricity of the shell region
were in the allowable range. But, it can be stated that heat of each repair weldings had
affected its half segment of the girth gear diameter negatively. In the following figure, almost
all of repair area were located on the upper half segment of the gear. Heat affected and
expanded repair welded zone had a potential for cracking of near zones in the same segment.
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Fig. 13. Ovality and crank formation of the dryer. Red curve is related to ovality, red one is to
crank.

Normally, bolt holes of the spring plates in the region where the spring plates are connected to
the drum shell should be slot to ensure the girth gear circularity. But, these holes were circular
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and root clearance of the girth gear with the pinion could not be adjusted especially at the end
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of the repair weldings of the gear.

7. Bolt breaking problem

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5.6 grade eight bolts were used in the design to connect the half segments of the girth gear.
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These original bolts had been used from the beginning of the working of the drum to the date
about five years ago from the first cracking problem of the gear. These bolts were replaced
with Grade 8.8 and 10.9 bolts because of that 5.6 grade bolts could not be found in the
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industry in this period. But, bolt breaking problem was ongoing and it was decided to use
ASTM A 193 Grade B7 bolts for this connections of the gear.

In actual fact, a grade 8.8 has a very high tensile strength, but can be brittle. In the
applications where stress fluctuations occur, a very high number of load/unload cycles can
produce work hardening, which produces an immediate, or catastrophic failure. It’s often
much safer to use a Grade 5.6 bolt which will bend, thus providing a warning, rather than a
Grade 8.8 bolt breaking without warning. As long as the Grade 5.6 bolt has been sized large
enough to take the expected load, it does not wanted to trade toughness (resistance to stress
cycles) for the ultimate tensile strength of the Grade 8 fastener. The bolts having higher
strength than of the gear material had a potential for cracks of the web of the gear.
It is not a true that the bolt load includes both the preload and the applied load. Both the bolt
and parts act like springs that hold the assembly together. In most applications, such as in
original design of this girth gear where 5.6 grade bolts were used, the parts are much stiffer
than the bolt and most of the applied load is taken up by the parts. A preloaded bolt can be
thought of as a spring that holds two assemblies together. As load is applied to separate the
ring gear half sections, the parts will elongate a little, which will stretch the spring a little. In
the girth gear, bolting was not designed to handle both loads and the higher grade bolts were
overloaded and failed [9].
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8. Repair welding procedure

When the cracks of low alloy cast steel girth gear was planned to repair by welding, heat
effect of welding process on the base metal was thought as an important parameter. During
and after of electric-arc welding process, rapid heating and cooling occur in large steel
structures due to high heat transfer and this affects the metallurgical features of welding
deposit and base metal. In this situation, it is inevitebly faced with distortion and internal

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stress problems [4].

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The cooling effect creates a shrinkage of the welding deposits. This shrinkage pulls adjacent
areas of parent metal. This pulling force is proportional with the weld size. This situation is

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balanced with low heat input and high elongation of weld metal. Due to this reason, basic type
special nickel alloy electrode (Re=380 N/mm2; Rm=665 N/mm2, elongation=43%,

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hardness=180 HBr) was chosen to repair the cracks of the girth gear. High elongation also
diminishes the stress level in the weld deposit and produces the best elasto-plastic situation.
Special nickel alloy electrode also prevents formation of the Sigma Phase which is a ferrit-

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chrome phase encountered during extreme heat input of large volume weldings. The Sigma
Phase has a potential for brittleness of welding deposit and heat affected zone of parent metal.
Because of that, the chosen electrode has low content chromium, high content nickel and
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molibden which diminishes brittleness of nickel under extreme heat. Weld deposit weight of
the chosen electrode is as follows: C: 0.03-0.06, Mn 4.0-4.6, Fe: 3.0-5.0, Cr: 18-21, Ni: Rem,
Nb: 2.0-2.8. Unfortunately, some repaired areas were cracked again not only at the center of
the welding deposits but also at the fusion line adjacent to base material. It was thought that
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the root causes of this recurring problem was related to heat affected zone of base material
due to arc gouging process, preheat, wide section of weld beads and peening [4].
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It was not possible to jig to hold two sides of the cracks on the web of the gear using steel
bars. But, whenever possible, the gear is unloaded position to lower the stresses in the
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cracking area. There is no doubt that this unsuitable condition affects the operation of a
machine element, adversely.
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Air carbon-arc cutting (arc air process) was used for removing defects of the girth gear
because of that this process is the fastest of the gouging metal removal techniques and it
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leaves the smallest cavity. However, this process causes the gouged surface to become harder,
which can result in subsequent cold cracking. The cause of hardening is related to
carburization of gouged surface and rapid heating and cooling effect. Carburization is
emerged from carbon electrode. These gouged surfaces can cause cracks of welding if
welding does not remove these layers and / or these layers do not removed by grinding.
Because of that, preheating should be done not only before arc air process but also before
welding to eliminate probable cracking problems of repaired area if grinding can not be done
enough [10].

