Spring Design

Prepared and Presented by:

Manoj Adhikari
Introduction
• Produce large elastic deformation through the manipulation of the
geometry of the part.
• Flexibility
• Storing energy
• Cyclic loading
• In general springs may be classified as wire springs, flat springs, or special
shaped springs, and there are variations within these divisions.
• Wire springs include helical springs of round or square wire and are made
to resist tensile, compressive, or torsional loads.
• Under flat springs are included the cantilever and elliptical types, the
wound motor or clock type power springs, and the flat spring washers,
usually called Belleville springs.
Stresses and Deflection
d = wire diameter
D = spring diameter or mean coil
diameter
𝐷0 = 𝐷 + 𝑑 = outer diameter
𝐷𝑖 = 𝐷 − 𝑑 = inner diameter
If we do a cut anywhere along the
wire of a spring that is subjected to
compressive force F
A quick FDB reveal that the cut is
subjected to a rection force and a
torque
Stresses and Deflection
Any cross section area along the
wire is subjected to two external
loads that will cause shearing
stresses
i.) a shear force that causes direct
shear
ii.) and a torque that causes
torsion
 Stresses and Deflection

where

Substituting in the above equation

 Stresses and Deflection
• Spring index : measure of coil • Maximum shear stress for helical
curvature spring

• For design purposes it is

recommended to use spring
Factoring out the torsional stress term
index value between 4 to 12
• This stress equation is assuming
straight wire that is subjected to
Define the shear stress correction factor shear stress and torsion
Curvature effect
• Curvature of the wire increases the stress on the inside of the spring
but decreases only slightly on the outside.
• Because of spring’s shape we can not assume the coil will behave as a
straight wire
• We use K factor that corrects for both curvature as well as the direct
shear term
Wahl factor
• We use the Kb factor
Bergsträsser factor
Deflection of helical springs
• Strain energy within the spring when it is deformed
• Total strain energy for a helical spring is composed of a torsional
component and a shear component will be that of torsion and direct
shear

Using Castigliano’s theorem

Deflection of helical springs

We can find the total deflection y as the partial derivative of the energy
w.r.t. the force F Notice that I didn’t
take into account
the parenthesis
since we are
assuming that the
spring index C will
be higher than 4
and even in that
case it will only
cause 3% error. If
C is lower then
must substitute
the parenthesis
term.
Deflection of helical springs

We can divide force by deflection y to find an expression for the spring

rate or scale of the spring or spring constant
𝐹 𝐹 𝑑4 𝐺
𝑘= = 3 =
𝑦 8𝐹𝐷 𝑁 8𝐷3 𝑁
( 4 )
𝑑 𝐺
Ends of compression springs

Non interrupted helicoid

Deforming end to zero degree helix angle
 Ends of compression springs
• For squared or closed compression
spring the last coil on both ends are
bend so that the full coil on the end
is in contact with the surface that is
compressing the spring those two
coils one on each end would not
counteract or resist in any way the
compression of the spring therefore
there is a difference between the
total number of coils 𝑁𝑡 and the
number of active coils 𝑁𝑎 which are
those that are actually twisting
when the spring is compressed or
stretched. Spring should always be both squared and ground
for important applications, because a better
transfer of load is obtained.
Solid length vs Free length
• Solid length of the spring is • Free length is the length of the
defined as the length of the spring when it is not subjected
spring when it is fully to any loads. This length is
compressed and all coils are usually stated in terms of the
touching their adjacent coils pitch and the number of active
coils.
Presetting or set removal
• Set removal or presetting is a process used in manufacturing a spring
to induce useful residual stresses.
• The spring is made longer than needed, then compresses to solid
height, intentionally exceeding the yield strength.
• This operation sets the spring to the required final free length.
• Yielding induces stresses opposite in direction to those induced in
service.
• 10 to 30 percent of the initial free length should be removed.
• Useful when spring is used for energy storage purposes but it is not
recommended when springs are subjected to fatigue.
Stability
• Compression coil spring will buckle when the deflection (for a given free length) becomes too
large
• Buckling can be prevented by limiting the deflection of spring or the free length of the spring
• Whether or not spring will buckle depends on slenderness ratio
• Equation of critical deflection is

𝜆𝑒𝑓𝑓 = effective slenderness ratio

Where 𝐶1 and 𝐶2 are elastic constants

Where 𝛼 is called end condition coefficient
Stability
• In order to design a spring, we want to make sure that buckling
doesn’t occur meaning that there is no deflection
• So how do we make critical value of deflection non existent ?
What if
𝐶′2
2 >1
𝜆𝑒𝑓𝑓

If we substitute steel properties

Spring materials
• Springs are manufactured either by hot or cold working processes,
depending upon the size of the material, spring index, and the properties
desired.
• Spring materials : plain carbon steels, alloy steels, and corrosion resisting
steels as well as non ferrous materials such as phosphor bronze, spring
brass, beryllium copper, and various nickel alloys
• Spring materials may be compared by an examination of their tensile
strengths; these vary so much with wire size that they can not be specified
until the wire size is known.
• The tensile strength of spring material vary considerably with wire size and
the relationship between two is almost straight on a log-log plot
Where A is the intercept and m is the slope

Furnishes good estimation of minimum tensile strength

Spring materials
• Although torsional yield strength is needed for the design and to analyze the performance, spring
materials are tested only for tensile strength – easy and economical
• A very rough estimate of the torsional yield strength is between 60 to 90 percent of the tensile
strength 0.6𝑆𝑢𝑡 < 𝑆𝑦 < 0.9𝑆𝑢𝑡
• Then the distortion energy theory can be employed to obtain torsional yield strength (𝑆𝑠𝑦 =
0.557𝑆𝑦 ). This approach results in a range
0.35𝑆𝑢𝑡 < 𝑆𝑠𝑦 < 0.52𝑆𝑢𝑡 For steels

Music wire and hard-drawn steels

𝑆𝑠𝑦 = 0.45𝑆𝑢𝑡 Distortion energy or von mises stress:
The relation between an element
subjected to torsion only and the resulting
principal stresses that allow us to calculate
von mises stress
𝜎 ′ = 1.795 𝜏
𝜏 = 0.0557𝜎′
 47.7 mm
5.61 mm
81.12 N
2643 N/m

Factor of safety 𝑛𝑠 = 1.2 for solid safe property

𝐷 = 𝐷0 − 𝑑 𝑆𝑠𝑦
𝜋𝑑 3 ( 𝑛 )
Formula 7.1 𝑡
𝐷 𝐹𝑠 =
𝐶= 8𝐾𝐵 𝐷
𝑑
Formula 7.5
From table 7.5 For value of G see table 7.7 for hard-drawn steel
𝐹𝑠
𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑦 =
𝑆𝑠𝑦 = 0.45𝑆𝑢𝑡 From table 7.6 𝑘
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ, 𝐿0 = 𝑦 + 𝐿𝑠
𝐿0
Formula 7.2 From table 7.2 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ, 𝑝 =
𝑁𝑡
For plane and ground end condition, from table 7.2
𝑁𝑡 = 𝑁𝑎 + 1 𝐿𝑠 = 𝑑𝑁𝑡 Formula 7.6.c