This paper investigates the windage power losses generated by helical gears rotating in pure air based on experimental results and a computational fluid dynamic code. It is found that the simulated flow patterns are totally different from those calculated for spur gears and that both tooth face width and helix angle are influential. The windage losses derived from Dawson’s and Townsend’s formulae are critically assessed using computational fluid dynamic results thus highlighting the limits of a unique formulation for accurate windage loss prediction. Finally, an analytical approach is suggested which gives good results providing that the flow rates at the boundaries of the inter-tooth domains can be estimated.
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