International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)

Design and Analysis of a Leaf Spring for automobile

suspension system: A Review
Baviskar A. C.1, Bhamre V. G.2, Sarode S. S.3
1 2,3
M.E. Student, Associate Prof., Mechanical Engg. Dept., S.N.D.COE & R.C. Yeola, Dist.-Nasik, India
Abstract -The aim of this review paper is to represent a Several papers were devoted to the application of
general study on the design, analysis of leaf spring. The composite materials for automobiles I. Rajendran
suspension system in a vehicle significantly affects the studied the application of composite structures for
behavior of vehicle, i.e. vibration characteristics including automobiles and design optimization of a composite leaf
ride comfort, stability etc. Leaf springs are commonly used
spring. Great effort has been made by the
in the vehicle suspension system and are subjected to
millions of varying stress cycles leading to fatigue failure. automotive Multi leaf springs used in automotive
A lot of research has been done for improving the vehicles normally consists of full length leaves and
performance of leaf spring. Now the automobile industry graduated length leaves. The specimen under this
has shown interest in the replacement of steel spring with research work consists of nine leaves, two eye pins,
composite leaf spring. In general, it is found that fiberglass centre bolt with nut etc CAE tools are being used to
material has better strength characteristic and lighter in analyze the robustness and performance of
weight as compare to steel for leaf spring. In this paper components and assemblies. It uses a numerical
ther e is reviewed some papers on t h e design and analysis technique called the finite element method (FEM). Using
leaf spring performance and fatigue life prediction of leaf
FEA Multi leaf spring is modeled using the discrete
spring. There is also the analysis of failure in leaf spring.
Also the analysis of leaf spring with ansys is done. The building blocks called elements. Each element has some
automakers can reduce product development cost and time equations that describe how it responds to certain loads.
while improving the safety, comfort, and durability of the The sum of the response of all the elements in the model
vehicles they produce. The predictive capability of CAE gives the total response of the design. CAE depends
tools has progressed to the point where much of the design upon actual assumptions of the assembly which acts
verification is now done using computer simulation rather as input data. CAE has become an important
than physical prototype testing. technology with benefits such as lower costs and a
shortened design cycle.
Keywords - Leaf spring, finite element analysis, FEM,
CAE tool.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
I. INTRODUCTION I. Rajendran , S.Vijayarangan has presented an
In order to conserve natural resources and economize artificial genetics approach for the design optimization
energy, weight reduction has been the main focus of of composite leaf spring. The design variable (thickness
automobile manufacturer in the present scenario. Weight and width) of steel and composite leaf springs are
reduction can be achieved primarily by the introduction optimized by making use of GA (Genetic Algorithm).
of better material, design optimization and better Optimization using GA has contributed to a reduction of
manufacturing processes. The suspension leaf spring is 8% of the steel spring weight and 23.4% of the composite
one of the potential items for weight reduction in spring weight.
automobile as it accounts for ten to twenty percent of the H.A. Al Qureshi has described a single leaf,
unstrung weight. This helps in achieving the vehicle with variable thickness spring of glass fiver reinforced
improved riding qualities. It is well known that springs, plastic (GFRP) with similar mechanical and
are designed to absorb and store energy and then release geometrical properties to the multi-leaf steel spring
it. Hence, the strain energy of the material becomes a was designed, fabricated and tested.
major factor in designing the springs. The introduction M.L Aggarwal ,V.P. Agrawal, R.A. Khan has
of composite materials was made it possible to reduce the calculated fatigue strength of shot peening leaf spring
weight of the leaf spring without any reduction on load from laboratory samples of EN45A spring steel
carrying capacity and stiffness. Since; the composite specimen. A lot of research has been done to improve
materials have more elastic strain energy storage capacity fatigue strength of material by creating compressive
and high strength-to-weight ratio as compared to those residual stress field in their surface layers through shot
of steel. peening .

