A new capability to analyze the dynamic interaction of nonlinear hypoid gear mesh characteristics and time-varying bearing stiffness is proposed. Both backlash nonlinearity and time-varying mesh parameters, such as mesh stiffness, mesh point and line-of-action, are included in the nonlinear hypoid gear mesh model. The time-varying bearing stiffness behavior due to the changing orbital position of rolling elements is also modeled. A practical application is studied to reveal the dynamic characteristics of the complex interactions. Dynamic simulation results show that dynamic mesh force is relatively insensitive to the temporal variation in the bearing stiffness. On the other hand, the dynamic bearing loads are affected significantly by the time-varying bearing stiffness, especially in the case of heavy drive torque load without the occurrence of jump response phenomenon. However, for the case of light load condition assuming time-invariant mesh parameters, the dynamic bearing loads are insensitive to time-varying bearing stiffness. The analysis also reveals that the presence of appropriate backlash nonlinearity can stabilize the parametric resonance caused by the time-varying bearing stiffness for the case of light load condition assuming the mesh parameters are time-invariant.
