Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace

Engineering
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A study of churning losses in dip-lubricated spur gears

P Luke and A V Olver
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering 1999 213: 337
DOI: 10.1243/0954410991533061
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337

A study of churning losses in dip-lubricated spur

gears
P Luke and A V Olver
Tribology Section, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London,
UK
Abstract: Churning losses contribute significantly, both to overall inefficiency and to oil heating, in many
dip-lubricated transmission systems, notably in automotive applications. For this reason, a reasonably
accurate estimate of churning loss is often desirable at the design stage. However, the published literature
contains several empirical calculation methods that give widely different results, even within the claimed
range of accuracy. For example, a single 72-tooth, 3 mm module spur gear rotating at 4500 r=min
immersed in 20W50 motor oil to a depth of 54 mm would be predicted to exert a churning torque of
75 N m by the method of Boness but less than 5 N m by the method of Terekhov. In order to resolve the
discrepancy, churning torques have been measured on a range of meshed and single spur gears with
different speeds, lubricants and temperatures. Results are compared with the predictions from various
literature sources.
Keywords: gears, churning, efficiency, lubrication
NOTATION

A
b
C

Dipped lubrication is widely used in lower-speed geared

transmissions for applications as diverse as helicopters and
automobiles. Typically, one of the gears to be lubricated is
dipped below the surface of the lubricating oil to a depth of
the order of the tooth height. Rotational motion of the
dipped gear serves to distribute oil to the mating gear(s)
and to the rest of the gearbox. Problems can include
ensuring adequate oil supply to bearings and, in vehicles,
dealing with the effect of operational attitude, which may
affect the submerged depth. However, a primary concern is
the loss of power owing to viscous dissipation in the
lubricant (the churning loss) because this can, as well as
contributing to the overall inefficiency, result in high
lubricant temperatures, with consequent effects on serviceability and cost of ownership.
It is therefore usually desirable to obtain an estimate of
the churning losses throughout the operating range of the
transmission at the design stage. This, in turn, may be used
to estimate efficiency, determine the required oil volume or
even, in the event of high losses being predicted, to specify
an alternative lubrication system.
Determination of churning losses is not straightforward,
despite the considerable attention given to the matter in the
published literature. Entirely theoretical predictions have,
by and large, not been attempted, presumably because of
the complex nature of the problem: a free-boundary, twophase fluid mechanics problem with a very large number of
variable parameters. Empirical or semi-empirical estimates
are, however, widely used. In Section 2 it will be shown

vt
V

immersed area
facewidth
constant in moment equation [see the
Appendix, (c)]
moment coefficient, various definitions (see
the Appendix)
depth of immersion
Froud number, defined in the Appendix
height [see the Appendix, (c)]
gearbox geometrical parameter [see the
Appendix, (c)]
length [see the Appendix, (b) and (c)]
moment, torque
pitch radius
tip radius half of outside diameter
Reynolds number, various definitions (see the
Appendix)
pitch line velocity
volume

kinematic viscosity
density
angular velocity

CM
d
Fr
H
lh
L
M
R
Ra
Re

The MS was received on 22 February 1999 and was accepted after revision
for publication on 10 August 1999.
 Corresponding author: Tribology Section, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine,
Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BX, UK.

INTRODUCTION

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338

P LUKE AND A V OLVER

that there is a large discrepancy between two of the

commonly used methods.
In this paper, results are reported of a number of simple
experiments to determine the churning loss in single and
meshed spur gears. Initial experiments were similar to
those of Boness [1], and diameter, speed, lubricant, depth
of immersion and temperature were varied. The results are
shown to resolve the major discrepancies and should help
to enable churning losses to be found with greater
confidence.

