Proceedings of the 6th JFPS International

3B2-2 Symposium on Fluid Power, TSUKUBA 2005

November 7-10, 2005

A NUMERICAL MODEL FOR THE SIMULATION OF

EXTERNAL GEAR PUMPS
Paolo CASOLI, Andrea VACCA and Germano FRANZONI

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale

Università degli Studi di Parma
Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43100 Parma, Italy
(E-mail: paolo.casoli@unipr.it)

ABSTRACT

External gear pumps are the most widely employed source of power in hydraulic applications, allowing good performance and
low manufacturing costs. The present paper reports the description of a numerical model for the simulation of these kind of
machines, developed by the authors. The model has been implemented using the software AMESim®, introducing new
in-house C++ models, with the main aim of an accurate prediction of the pressure ripple at the delivery port and the
calculation the flow rate time course through the pump. In fact the reduction of flow pulsations is one of the crucial targets in
the development of these machines.
The fluid dynamic model of the pump is based on a finite volumes framework: each chamber presents uniform fluid
proprieties and is connected with the adjoining ones by variable orifices. The pump is described by the interaction between a
fluid dynamic model, that predicts the instantaneous pressures and the flow rates between the chambers, with a geometrical
sub-model for the evaluation of the actual values of the variable volumes (defined by teeth, housing, and side wear plates) and
the throat areas, as functions of the shaft angular position.
This paper reports a deep description of the fluid dynamic model and a comparison between its numerical results and data
available from experiments, showing how a correct evaluation of the flow when the chambers expand (and oil is pushed from
the supply tank) or decrease (and oil is ejected into the outlet port) allows a good prediction of the pump characteristics.
The results reported in the paper show how the model can be a powerful tool for design and development of external gear
pumps, e.g. it easily allows the prediction of the maximum and minimum pressure reached inside the teeth space volumes,
giving important information to prevent cavitation and damages as well as to reduce the pump noise. Moreover the simulation
environment easily allows the evaluation of the pump behaviour when it works in a given hydraulic system.

KEY WORDS

External gear pump, simulation, flow ripple, pressure ripple

NOMENCLATURE 1,2 : driver gear (1) and driven gear (2)

i,j : indexes of tooth space volume
n : shaft speed
p : pressure Abbreviations
pm : pump maximum constant pressure CV : control volume
t : time
V : volume INTRODUCTION
V : volume flow rate
ρ : fluid density Fixed displacement pumps remain the most widely used
ϑ : angular position sources of power in hydraulic applications, despite many
ω : angular velocity present researches oriented to the evolution and cost
reduction of variable displacement machines. In this
Subscripts perspective external gear pumps still have the role of prime
in : entering actor. These machines combine the manufacturing
out : leaving simplicity, leading to reduced costs, with good efficiencies;

