Over the years, there has been an ongoing concern regarding Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) issues in gearbox design. However, significant progress has been made in addressing these problems. Optimizing gear design reduces the magnitude of gear mesh excitation, and effective solutions must be robust, efficient, and cost-effective. This paper extensively reviews studies addressing NVH challenges in transmission systems, focusing on gear design modeling for cylindrical steel gears. It examines the primary methodologies used, their limitations, and key areas such as (i) the impact of manufacturing and mounting uncertainties on gear meshing, (ii) the effectiveness of different optimization approaches across a wide range of operating conditions, and (iii) advancements in robustness to guide future research. This review aims to provide a comprehensive orientation to recent advancements in the field and identifies gaps in the existing literature.
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