BACKGROUND

Most calculation methods for estimation of churning losses

are empirical adaptations of the analysis by von Karman
[1] of the losses due to a disc rotating in an infinite
quiescent fluid. For example, Daily and Nece [2] and Mann
and Marston [3] have presented the results of extensive
investigations of the effects of enclosures and of bladed
discs respectively. Dawson [4] investigated losses due to
model gears rotating in air. A review of this field has been
published by Schlichting [5] and the results have been
applied to jet-lubricated transmission systems by Anderson
and Lowenthal [6].
The case of dipped lubrication, in which the rotating
bodies are only partly immersed in the fluid, has also been
widely investigated. Boness [7] carried out churning torque
measurements using a range of discs of varying diameter
and thickness for different immersion depths and for three
different fluids. He also tested two gears under similar
conditions. On the basis of these tests he proposed a
calculation method using von Karman's equations and a
modified Reynolds number. Similar but more complex
equations for single and meshing gears are proposed by
Terekhov [8], although the experimental basis is not given,
and recently a calculation method was proposed by Hohn et
al. [9], based on tests on meshed spur gears in a gearcase.
The equations proposed by these authors are given in the
Appendix.
The method proposed by Boness is notable in that it
contains three distinct regimes (laminar, transition and
turbulent) which are described by three separate, and
very different, relationships. This leads to a significant
disagreement between the three main published sources.
As an illustration of this, Fig. 1 shows the predicted
churning torque as a function of rotational speed for a
single 72-tooth, 3 mm module spur gear of 20 mm
facewidth, immersed in 20W50 motor oil to a depth of
54 mm. The methods of Terekhov [8] and Boness [7]
have been used.
At low speeds the agreement is tolerable, but as the
speed increases, the Boness algorithm passes through the
`transition' regime in which the predicted torque increases
with 7=3 power of the speed. Above 3500 r=min there is a
discrepancy of greater than tenfold between the two

Fig. 1 Predictions of the churning torque as a function of

rotational speed for a single 72-tooth, 3 mm module spur
gear of 20 mm facewidth, immersed in 20W50 motor oil
at 19 8C to a depth of 54 mm. The methods of Terekhov
[8] and Boness [7] have been used and the regimes (see the
Appendix) are shown on the curves. Experimental results
corresponding to these conditions are given in Fig. 4

methods. A still greater discrepancy (about 50-fold in the

opposite sense, i.e. with the Terekhov method predicting
the higher torque) is found if water is chosen as the fluid.
This is shown in Fig. 2, the other conditions being
unchanged. Although many of these speeds are rather
high for dipped lubrication, the discrepancy is significant
and raises both a practical question, which method to use
for design, and a theoretical one: does the transition
reported by Boness actually occur and what is its
mechanism? In order to resolve this, a series of measurements of churning torque were carried out on single and
meshed spur gears with different speeds, immersion
depths, lubricants and temperatures so that the results
could be compared with the three calculation methods
given in the literature.

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A STUDY OF CHURNING LOSSES IN DIP-LUBRICATED SPUR GEARS

Fig. 2 Predictions of the churning torque for the gear described

in Fig. 1 but immersed in water rather than oil. Again the
methods of Terekhov [8] (upper curve) and Boness [7]
have been used. Experimental results corresponding to
these conditions are given in Fig. 4

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

A simple two-shaft test rig was used, the second shaft being
removed for the measurements on single gears (Fig. 3). The
gears were straddle-mounted on tubular shafts with internal
miniature ball bearings (20 mm outside diameter) to
minimize the frictional bearing torque. Churning losses
were measured by direct determination of the torque using
a strain-gauged, aluminium alloy hub shaft. This eliminated
bearing losses for the primary shaft. No further correction
was applied to account for bearing losses.

339

The rotational speed was measured using a magnetic

pick-up. The torque measurement system was calibrated,
for each gear separately, using dead weights applied at the
gear periphery. The system appeared to have an overall
reproducibility of about 0:05 N m.
Nylon gears of 3 mm module and 20 mm facewidth were
used. Tooth numbers available were z 72, 56 and 40. A
48-tooth steel gear of 2 mm module and the same
facewidth was also used.
Commercial gasoline engine oils, of nominal SAE
viscosity grades 20W40 and 10W, and water were used.
The viscosities of the oils were determined at several different temperatures using capillary viscometers to ASTM
D341. Densities were measured using a density bottle. A
summary of the fluid properties is given in Table 1.
The fluids were contained in a Perspex box of internal
dimensions 576 3 216 3 438 mm, giving axial and radial
clearance of at least 45 mm for all the conditions studied,
to minimize enclosure effects. Heating was by means of
low current density electrical immersion heaters located
well away from the dipping zone. Temperatures were
measured to 3 8C using a thermocouple.