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
W. Hufenbach & F. Adam has presented a method The system consists of a hydraulic power pack to give
to adjust the spring r a t e of an leaf spring element. a hydraulic pressure of 20.6 M Pa with a flow rate of
For dimensioning of this system a strategy was 210l pm, which is sent to a hydraulic actuator to operate
developed and validated. The tests of manufactured leaf at a frequency of 0.3 Hz with the displacement specified
spring elements with different reinforcements show a by the alternating load. This involves applying the axial
good agreement between the calculation and the load on the leaf spring and measure the deflection and
measured characteristic. bending stress. Supavut,Chantranuwathana have
B.Vijaya Lakshmi has presented the static analysis simulated a leaf spring model. An experimental leaf
on 8-leafs we can concluded that E-glass epoxy is better spring model was verified by using a leaf spring test
than using Mild-steel as though stresses are little bit rig The master leaf of a laminated spring is hinged to the
higher than mild steel, E-glass epoxy is having good supports. The support forces induce, stresses due to
longitudinal forces and stresses arising due to possible
yield strength value (5e+008N/m2) and also epoxy
twist. Hence, the master leaf is more stressed compared
material components are easy to manufacture and this
to other the graduated leaves. Methods to reduce
having very low weight.
additional stresses could be,
III. LAMINATED SEMI-E LLIPTIC SPRING 1. Master leaf is made of stronger material than the
other leaves.
A laminated semi-elliptic spring .The top leaf is 2. Master leaf is made thinner than the other
known as the master leaf. The eye is provided for leaves. This will reduce the bending stress as
attaching the spring with another machine member. evident from stress equation.
The amount of bend that is given to the spring from the 3. Another common practice is to increase the
central line, passing through the eyes, is known as radius of curvature of the master leaf than the
camber. The camber is provided so that even at the next leaf that can measure vertical static
maximum load the deflected spring should not touch
deflection of leaf spring under static loading
the machine member to which it is attached. The condition.
camber shown in the figure is known as positive
camber. The central clamp is required to hold the leaves A. Stresses due to support hinges
of the spring. However, the bolt holes required to engage
the bolts to clamp the leaves weaken the spring to some
extent. Rebound clips help to share the load from the
master leaf to the graduated leaf.

Fig 3.2 Nipping of leaf spring

The master leaf has a larger radius of curvature

compared to the additional leaf that is placed below so
obviously a gap will be created between the two leaves
Fig 3.1 Laminated semi-elliptic leaf spring
as indicated in the figure. Now, an initial bent is created
The leaf spring involves two full length leaves and during assembly by tightening the central bolt. Therefore,
seven graduated leaves, four packing which are made some amount of compressive stress will be produced at
of 65Si7 material. This conventional leaf spring model the inside curvature of the master leaf. Similarly, at the
consists of 37 parts which, includes two full length leave, outside curvature of the master leaf tensile stress will be
seven graduated leaves. The remaining part involves produced. Both these stresses are initial stresses in the
four rebound clips of MS, four shim pipes of master leaf.
C.D.S.T/ERW, centre nut & bolt and bush of bronze. The
experimental setup consists of a full scale testing
machine for leaf spring, jigs and fixture.

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
However, by such operation of tightening the central This old crack exhibited features indicative of a
bolt, the additional leaf that is placed beneath the master corroded surface, as can be seen fracture between the old
leaf has a tendency to flatten out and as a result the stress crack and the mid-plane was also rusted but less so than
pattern of the additional leaf will be reverse of that of the the old crack. The fracture mode in the old crack was
master leaf, tensile stress is produced at the inner difficult to see because of corrosion and physical damage.
curvature and compressive stress is produced at the outer However, a few small areas were clear enough to reveal
curvature. Hence, when the spring is loaded, for both the uniform, very small micro voids. Fracture between the
master leaf and the additional leaf, tensile stress will be old crack and the mid-plane was also by micro void
produced at the inner curvature and compressive stress coalescence, but the void size was duplex with large and
will be produced at the outer curvature. Therefore, due to small micro voids. The fracture was also rougher. X-ray
opposite nature of initial stress and loading stress, the spectroscopy of the old crack in the SEM revealed
master leaf will experience lesser stress on both the unusually high peaks for oxygen, silicon, calcium,
surfaces. However, due to same nature of initial stress chlorine, sulfur, and aluminum, the X-ray spectra from
and loading stress, the additional leaf is stressed more the old crack. Calcium, silicon, and aluminum are
compared to the master leaf. But, it is to be noted that the contamination elements, because they should not be
higher stress on the additional leaf is actually shared present at the observed concentrations on a 5160 steel
between all other leaves than the master leaf. This fracture surface. The geological report revealed calcium
practice of stress relief in the master leaf is known as carbonate, alumina, and, to a lesser extent, silica were a
“Nipping of leaf spring”. As a matter of fact, all the major portion of the road material. Chlorine was not
leaves of a laminated leaf spring do have certain amount reported in the roadbed analysis, and roads are not
of nipping, so that there will be gaps between the leaves, salted for ice where the vehicle was driven. obvious
as a result the stresses will be uniformly distributed and source for chlorine in this case was the known transport of
accumulated dusts can also be cleaned. the vehicle by an ocean-going ship. The high oxygen level
is consistent with corrosion. The source of the sulfur is
IV. LEAF S PRING F AILURE not known at this time, area of “thumbnail-shaped”
The determination of the point of failure during an crack origins on the inside diameter (ID) surface.
accident sequence of a rear leaf spring in a sport utility Woody fracture regions on this specimen were observed
vehicle is presented in terms of fracture surface to be areas of decohesion of flat, elongated sulfide
analysis and residual-strength estimates. Marks at the inclusions with regions of very fine micro voids in the
scene of the accident pointed to two possibilities for broken ligaments. Bands of intergranular fracture were
the point of failure: marks in the roadway at the start observed to be mixed in with the fracture, both of
of the accident sequence and a rock strike near the end these morphologies together. X-ray analysis of the
of the sequence. Evidence from rust and chemical intergranular fracture area and the woody area strong
contamination on the fracture pointed to the spring peaks for carbon, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and chlorine.
having been cracked in half prior to the accident. For comparison, X-ray analysis of the clean, inboard half
Extensive woody fracture and secondary cracking at the of the fracture revealed only a small peak for silicon in
mid-plane of the spring was evidence for segregation addition to the normal peaks for iron, manganese, and
and weakness in the spring. Stress estimates for the chromium.
effect of both the weakness and prior cracking on the
residual strength of the spring revealed reductions in
strength of the spring that could produce fracture at
the start of the accident sequence. The point of failure
of the spring was placed at the start of the accident
sequence. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was
used to examine the fracture on the eye at higher magni-
fications. Examination of the mid-plane fracture was
difficult because the mid-plane fracture surface faced the
surface of the spring itself. Such a geometry creates
signal detection problems, particularly for X-ray
analysis. However, significant results were achieved by
repeated repositioning of the spring eye. Fig 4.1 Secondary cracks at the mid-plane

