11 III March 2023

https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.49583
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

Design and Analysis of Leaf Spring Using Ansys

Snehal S. Besekar1, Prof. Pranav R. Pimpalkar2, Dr. Vinod S. Gorantiwar3
1
M. Tech. Student (CAD/CAM) at Shri Sai College of Engineering& Technology Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India
2
Prof.at Shri Sai College of Engineering & Technology Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India
3
Principalat Shri Sai College of Engineering& Technology Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India

Abstract: The leaf springs are different spring styles used for automotive suspension systems. In addition to the use of energy
absorption equipment, the ends of the spring can be pointed in a certain direction as it deflects as a structural function. Not
primarily supporting vertical loads but isolating road-induced vibration is the principal feature of leaf spring. The present
research aims at studying the safe load of the leaf spring, showing how easily an easy, safe driving speed is achieved. A standard
TATA-407 light commercial vehicle leaf spring configuration is chosen. Finite element analysis for safe stresses and pay loads
has been done. Conventional materials and alternative materials in spring construction used in the present work have been
studied. Computer aided designing (CAD) is being widely used in different industries for product testing and manufacturing, this
paper consist of design and analysis of leaf spring using ANSYS 19.2. Static structural tool has been used of ANSYS. Leaf
springs are used in heavy load vehicle where load is much larger than in passenger vehicles, they are used in vehicles which are
limited to varying cycles stress to millions thus eventually leads to failure of fatigue. High elastic material springs are used which
possess maximum strength and fatigue effects. Weight reduction is one of the major concern while designing a vehicle as it helps
in design optimization and fuel economy’s three layer composite leaf spring with full length leave. E-glass/Epoxy composite
material has been used and is compared with conventional steel leaf spring. After conducting various tests it is found that e-
glass/epoxymaterial is better in strength and lighter in weight as contrast with conventional steel leaf spring.

I. INTRODUCTION
Increasing competition and innovation in automobile sector tends to modify the existing products or replace old products by new
and advanced material products. A suspension system of vehicle is also an area where these innovations are carried out regularly.
Suspension system consists of a spring and a damper. The energy of road shock causes the spring to oscillate. These oscillations are
restricted to a reasonable level by the damper, which is more commonly called as shock absorber.

The primary objectives of the suspension system are:

1) To prevent the road shocks from being transmitted to the vehicles.
2) To safeguard the occupants from road shocks.
3) To preserve the stability of the vehicle in pitching or rolling, while in motion.

More efforts are taken in order to increase the comfort of user. Thus, it becomes necessary to use a good suspension springs which
fulfills all the above objectives thoroughly. Further, the appropriate balance of comfort riding qualities and economy in
manufacturing of spring is also becoming an obvious necessity.
The springs are placed between the road wheels and the body. When the wheel comes across a bump on the road, it rises and
deflects the spring, thereby storing energy therein. On releasing, due to the elasticity of the spring material it rebounds thereby
expanding the stored energy.
In this way the spring starts vibrating and with amplitude decreasing gradually on account of internal friction of the spring material
and friction of the suspension joints, till vibrations die down.

A. Types Of Suspension Springs

1) Steel Springs
a) Leaf Spring
b) Tapered Leaf Spring
c) Coil Spring
d) Torsion Bar

©IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved | SJ Impact Factor 7.538 | ISRA Journal Impact Factor 7.894 | 1034
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

2) Rubber Springs
e) o Compression Spring
f) o Compression – shear spring
g) o Steel – reinforced spring
h) o Progressive spring
i) o Face shear spring
j) o Torsional shear spring
3) Plastic Spring
4) Air Spring
5) Hydraulic spring.