Despite of that the special nickel alloy electrode needs no preheating, 60 mm thickness of the
web of the gear wants to about 250C preheating because of the carbon equivalent value (CEV:
0.53) of the low alloy cast steel GS-30 Mn 5 (Rp0.2=392 N/mm2; Rm=665 N/mm2,
elongation= 18%). Preheating process was not carried out before arc air process , but was
carried out before and during repair welding process.

High level of elongation of nickel based super alloy weld deposit decreases inner stress level
of welding area. Besides, reduced section of each repair welding bead is also useful to reduce
the stresses. This stringer beads are pushed against the side and the bottom of the deposit via
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pneumatic hammer with a rounded end. Successive passes are producing a metallurgical and
mechanical annealing effect on the previous passes. Due to recrystallistation during the
successive pass, the work hardening effect of the peening is eliminated. The repairment of the
girth gear was carried out stringer beads with peening. But, unfortunately, it had not been
fully implemented because of the disadvantages of working conditions.

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During welding repairment of cracking problem of the web , X preparation was made to
balance the heat effect of repairing process and to eliminate probable problems of root pass.

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(a) (b)
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(c ) (d)

Fig. 14. Weld deposit views of the girth gear and comparison with an example of Castolin. (a)
Remote view of repaired web (b) Close view of the repaired area (c) cracking at the center of
the welding deposit (d) Hammered stringer welding beads view of Castolin application.

9. Conclusions and recommendations

It can be concluded that the reasons behind of fatigue failure of girth gear and behind of
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temporary repairment are as follows:

1. Rigidity of T-section of the web of the girth gear was insufficient because of long
distance between each stiffener when it was investigated in the regards of related
Codes. The distance was 1,260 mm and this should be nearly half of this value,
2. Before cracking problem of the web, the bolts 5.6 grade connecting each half segment

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of the girth gear was broken. Using higher grade bolts made the parts have less
stiffness relative to bolts. Design grade of bolts should be used instead of higher

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grades,
3. Before arc gouging process and repair welding, preheat suitable for base material was

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made to avoid cold cracking problems,
4. Cleaning arc air gouging surfaces for carbon residue should be done before repair

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welding,
5. Stringer weld beams were used instead of wide section beams to reduce stresses in the
welding deposit.

References
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[1] Satter M.A., Wear of Gears: a case study at Shiraz Cement Plant, Elsevier Wear, 162-
164, 1993.
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[2] Uherek F.C., Gear Material Selection and Construction for Large Gears, Gear
Technology, Jan. and Feb., 2013.
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[3] Smith B., Notes on a Mill Gear Failure, Risk Engineering, IMIU Ltd.
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[4] Desir, J.L., Examples of repair welding of heavy machinery subject to breakage due to
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low frequency alternating stresses, Engineering Failure Analysis, Vol 8, pp. 423-437,
2001.
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[5] ANSI/AGMA 2001-D04, Fundamental Rating Factors and Calculation Methods for
Involute Spur and Helical Gear Teeth

[6] European Committee For Standardization, EN-1993-6:2007, Design of Steel Structures-

Part 6: Crane Supporting Structures.

[7] British Standards Institution, BS 5400:1980: Steel, Concrete and Composite Bridges:
Part 10: Code of Practice for Fatigue.

[8] Jones D.R.H., Macdonald K.A., Fatigue Failure of a Rotating Chemical Vessel,
Engineering Failure Analysis, Vol 3, No. 2, pp. 77-93, 1996.

[9] Smith P.J., Bolting Basics, Energy-Tech, WoodwardBizMedia Publication, 2008.

[10] Wallace J., Repair Welding and Fabrication Welding of Carbon and Low Alloy Steel
Castings, Steel Founders’ Society of America, 1980.
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Highlights

1. This paper describes the fatigue failure of a girth gear of rotary dryer in a chemical plant.
2. Stress analysis were carried out using the EN 1993-6:2007 and BS 5400-10:1980 Codes.
3. It was found that fatigue-induced cracks were related to the stress risings encountered at the start-up
condition of the rotary dryer.

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