705 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X

moreover their application area is extremely wide [1,2] solution adopted to describe the fluid dynamics of two
spacing from the low pressure (such as the case of charge conjugated teeth space volumes V1,i and V2,i is similar to the
or lubricating pumps) to the medium-high pressure one presented in [7,10], although the method developed in
applications, including open loop and closed loop circuits. the mentioned work is suitable only for the prediction of
Notwithstanding gear pumps are relatively simple to the inter teeth volumes pressure transient, while in this
manufacture, their operation involves a lot of complex work the model is conceived to characterize the whole
phenomena of both mechanical and fluid nature; for this pump operating. Following each tooth space volume as a
reason these pumps have been captivating the interest of separated CV during the whole rotation of the gear, the
many researchers for more than five decades. The first model differs also from the scheme proposed in [5], which
important studies pertain to Wilson [3] and Castellani [4]; analyzes the pump using an eulerian approach for the CVs.
in the late eighties Nervegna and Mancó proposed a Fig. 1b shows the definition of CVs for the inlet and the
simulation model for external gear pumps [5] and some delivery volumes of the pump.
studies about the experimental evaluation of the pressure The model takes into account the connections between
transients [6] in the machine. After this time, several papers every tooth space volume with its surroundings, and the
[7-10] concerned the analysis of the inter-teeth pressure, of changing of net volume in the meshing zone. Eq. (1) gives
the leakages, of the pressure and the force distribution on the pressure course inside a generic CV as a function of
the gear side faces. Other researches analyzed the fluid properties, the geometric volume variation and the net
performance of the pump bearings and the fluid borne mass trasfer with the adjacent CVs.
noise generated at the suction port [11,12], while in [13]
the effects of changing teeth geometry on pump flow ripple dpCV 1 dp  dV 
is described. dt
=
VCV dρ 
∑ m in,CV − ∑ m out ,CV − ρCV dϑCV ω  (1)
Nowadays at the Industrial Engineering Dept. of the
University of Parma the authors are developing a The flow areas connecting each tooth space volume with
simulation model for external gear pumps in cooperation its surroundings and the actual values of volumes are
with Casappa S.p.A., an important Italian fluid power considered depending on the shaft angular position.
industry. The present paper refers to the first step of the Fig. 2 summarizes the framework on which the model is
research, presenting the basic model structure and the first based. During a shaft rotation teeth go into mesh and the
significant results that have been reached. actual value of each CV changes; besides, with the gear
For the model implementation the authors have been rotation, it can be connected to several other chambers by
chosen the simulation software AMESim®. Some new means of variable orifices, whose areas follow a precise
in-house modules have been created using AMESet®, trend.
writing sections of code in C++ language. These have been
added to a new user-defined library that is used to build up
the complete model of the pump. The model is lumped
parameter based; the chosen framework has the purpose of
evaluating the flow and pressure course at the suction and
delivery port and also in each tooth space volume and the
leakages within the pump. The geometrical calculations
were performed with CAD/CAE based tools provided by
the manufacturer. These tools, not described in the paper,
interact with the developed AMESim® model for the
evaluation of all the pump geometrical characteristics a) b)
(namely the flow areas between the volumes and the Figure 1 – Control volumes assumed in the model: teeth
instantaneous volume entity) as a function of the position space volumes (a); inlet and delivery volumes (b)
of the gears, accounting for the real shape of teeth and the
geometry of the balancing bearing blocks.
In order to verify and calibrate the model, experimental test
were performed on a stock pump using a rig specific for
pump characterization.

NUMERICAL MODEL DESCRIPTION

The lumped parameter framework
According to the chosen approach, the pump is subdivided
in a number of control volumes in which fluid properties
are assumed uniform and only time dependent. As reported
in fig. 1a, the model considers a control volume (CV) for
each tooth space volume of both gears. Under the
hypothesis of same number of teeth on the driver and
driven gears, fig. 1a highlights how, as the shaft rotates, the
generic tooth space volume V1,i of driver gear always Figure 2 – Basic scheme of connections between the CVs
meshes with the corresponding V2,i of the driven gear. The of corresponding teeth space volumes

706 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X

Referring to fig. 2, abbreviations have been adopted to TLN, TLP), are approximated by the modified Poiseuille
identify the different flow areas: equation, for fully developed laminar conditions,
• FG represents the connection between the two accounting of relative motion of boundary surfaces [14].
corresponding teeth space volumes when they are
meshing (fig. 3a);
• DV1 (or DV2) is the connection between V1,i (or V2,i) and
the delivery volume through the gear whole depth (fig.
3a);
• SV1 (or SV2) is the connection at the opposite side, to the
suction volume (fig. 3a);
• DG1 (or DG2) represents the connection between V1 (or
V2) and delivery port through the bearing blocks recesses
(fig. 3b). Fig. 4 shows also how the possible presence of
side grooves (commonly used to compensate axial forces)
can be considered by the DG1 (or DG2) orifices (DG1’
and DG2’ indicate the backflow grooves, if they are
present);
• SG1 (or SG2) is the analogous connection with the
suction port (fig. 3b);
• TLP1 and TLN1 (or TLP2 and TLN2) pertain to the
leakages between adjacent teeth spaces volumes, due to
the clearances between teeth tip and pump casing, as
a) b)
shown in fig. 5a (TLN refers to the next tooth space
volume, while TLP to the previous one); Figure 3 – a) connection between V2 and delivery (DV2),
• BPP1 and BPS1 (or BPP2 and BPS2) refers to leakages suction (SV2) and V1 (FG). b) connection between V1 and
through the lateral clearances between gear side faces and suction (SG1) and delivery (DG1) through the recesses in the
bearing blocks internal surfaces, as shown in fig. 5b bearing blocks
(BPP: flow between the volume and the previous one,
BPN: flow with the next volume);
• BPS1 (or BPS2) indicates the leakage flow between the
tooth space volume V1,i and the drain line (fig. 5b), which,
in the analyzed case, returns to the suction line.
A correct evaluation of the effect of orifices displayed in
figs. 3 and 4 is necessary to analyse a solution widely used
for the reduction of the pressure peak due to the
compression of the inter teeth trapped volume between two Figure 4 – Particular connections represented by DG1 due
adjacent contact points. This solution consists in a proper to the delivery groove and to the backflow grooves (DG1’)
design of recesses [4,5], that makes the trapped volume
never isolate from inlet and delivery (e.g. fig. 6). As shown
in fig. 6, SG2 comes up before the closure of DG1. In this
way pressure peaks – or excessive pressure drops – are
avoided, but there is a flow that comes back from delivery
to the inlet port. For this reason it is important to obtain a
proper design of recesses inducing a tiny loss of flow while
the inter teeth pressure does not rise too much.
As explained above, every connection between each
control volume is accounted as equivalent orifice, whose a) b)
area is described as a function of the angular position ϑi of Figure 5 – Evaluation of leakages: between adjacent teeth
the tooth space volume V1,i (see fig. 1a). In particular, that space volumes (a) and in the clearances bounded by gears
function is null outside a defined interval (for example for lateral sides and bearing blocks internal surfaces (b)
each V1,i and V2,i FG is greater than zero only in the
meshing zone). Consequently, a correct implementation of
the model strictly depends on the accurate evaluation of
these geometrical functions.
Flow rates between adjacent volumes are evaluated
considering the incompressible steady-state turbulent flow
equation for orifices; according to the solution
implemented in AMESim® standard models (described in
[14-16]); the influence of the efflux dynamics on the
correlation between V and ∆p is described by a discharge
coefficient that depends on Reynold’s number. Figure 6 – Inter-teeth trapped volume between two
Leakage flows (represented in fig. 2 by BPN, BPP, BPS, adjacent contact points in the meshing zone