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
V. STRESS ANALYSIS The toughness of the ID half of the spring was less than
Stress calculations were performed to estimate the that of the OD half because of the extensive presence of
reduction in strength in the spring resulting from cracks intergranular fracture, which is evidence for
existing before the accident and the mid-plane embrittlement. Therefore, the combination of a stable tear
segregation. Exemplar spring test data were also used to and dynamic loading probably further reduced the final
provide a basis for estimating the reduction in strength. longitudinal rupture force below 0.72 g. criterion.
The reduction-in-strength estimates were then used to The mid-plane segregation leading to delaminating
determine if normally expected dirt road forces in the would be expected to arrest the running crack from the
absence of a large rock strike were adequate to rupture this outsidesurface, and it did. This would leave the spring
spring. Finite-element stress analysis was used to study the weakened but intact rubbing at the mid-plane
existence of transverse tensile stresses at the location of demonstrates that this arrest did occur. Residual
the fracture. The leaf spring was secured directly to the strength for this condition was estimated by assuming
vehicle frame at the forward end and through a the spring was cracked halfway through.
shackle assembly at the end. TABLE I

Parameters Values
Thickness of each leaf, mm 5.5
Width of the each leaf ,mm 34
Thickness of the fiber, mm 0.2
Width of the fiber, mm 34
Thickness of the resin, mm 0.075
Width of the resin, mm 34
Thickness of single layer, mm 0.275
Fig 5.1 Reaction forces on the spring eyes in the vehicle Number of layers 20
These crack depth measurements for the old OD crack,
produced an estimate of 1460 MPa for an outer fiber
bending stress required for spring fracture. The calculated
outer fiber (or outer surface) bending stress estimated for
fracture in the presence of the small OD crack is at or
below the expected tensile strength for the spring. This
analysis indicates that the strength has been reduced when
compared to the nominal properties. Any delimitation in
the spring would raise the stresses and result in unstable
fracture at even lower force levels. (The observed
elimination would double the stresses.). The longitudinal
force required to produce the fracture initiation stress
predicted by fracture mechanics was estimated by elastic
bending calculations. The force to reach 146 M Pa was Fig 5.2 Reaction forces in spring eye in the pull test test
estimated to be 23,000 N for no delimitation and
A 12,900 N pull to rupture was estimated using
10,200 N for the observed elimination in the accident
this approach. This is a 73% reduction in strength over
spring. Using 48,200 N pull to failure from test results on
the exemplar springs, or 0.72 g forward deceleration for
exemplar springs yielded a 52 to 79% reduction in spring
a 17,800 N vehicle. Accelerations of 0.72 g or less are
strength. These numbers demonstrate the serious
in the range of reasonably expected forces for a vehicle
reduction in strength possible for both the small crack and
traveling on dirt or unimproved roads. Final rupture
the delimitation. Evidence of the outer half being cracked
forces for the spring were probably lower still.
for some time indicates that the reduction in strength did
in fact occur. plane-strain unstable rupture occurred.

409
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
Thumbnail regions were observed at the ID  E-glass epoxy is better than using Mild-steel as
surface on the accident aexemplar springs at though stresses are little bit higher than mild steel,


approximately 45° to the spring surface and to the rest E-glass epoxy is having good yield strength value.
of the ID half of the fracture. These thumbnail regions The prior cracking in the spring was extensive
are at least plane-stress stable tear features. enough to reduce the strength of the spring to
the point where normal dirt road forces were


VI. F INITE E LEMENT ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE adequate to produce rupture.
LEAF S PRING The weight of the leaf spring is reduced
With the extensive use of laminated composite considerably about 85 % by replacing steel leaf
materials in almost all engineering fields, the optimal spring with composite leaf spring. Thus, the
design of laminated composites has been an extensive objective of reducing the unstrung mass.
subject of research in recent years. The dimensions of the
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VII. CONCLUSION

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