Mahatma Gandhi Missions College of Engineering & Technology

Kamothe, Navi Mumbai - 410209.

A Report on

Design and Analysis of composite leaf spring

Submitted by

Name
Harshal Kolhe
Krishna Koli
Suryaprakash Kumawat

UID
113ME1720A
113ME1040A
113ME1516A

Under the guidance of

Mr. Mahesh Pisal

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
2016-17

ABSTRACT
In now days the fuel efficiency and emission gas regulation of automobiles
are two important issues. To fulfill this problem the automobile industries are
trying to make new vehicle which can provide high efficiency with low cost. The
best way to increase the fuel efficiency is to reduce the weight of the automobile.
The weight reduction can be achieved primarily by the introduction of better
material, design optimization and better manufacturing processes. The
achievement of weight reduction with adequate improvement of mechanical
properties has made composite a very good replacement material for
conventional steel.
The automobile vehicles have number of parts which can be able to replace
by composite material, but due to the improvement of mechanical properties of
composite material. It has more elastic strength and high strength to weight ratio
has compared with those of steel material. So, out of many components one of
the components of automobile, the leaf spring which use for carried out the
whole weight of the vehicle is best option for replacement of steel material by
composite material.
For reduce the weight of leaf spring the analysis was carried out on the
model of Force Motors Trax Cruisers leaf spring with same dimensional
geometry . The material select for leaf spring are E-glass/epoxy, Carbon epoxy
and Graphite epoxy composite material which is more economical with similar
mechanical and geometrical properties to the steel leaf spring. The analysis was
carried out on ANSYS with same loading condition for deflection and bending
stress of steel as well as E-glass/epoxy, Carbon epoxy and Graphite epoxy
composite material.

INTRODUCTION
The achievement of weight reduction with adequate improvement of
mechanical properties has made composite a very good replacement material for
conventional steel. In automobile car out of many components one of the
components of automobile which can be easily replaced is leaf spring. Leaf
spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled
vehicles. The suspension of leaf spring is the area which needs to focus to
improve the suspensions of the vehicle for comfort ride. The suspension leaf
spring is one of the potential items for weight reduction in automobile as it
accounts for 10 to 20% of unsprung weight. It is well known that springs are
designed to absorb shocks. The strain energy of the material becomes a major
factor in designing the springs. The introduction of composite material will make
it possible to reduce the weight of the leaf spring without reduction in load
carrying capacity and stiffness. Since the composite material have high strength
to weight ratio and have more elastic strain energy storage capacity as compared
with steel.
Leaf spring (also known as flat springs) is made out of flat plate. The
advantage in leaf spring over helical spring is that the ends of the spring may be
guided along a definite path as it deflects to act as a structural member in
addition the energy absorbing device. Thus the leaf springs may carry lateral
loads, brake torque, driving torque etc, in addition to shocks. Single plate fixed at
one end and loaded at the other end. This plate may be used as a flat spring.

MATERIAL OF LEAF SPRING

The material used for leaf springs is usually a plain carbon steel having 0.90
to 1.0% carbon. Materials constitute nearly 60%-70% of the vehicle cost and
contribute to the quality and the performance of the vehicle. Even a small amount
in weight reduction of the vehicle, may have a wider economic impact.
Composite materials are proved as suitable substitutes for steel in connection
with weight reduction of the vehicle. Hence, the composite materials have been
selected for leaf spring design. The material of the spring should have high
fatigue strength, high ductility, high resilience and it should be creep resistant. It
largely depends upon the service for which they are used i.e. severe service,
average service or light service.