RESULTS

4.1

Results for individual gears

A typical series of results is shown in Fig. 4, which gives

the measured torque as a function of rotational speed for
the 72-tooth gear immersed to a depth of 54 mm. The

Fig. 3 Schematic of test rig used to measure churning torques

Table 1 Properties of the fluids studied
Fluid

Kinematic viscosity
at 20 8C (cSt)

Kinematic viscosity
at 100 8C (cSt)

Engine oil to SAE 20W50

Engine oil to SAE 10W
Water

390
95
1.004

15.1
6.0
0.294

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Density at 20 8C
(kg=m3 )
865
850
998
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P LUKE AND A V OLVER

Fig. 4 Experimental churning torques for a single 72-tooth, 3 mm module, 20 mm facewidth spur gear immersed
to a depth of 54 mm (d=R 0:5) in various fluids. Predicted torques for two of the fluids are given in Figs
1 and 2

results for the SAE 20W50 oil at 19 8C correspond exactly

to the conditions considered in Fig. 1, and those for water
to the conditions in Fig. 2. Also shown are curves obtained
with the other oil at two temperatures. It is noticeable that
there is no correlation with either the density or the
viscosity of the test fluid, suggesting that a Reynolds
number correlation of the type used by Boness is unlikely
to be satisfactory. A detailed discussion of the results is
given in Section 5.
Two other observations were made during the experiments. Firstly, considerable foaming took place during the
low-temperature tests with oil. This resulted in considerable
change in immersion conditions and may well have affected
the churning losses. Foaming was negligible above 30 8C
and with water. Secondly, at the higher speeds, windage
from the rotating gear was seen to displace the fluid surface
such that the immersion depth on the gear was reduced.
Nevertheless, fluid was still picked up from the dipped
region and flung off radially, as for all the test conditions
studied.
Corresponding results for the other gears are shown in

Figs 5 to 8. Immersion depths of 0:25 and 0:5 times the

gear reference diameter were tested. The 48-tooth
(m 2 mm) gear was only tested in water. The results of
this test show some unsteadiness in the shallowly immersed
(d=R 0:25) condition, possibly because of variations in
the real depth of immersion around its set value, which, at
12 mm, was the lowest value tested. In Fig. 9, all the single
gear results are presented as a plot of moment coefficient,
C M , against Reynolds number, Re, using the definitions
suggested by Boness.

4.3

Results for meshed pairs of gears

Tests were carried out, in 10W oil and at 19 8C only, for the
three-module gears with tooth numbers of 72:56 and 72:40,
mounted at nominal centre distance, with the shafts at the
same height. Following Hohn et al. [9], results are
presented in Figs 10 and 11 as plots of torque (horizontal
axis) against immersion depth for three different pitch line
speeds. The pinion root depth is shown.

Fig. 5 Experimental churning torques for a single 72-tooth, 3 mm module, 20 mm facewidth spur gear immersed
to a depth of 27 mm (d=R 0:25) in various fluids
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A STUDY OF CHURNING LOSSES IN DIP-LUBRICATED SPUR GEARS

341

Fig. 6 Experimental churning torques for a single 56-tooth, 3 mm module, 20 mm facewidth spur gear immersed
to a depth of 21 mm (d=R 0:25) in various fluids

Fig. 7 Experimental churning torques for a single 56-tooth, 3 mm module, 20 mm facewidth spur gear immersed
to a depth of 42 mm (d=R 0:5) in various fluids

Fig. 8 Experimental churning torques for a single 48-tooth, 2 mm module, 20 mm facewidth spur gear immersed
to a depth of 12 and 24 mm (d=R 0:25 and 0:5) in water

5
5.1

DISCUSSION
Introduction

In this section the results of the tests are discussed

in the light of the proposed calculation methods given

in the literature. Boness [7] and Terekhov [8] give

methods applicable to individual gears, whereas Terekhov [8] and Hohn et al. [9] deal with meshed pairs of
gears, allowing comparison with the results reported in
Section 4.3.

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P LUKE AND A V OLVER

Fig. 9

Plot of moment coefficient, C M , against Reynolds number, Re, using the definitions given by Boness

Fig. 10 Experimental torque against immersion depth for three different pitch line speeds for 72:56 ratio spur
gears of 3 mm module and 20 mm facewidth in 10W oil at 19 8C

Fig. 11 Experimental torque against immersion depth for three different pitch line speeds for 72:40 ratio spur
gears of 3 mm module and 20 mm facewidth in 10W oil at 19 8C

5.2

Individual gears

It is immediately apparent from Fig. 9 that the three

regimes reported by Boness have not been reproduced here.
In particular, there is no `transition' regime in which the

moment coefficient increases with increasing Reynolds

number. Indeed, the spread of data suggests that correlation
on the basis of the fluid Reynolds number is unlikely to be
possible with these data.