707 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X

Model implementation variable orifices equal to the number of teeth of each gear
In fig. 7 the AMESim® diagram of the entire pump is is implemented in a C language subroutine. The variable
presented. A major advantage of the generated pump chambers located at the bottom left and bottom right of the
simulation model lies in its suitability as a core element model (fig. 7) compensate the discrepancies of volume that
(supercomponent) inside the AMESim® simulation would come from the chosen volume framework. In fact,
environment: it is therefore possible to study the behaviour when two teeth start meshing, there is a portion of volume
of the machine in several circuit dispositions appraising the that instantaneously passes from the tooth to the delivery
pump-circuit interaction. The majority of sub-models have (or suction) volume, as represented in fig. 8.
been developed in-house, in C language, through the A prerequisite of the described model, in order to achieve a
AMESet facilities [16]. The simulation model follows the good prediction of flow as a function of pump operating
framework of fig. 2, it can be easily adapted to different conditions, is the knowledge of all necessary geometrical
external gear pump geometries. The model has been data, namely the variable volumes of teeth space and the
conceived in order to allow the user to describe the pump throat areas of variable orifices, as a function of gear
by a number of parameters easy to define. Main pump position. In the literature (e.g. [5,8]) it is possible to find
features (e.g. number of teeth per gears, throat areas of simplified analytic expressions of teeth space volumes as a
inlet and delivery ports, etc.) and pump operating function of gear angular position, however the real trend
conditions are declared at the beginning of each simulation. and the throat areas of all orifices are strongly dependent
The most important sub-models in the sketch of fig. 7 are on design of gear and recesses in the bearings plates. In
indicated with the label “Multi Ch”. In the sketch of the this work, with the aim of comparing simulation results
model, the upper “Multi Ch” model refers to driver gear with available experimental data, a deep analysis of pump
(fig. 1), while the lower pertains to the driven gear. The geometry for a particular stock pump was carried out. In
C-routine of such model implements the scheme displayed particular, the evaluation of all needed geometrical data
in the figure: the “Multi Ch” icon represents an array of was performed through CAD/CAE tools, starting from the
hydraulic chambers (CVs) whose behaviour is governed by drawings.
eq. (1). The course of the volume of each chamber and its RESULTS
first derivative come from an external ASCII file, while
mass flow rates exchanged with the connected volumes are The model results have been verified through the
evaluated with external orifices models (only the leakage comparison with some available experimental data. In fact
flows TLNi and TLPi are implemented into the sub-model test campaigns were carried out on a stock pump whose
itself). All these orifices are modelled with a in-house main features are summarized in tab. 1. Details concerning
“Multi Orifice” component (fig. 7), in which a number of the test rig utilized are reported in [17].

