Lecture 7 - Design of Springs
Lecture 7 - Design of Springs
7- Design of Springs
➢It can take any shape and form depending upon the application.
➢Various functions of Springs are:
▪ Springs are used to absorb shocks and vibrations, e.g., vehicle suspension
springs
▪ Springs are used to store energy, e.g., springs used in clocks, toys etc.
▪ Springs are used to measure force, e.g., springs used in weighing balances
▪ Springs are used to apply force and control motion. e.g., Clutch
It is due to the above advantages that helical springs are popular and
extensively used in a number of applications
(v) The stiffness of the spring (k): It is defined as the force required to produce unit
deflection. Therefore,
The other names of this are: rate of spring, gradient of spring, scale of spring or simply
spring constant.
The stiffness of spring represents the slope of the load-deflection line.
▪ When the wire of the helical spring is uncoiled and straightened, it takes the shape of a bar
▪ In deriving the stress equation, this bar is considered to be equivalent to the actual helical
spring.
Dr. Chandan Sharma Mechanical Engineering Department
Load - Stress Equation
▪ The force P acting at the end of the bracket induces torsional shear stress in the bar. The
torsional moment Mt is given by,
▪ When the equivalent bar is bent in the form of helical coil, there are additional stresses on
account of following two factors:
(i) There is direct or transverse shear stress in the spring wire.
(ii) When the bar is bent in the form of coil, the length of the inside fibre is less than
the length of the outside fibre. This results in stress concentration at the inside
fibre of the coil.
▪ Resultant stress, which includes torsional shear stress, direct shear stress and stress
concentration is given by,
▪ K is called the ‘stress factor’ or ‘Wahl factor’.
Dr. Chandan Sharma Mechanical Engineering Department
Load - Stress Equation
▪ Wahl factor ‘K’ is given by:
▪ The Wahl factor provides a simple method to find out resultant stresses in the spring.
▪ The resultant shear stress is maximum at the inside radius of the coil.
▪ In normal applications, the spring is designed by using the Wahl factor.
▪ When the spring is subjected to fluctuating stresses, two factors Ks and Kc are separately
used.
or
▪ When a helical spring is cut into two parts, the parameters G, d and D remain same and N
becomes (N/2). Thus, the stiffness (k) will be double when N becomes (N/2).
▪ It is observed from the above Equation that for a given spring, δ α P
▪ The load-deflection curve for helical spring is shown in Figure.
▪ The area below the load-deflection line gives the strain energy stored
in the spring.
▪ Assuming that the load is gradually applied, the energy stored in the spring is given by,
E = area below load-deflection line
Here ‘k’ is the combined stiffness of all the springs connected in Series.
Here ‘k’ is the combined stiffness of all the springs connected in Parallel.
▪ It is observed that deflections are additive in a series combination,
while forces are additive in a parallel combination.
▪ Using this principle, the individual springs can be designed.
▪ The permissible shear stress is, therefore, 30% of the ultimate tensile strength of the spring
wire.
▪ Though, the Indian Standards have recommended a much higher value for the permissible
shear stress. According to this standard, τ = 0.5 Sut
▪ Determine the number of active coils (N) by load-deflection equation: (Assume G = 84GPa)
▪ Decide the style of ends for the spring and determine the number of inactive coils. Adding
active and inactive coils, find out the total number of coils (Nt).
▪ Determine the solid length of the spring by the following relationship:
▪ Determine the actual deflection of the spring using load deflection equation.
AM Wahl analytically derived the expressions for the stress concentration factor K. They are
given by,
where Ki and Ko are stress concentration factors at the inner and outer fibres of the coil
respectively.
▪ The stiffness of the helical torsion spring is defined as the bending moment required to
produce unit angular displacement. Therefore,
▪ When both ends are clamped, the angle of rotation of the arbor (θ) with respect to the
drum or the point A is given by,
▪ The deflection (δ) of one end of the spring with respect to the other is given by,
▪ The strain energy (U) stored in the spring is given by,