B. Description Of Steel Leaf Spring

Here we are going to discuss only about Steel Leaf Springs as our study is based on it. Leaf springs are almost universally used for
suspension in light and heavy commercial vehicles. An advantage of a leaf spring over a helical spring is that the end of the leaf
spring may be guided along a definite path. Semi – Elliptic Spring takes the form of a slender arc – shaped length of spring steel of
rectangular cross–section. . The center of the arc provides location for the axle, while tie holes are provided at either end for
attaching to the vehicle body. For very heavy vehicles, a leaf spring can be made from several leaves stacked on top of each other in
several layers, often with progressively shorter leaves. Leaf springs can serve locating and to some extent damping as well as
springing functions. While the interleaf friction provides a damping action, it is not well controlled and results in stiction in the
motion of the suspension. A leaf spring can either be attached directly to the frame at both ends or attached directly at one end,
usually the front, with the other end attached through a shackle, a short swinging arm. The shackle takes up the tendency of the leaf
spring to elongate when compressed and thus makes for softer springiness. Some springs terminated in a concave end, called
a spoon end (seldom used now), to carry swiveling member. For heavy vehicles, they have the advantage of spreading the load more
widely over the vehicle's chassis, whereas coil springs transfer it to a single point. Unlike coil springs, leaf springs also locate
the rear axle, eliminating the need fortrailing arms and a Pan hard rod, thereby saving cost and weight in a simple live axle rear
suspension.

Fig. 1.1: Image of a parabolic semi – elliptic leaf spring

A more modern implementation is the parabolic leaf spring. This design is characterized by fewer leaves whose thickness varies
from centre to ends following a parabolic curve. In this design, inter-leaf friction is unwanted, and therefore there is
only contact between the springs at the ends and at the center where the axle is connected. Spacers prevent contact at other points.
Aside from a weight saving, the main advantage of parabolic springs is their greater flexibility, which translates into vehicle ride
quality that approaches that of coil springs.

©IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved | SJ Impact Factor 7.538 | ISRA Journal Impact Factor 7.894 | 1035
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

II. AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH

The multi-leaves spring was studied using finite element techniques, with seven leaves used for heavy industrial vehicles. Analysis
is performed on the stress distribution and deflection characteristics in ANSYS 14.0 workbench. Each model is dynamically
analyzed for four different materials with the same charge conditions. The purpose of this research is to improve the collection of
leaf spring materials. In Ansys, a static analysis is conducted in selected dimensions for this spring simulation and ANSYS14.0 for
selected architecture parameters. To reach the main study goal, the obtained findings are compared graphically.

III. REVIEW CRITERIA

This journal uses double-blind review process, which means that both the reviewer (s) and author (s) identities concealed from the
reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. All submitted manuscripts are reviewed bythree reviewer one from India
and rest two from overseas. There should be proper comments of the reviewers for the purpose of acceptance/ rejection. There
should be minimum 01 to 02 week time window for it.

IV. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The experimental bridge structure Truss has been studied using ANSYS, a software product combined with commonly used
engineering simulations, which provides a full group of products covering the entire spectrum of physics, allowing the use of almost
many engineering replicas that are needed by the design process. The software package utilizes its tools position a virtual product by
a stringent test process, for example by measuring a beam for a considerable object below completely different loading condition. In
a fast, safe way and with a large number of different contact algorithms, the ANSYS can perform advanced engineering analyses,
mainly on loading times and non-linear materials. In this research, she investigates under static loading conditions under distinct
modeling of the Truss bridge structure.
V. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
The methodology of solution is chosen once the mathematical models are ready. A qualitative or quantitative dimension maybe
considered for the mathematical formulation of the problem. Mathematical formulations of the question are tested in qualitative
analysis without clear resolution in qualitative analyses. Quantitative analytical methods, on the other hand, may be classified as
theoretical, physical and computational methods. FEM research is usually performed in order to load the leaf spring statically.