Figure 7 – Left: AMESim® circuit of the gear pump. Right: scheme of “Multi Ch”
and “Multi Orifice” sub-models

708 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X

 several working conditions (e. g. fig. 9). These simulations
were performed assuming the pump operating with the
nominal geometrical parameters, neglecting the
deformation of pump structure with pressure and the initial
period of adjustment. From fig. 9, the 12 teeth of each gear
are noticeable observing the 12 pressure peaks during a
shaft revolution (about 0.03 s at 2000 r/min),
Figure 8 – Portion of volume assigned to delivery corresponding to 12 couples of teeth going into mesh. For
all the considered cases the pressure ripple characteristic of
this pump is well reproduced in detail by the simulation
code. As displayed also in the representation of fig. 10, the
experimental course highlights a low frequency trend – not
observable in the calculated data – with a period equal to
the time required for an entire gear revolution. Other peaks
in the spectrum are well predicted, taking into account the
Table 1 – Main features of the pump approximation imposed by the windows method used for
the FFT calculation to avoid leakage. The reason of this
discrepancy could be the eccentricity of gears caused by
the dimensional tolerances.
One of the most important results provided by the
simulations is the trend of pressure inside a tooth space
volume (fig. 11). The figure shows both pressure and tooth
space volume versus gear angular position. From the figure
it is possible to observe how the volume decreases when
the tooth goes into mesh, with the typically parabolic trend
(similar to those reported in [5,10]). The figure is very
useful for understanding the working concept of the pump:
starting from the condition of tooth volume outside the
meshing zone (for ϑ approximately greater than 30°), it is
possible to notice how the pressure begins to increase as
Figure 9 – Delivery pressure (n = 2000 r/min) effect of the aforementioned leakage flows (fig. 5) when
the pump casing starts covering the tooth tip. The pressure
suddenly reaches the delivery pressure when the backflow
groove (DG1’ see fig. 3) starts working (for ϑ ≈150°, point
B of fig. 11). The described increase follows an initial
smooth increment (from point A), caused by the leakage
from the adjacent tooth space volume in which pressure
has already reached the delivery value. After point B, the
pressure inside V1 follows the same trend as the delivery
one, until the tooth reaches again the meshing zone. In fact
in this period V1 is connected with the delivery through
DG1’ and DG1, or DV1 (figs. 3 and 4). Fig. 11 points out
the effect of the shape of the backflow groove adopted in
the analyzed pump (whose geometry is confidential): it
realizes a further connection between the tooth space
Figure 10 – FFT courses (n= 1500 r/min, p / pm ≈ 0.8) volumes in the zone marked with the letter C. The final
peak marked with D corresponds to the minimum value of
The pressure measured at pump delivery, for a constant tooth space volume, reached in the meshing zone. As
pump speed, and the measured pump flow rate were later previously described, the maximum pressure value directly
compared with the numerical data, obtained simulating the affects noise and fluctuations at pump delivery, so that its
whole test circuit used for pump characterization. In prediction is fundamental for the evaluation of pump
particular the delivery pipeline downstream of the pump performance. It is also important, in order to verify the
was modelled through a distributed line models that design of the recesses and avoid any conditions of trapped
account for wave propagation and frequency dependent volume isolated from inlet or delivery, the prediction of the
friction phenomena, according to the standard models minimum pressure value related to the quick increase of
provided by the software [16]. volume V1 (zone E). In this case the model is useful to
Calibration parameters required by the code, namely all the predict any possible onset of cavitation.
discharge coefficients, were first assumed from the data Figure 12 shows the calculated flow rate at the delivery
reported in [7,18] for similar conditions, later they were port. This result permits the estimation of important
slightly adjusted to better match with test data. The model parameters as the flow ripple and the volumetric efficiency.
has been validated through the comparison between In particular, the course of V in fig. 12 gives a time
predicted and measured pressure at the delivery port for average value of flow rate of about 15.4 l/min; this results

709 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X

is consistent with the measured volumetric efficiency of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
this pump, even if the model deals with the leakages in a
simple manner. The authors are grateful to Prof. G.L. Berta for his precious
suggestions and help and to M. Guidetti (Casappa S.p.A.)
for test and experimental data.

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of all the pump geometrical features (as functions of the Republic, September 2003.
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approach adopted for the definition of the control volumes
in the model for prediction of dissymmetric geometrical
conditions (for example due to possible damage of some
teeth, or to consider the actual eccentricity of gears while
pump is operating).

710 Copyright © 2005 by JFPS, ISBN 4-931070-06-X