DESIGN CALCULATION OF LEAF SPRING

Basic data of Force Motors Trax Cruiser leaf spring
Total length of spring = 1250mm
Total load = 2850kg
Tensile strength (t )= 1900-2400 N\mm2
Yield strength (y)= 1800N\mm2
No of full length leaves= 2
No of graduated leaves= 4
1. Basic load requirement:
Maximum capacity = 2850 kg
= 28500 N
28500
Total load acting on the assembly =
4

= 7125 N
2. Calculation of load and effective length:

Effective load on spring = 2*W = 7125 N

W = 3562.5 N
Effective length of the spring = 2*L = 2*L1-1
= 1250 (2*110/3)
L = 588.34mm

3. Calculation of stress generated in spring:

Considering the factor of safety as 1.5 for leaf spring

1900

Tensile stress (t) =

Yield stress (y) =

1.5

1800
1.5

= 1266.66 N/mm2

= 1200 N/mm2

4. Bending stress generated in the spring:

6

b =
=

63562 .5588.34
66049

= 712.91 N/mm2
Stress generated in leaf spring is lower than the allowable stress hence the design
is safe.
5. Deflection generated under assembly on leaf spring:

y=
=

63

63562 .5588.34 3
6200000 6073

= 176.26 N/mm2

6. Calculation of pin of spring:

Allowable bearing pressure in the pin = 8 N/mm2
Length of the pin = 60mm
W = d*l1*Pb
d=

3562 .5
608

d = 7.42 mm = 8 mm

7. Calculation of bending moment of the pin:

Length of pin = length of eye + (2*clearance)

Lp = 60 + (2*2.50)
= 65 mm

8. Calculation of length of leaves:

Ineffective length of the leaf = 110 mm
Length of smallest leaf =

2588.34
61

2588.34
61

2 + 73.33

= 544 mm
Length of 3rd leaf =

2588.34
61

3 + 73.33

= 779.34 mm
Length of 4th leaf =

2588.34
61

4 + 73.33

= 1014.67 mm
Length of 5th leaf =

2588.34
61

1 + 73.33

= 308.66 mm
Length of 2nd leaf =

+ ( )

5 + 73.33

= 1250 mm

Length of master leaf = 2*l1+ *(d + t)*2

= 1250 + 2*37*3.14
= 1482.48 mm

9. Calculation of radius:
Y (R*y y) = (L1)2
176.26 (R*176.26 176.26) = (625)2
R = 1196.22 mm

MODELLING OF LEAF SPRING

Based on the dimensions obtained from the conventional design of leaf
spring, the model of the leaf spring was created with the help of the 3-D
modeling CAD software Solidworks 2009.
Solidworks is modeling software for modeling various mechanical designs
for performing related design and manufacturing operations. The system uses a
3D solid modeling system as the core, and applies the feature base parametric
modeling method. What this means that if a change is made anywhere in the
product structure, such as the drawing or assembly, the changes are reflected
everywhere.
In short Solidworks is a feature based parametric solid modeling system with
many extended design and manufacturing applications.

ANALYSIS OF LEAF SPRING (STEEL)

Von mises stress contour:

Maximum deflection contour:

ANALYSIS OF LEAF SPRING (E-glass and carbon epoxy)

Von mises stress of e-glass:

Von mises stress for carbon epoxy:

Maximum deflection for e-glass:

Maximum deflection for carbon epoxy:

CONCLUSION
Materials

Displacements
(mm)

Stress (Mpa)

Weight (Kg)

Steel

175.22

739.08

17.56

E-glass/epoxy

51.62

237.49

4.56

Carbon epoxy

17.18

229.83

3.65

Here, from comparison of steel leaf spring with composite leaf spring as shown
in table, it can be see that the maximum deflection 175.22 mm on steel leaf
spring and corresponding deflection in E-glass/epoxy and Carbon epoxy are
51.62 mm and 17.18 mm. Also the von-misses stress in the steel leaf spring
739.08 Mpa while in E-glass/epoxy and Carbon epoxy the von-misses stress are
237.49 Mpa and 229.83 Mpa respectively. A comparative study has been made
between steel and composite leaf spring with respect to strength and weight.
Composite leaf spring reduces the weight by 74.54% for E-glass/epoxy and by
79.66% for Carbon epoxy over steel.