VI. MATERIAL SELECTION FOR LEAF SPRING

Structural steel is the main material for the leaf spring. This article has contrasted the result of structural steel, nickel
Material Specifications
Leaf’s Specifications
Sr. No. Parameters Values
1 No. of Master Leaves (nf) 2
2 No. of Graduated leaves (ng) 7
3 Breadth (b) 70 mm
4 Thickness (t) 13 mm
5 Span (2L) 860 mm
6 Diameter of Eye O.D. = 55mm
I.D. = 29 mm
7 Camber 150 mm
8 Diameter of Centre Bolt 10 mm
9 Length of Master Leaf 1100 mm
10 Length of Second Leaf 900 mm
11 Length of Third Leaf 700 mm
12 Length of Fourth Leaf 550 mm
13 Length of Fifth Leaf 400 mm
14 Length of Sixth, Seventh, Eighth & 254 mm
Ninth Leaf
15 Radius of Curvature 620 mm

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 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

Sr. No. Items Values

1 Grade SUP 9
2 Composition % C = 0.52 - 0.6,
% Si = 0.15 – 0.35,
% Mn = 0.65 – 0.95,
% S =0.035,
% P=0.035.

3 Young’s Modulus of Elasticity 210000 N/mm²

4 Poisson’s Ratio 0.266
5 Material Behaviour Isotropic
6 Density 0.00785 Kg/cm³

VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The study on the behavior of the leaf spring under static conditions has been completed with all the three approaches i.e. Analytical,
Experimental and FEA (Ansys). The results from each section are taken for the comparison purpose.
Firstly, the Experimental results are tabulated in comparison with analytical results.
Comparison of results:- experimental and analytical approach

Sr. No. Load (N) Parameters Analytical Experimental Variation

Stress (N/mm²) 5.80 %
1097.185 1033.53
1 90556 Deflection (mm) 5.82 %
74.31 70
Stress (N/mm²)
925.66 856.35
2 76400 Deflection (mm)
62.695 58

80

70

60
STRESS (N/mm²)

50
Analytical stress
40

30 Experimental
displacement
20

10

0
1 2
LOAD POINTS

Fig. Load Vs Stress Graph for Analytical & Experimental Approach

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 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

80
70
DISPLACEMENT (mm) 60
Analytical displacement
50
40 Experimental
30 displacement

20
10
0
1 2
LOAD POINTS
Fig.Load Vs. Displacement Graph for Analytical & Experimental Approach

Similarly, FEA analysis has been performed and the results are tabulated in comparison with analytical results.

Table : Comparison of results:- Analytical and FE approach (ANSYS)

Parameters Analytical ANSYS Variation
Stress (N/mm²) 1097.185 924.05 15.78 %
Deflection (mm) 74.31 69.4 6.64 %

Lastly, FEA results and Experimental Results are tabulated together and compared.

Table Comparison of results:- Experimental& FE approach (ANSYS)

Parameters Experimental ANSYS Variation
Stress (N/mm²) 1033.53 924.05 10.59 %
Deflection (mm) 70 69.4 0.86 %

VIII. CONCLUSION
This work involves design and analysis of a conventional leaf spring under static loading conditions. The 3D model is prepared in
PRO-E and then FEA analysis is performed using ANSYS-11. From the results obtained from ANSYS, many discussions have been
made and stated as follow:
1) When the leaf spring is loaded with 6.154 tonnes (90556 N) of load, a variation of 0.86% in deflection is observed among the
2) Experimental & FEA value, which proves the validation of our model and analysis.
3) At the same time bending stress for FEA solution, is decreased by 10.59 % in comparison with experimental result. This may be
observed because
 Improper Meshing of the model in Ansys
 The node selected for the application of load would not be totally correct.
4) The Ansys analysis and the output image show that the spring is safe.
5) Also, at the time of experiment we found that the material will fall under plastic stage if it is loaded above 90556N.

Thus, it is concluded that when SOLID 45 mesh element is used for FEA analysis the results are closer to the Experimental results.
Also, FEA tools provides a cost effective and less time consuming solution in comparison with the experimental testing but the
results may vary in the specified range.

©IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved | SJ Impact Factor 7.538 | ISRA Journal Impact Factor 7.894 | 1038
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

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