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A STUDY OF CHURNING LOSSES IN DIP-LUBRICATED SPUR GEARS

In addition, the discrepancy between the observed and

calculated power loss is huge and varies from a large
overestimate for oil to an even larger underestimate for
water. Indeed, it seems possible that all of Boness's data for
the `turbulent' regime was obtained using water at
relatively low speed, rather than a viscous lubricant at
higher speed. This would account for the apparent
discrepancy. Figure 12 shows the relation between observed
and calculated churning torque for all the experiments
reported here.
The form of the moment coefficient plots, each test
giving a roughly parallel line displaced from other tests by
an amount depending on the viscosity, together with the
observations of windage suggest a simple modification to
Boness's analysis. Figure 13 shows the same results plotted
using the viscosity of air (constant for all tests) in the
determination of the Reynolds number. The correlation is
now much better, perhaps suggesting that the churning

343

mechanism involves formation of a boundary layer in the

air, which in turn interacts with the fluid. This seems
especially plausible at the higher speeds where the windage
could be observed directly and where the moment was
found to be little affected by speed. Nevertheless, the
correlation shown in Fig. 13 is unlikely to be sufficiently
accurate for design estimates. In passing it is observed that
the two-module (48-tooth) gear shows no particular
discrepancy from the trend, perhaps implying that Boness's
treatment of gear tooth geometry is correct.
The best fit equation to the present data using this
modified (air viscosity) Boness treatment was
C M (5:34 3 104 )Re

1:379

where C M 2M=(r2 R3 A) and Re (RL)=air . Other

definitions are given in the Appendix. This correlated with
the experimental data to within a factor of about 3.

Fig. 12 Comparison of the measured power loss with that predicted from the Boness equations for all the single
gear experiments

Fig. 13 Plot of moment coefficient, C M , against Reynolds number, Re, using the definitions given by Boness,
except that the viscosity of air has been used in the calculation of the Reynolds number
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P LUKE AND A V OLVER

Figure 14 shows a comparison of the experimental

torque with Terekhov's prediction. As Terekhov's equations
apply strictly to mating gears, the calculation was
performed by setting the immersed volume of the mating
gears to zero and using the Terekhov formula for into-mesh
lubrication (see the Appendix). The agreement with the
present results is quite close, especially for the 10W oil.
The worst discrepancy is within a factor of 3.

5.3

Mating gears

Figures 15 and 16 show comparisons of the measured and

predicted power loss for the mating gear experiments using
the equations of Terekhov and of Hohn et al. respectively.
There is only modest agreement in either case. There is
some evidence of a sudden rise in power loss at a particular
immersion depth but it does not seem to correspond to the
pinion root depth, as reported by Hohn et al.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to resolve apparent discrepancies in published

sources, churning torques have been measured on a range
of single spur gears with different speeds, lubricants and
temperatures. Results have been compared with the
published predictions.
Despite the attractive simplicity of the algorithm, the
results did not agree at all well with the predictions of
Boness. This appears to result from Boness's attempt to
correlate churning torque with a Reynolds number based
upon properties of the lubricating fluid, whereas the
experiments showed relatively little effect of fluid viscosity.
No evidence was found to support Boness's assertion of a
`transition' regime in which moment coefficient increased
with speed.
Correlation was somewhat better with the predictions of
Terekhov, although agreement was still very poor for water.
Again, the attempt to use a Reynolds number based on
lubricant viscosity may be flawed.

Fig. 14 Comparison of the experimental torque with Terekhov's prediction for all the single gear experiments

Fig. 15 Comparison of the measured and predicted power loss for the mating gear experiments using the equations
of Terekhov
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A STUDY OF CHURNING LOSSES IN DIP-LUBRICATED SPUR GEARS

345

Fig. 16 Comparison of the measured and predicted power loss for the mating gear experiments using the equations
of Hohn et al.

A simple modification to Boness's method in which the

viscosity was set constant produced much better correlation. This perhaps may be justified by the observed
dependence of the process on windage, particularly at
higher speeds.
A few experiments were also conducted on meshed pairs
of gears immersed in oil. These gave modest correlation
with the predictions of Terekhov and of Hohn.

