The objective of this PhD thesis is to define optimum tooth shape modifications for spur and helical gears with regard to a number of design parameters. The memoir is divided into four parts. A literature review on tooth modification along with optimization techniques is presented in the first section. The second part of the text is centred on a deterministic approach to the performance induced by tooth modifications on several design criteria commonly used in gearing. Some original analytical developments on transmission errors are presented which are combined with a genetic algorithm in order to define optimum profile relief. In the third part of the memoir, a probabilistic analysis is conducted based on Gaussian quadrature leading to robust tooth modifications. A number of results are presented which illustrate the influence of the quality grade, the tooth modification shapes, etc. Finally, the results delivered by a specific multi-criterion optimization algorithm “NSGA-II” are displayed and commented upon.