REFERENCES

APPENDIX
In all that follows, M is the churning torque, b is the face
width, Ra is the outside radius, is the kinematic viscosity,
r is the density, is the angular velocity and d is the
immersion depth.

C M 4:75Re

1 Von Karman, T. On laminar and turbulent friction. Zeitschrift

fur Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, August 1921, 1(4),
244249 (NACA TM translation No. 1092, September 1946).
2 Daily, J. W. and Nece, R. E. Chamber dimension effects on
induced flow and frictional resistance of enclosed rotating
disks. Trans. ASME, J. Basic Engng, March 1960, 82(1),
217232.
3 Mann, R. W. and Marston, C. H. Friction drag on bladed discs
in housings. Trans. ASME, J. Basic Engng, December 1961,
83(4), 719723.
4 Dawson, P. H. Windage losses in larger, high speed gears.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1984, 198A(1), 5159.
5 Schlichting, H. Boundary Layer Theory, 7th edition, 1979
(McGraw-Hill).
6 Anderson, N. E. and Lowethal, S. H. Effect of geometry and
operating conditions on spur gear system power loss. Trans.
ASME, J. Mech. Des., January 1981, 108, 151159.
7 Boness, R. J. Churning losses of disks and gears running
partially submerged in oil. In Proceedings of 1989 International
Power Transmissions and Gearing Conference, Chicago, Illinois, Vol. 1, 255359.
8 Terekhov, A. S. Basic problems of heat calculation of gear
reducers. In Proceedings of Japanese Society of Mechanical
Engineers International Conference on Motion and Power
Transmissions, November 1991, pp. 490495.
9 Hohn, B. R., Michaelis, K. and Vollmer, T. Thermal rating of
gear drives: balance between power loss and heat dissipation.
American Gear Manufacturers Association Document
96FTM8, October 1996.

0:6

(a) Terekhov [8] gives, for Re

and Re , 2250 (zone 1a),


3

V1
Vm

0:6

0:75

, 8:7 3 10

0:25

Fr

0:3 

Fr

V
Vm

0:2 

b
Ra

0:4 

d
Ra

1:5

where
CM

M
,
r2 R4a b

Fr

2 Ra
,
g

Re

R2a

d is the immersion depth, b is the facewidth, Ra is the outer

diameter and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
If Re 0:6 Fr 0:75 . 8:7 3 10 3 but Re , 2250 (zone 1b),
then
C M 2:63Re

3

V1
Vm

0:6

Fr

0:53 

0:25

V
Vm

0:2 

b
Ra

0:4 

d
Ra

1:5

If Re . 2250 (zone 2), then

C M 0:97Re


V1
3
Vm

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0:6

Fr

[0:4640:037( Ra =d)]

0:376 

V
Vm

0:2 

b
Ra

0:124 

d
Ra

0:37

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346

P LUKE AND A V OLVER

Here V1 is the immersed volume of the gear, V is the total

immersed volume and Vm is the volume of the oil bath.
If the gears rotate so as to approach one another in the
oil bath, then
C M 0:506Re
 
V1
3
Vm

0:32

Fr

0:8 

V
Vm

0:25

0:2 

b
Ra

0:27  2:1
d
Ra

Validity is quoted as Re 103:6 3 105 , Fr 1:61400,

and
V1 =Vm
d=R 0:0252:0,
b=Ra 0:0061
0:010:25.

20
Re

C M 8:6 3 10

for Re , 2000 (`laminar')

4

5 3 108
Re 2

and

Re

RL

where L(, 2R) is the chord length of the immersed gear

and A is the immersed area. No housing effects are
considered.
(c) Hohn et al. [9] give the churning torque for each gear
as
M CSp C1 e c2 (vt =10 m=s)

d1 d2
C1 0:063
10 mm

b
0:0128
10 mm

Re 1=3
for 2000 , Re , 10 000 (`transition')

CM

2M
r2 R3 A

where

(b) Boness [7] gives

CM

CM

for Re . 10 000 (`turbulent')

Here

d1 d2
0:2,
C2
800 mm

CSp

3
,

1:5


2Ra2
4d 2

lH
3Ra2

Here, lH [2(LH)]=(L H), Ra2 is the outside radius of

the larger gear, L and H are the internal width and height
of the gearbox and vt is the pitch line velocity.

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