DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LEAF SPRING

ABSTRACT
Leaf spring is a simple form of suspension spring used to absorb vibrations
induced during the motion of a vehicle. The automobile industry has shown increased
interest in the replacement of steel leaf spring (55 Si 7) with composite leaf spring (E-
glass/Epoxy) due to high strength to weight ratio, higher stiffness, high impact energy
absorption and lesser stresses.

This research is aimed to investigate the suitability of natural and synthetic fiber
reinforced hybrid composite material in automobile leaf spring application. By using natural
fibers efforts have been made to reduce the cost and weight of leaf spring. In this work an
attempt is made to develop a natural and synthetic fiber enforced hybrid composite material
with optimum properties so that can replace the existing synthetic fiber reinforced composite
material in automobile leaf spring.

Jute and E-glass woven roving mats are used as reinforcements and epoxy resin
LY556 is used as the matrix material. The CAD models of Leaf spring are prepared in
CATIA V5 and imported in static structural analysis work bench of Ansys where ignite
element analysis (FEA) is performed.

The design constraints are stresses and deflections. This study gives a comparative
analysis between steel leaf spring and Jute/E glass reinforced Epoxy leaf spring. The hybrid
composite leaf spring is found to have lesser weight, lesser cost, lesser stresses and higher
stiffness.

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CHAPTER - I

INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVER VIEW OF LEAF SPRING
A leaf spring is a long, flat, thin, and flexible piece of spring steel or composite material
that resists bending. The basic principles of leaf spring design and assembly are relatively
simple, and leaves have been used in various capacities since medieval times. Most heavy duty
vehicles today use two sets of leaf springs per solid axle, mounted perpendicularly to the axle
and supporting the vehicle's weight. This system requires that each leaf set act as both a spring
and a horizontally stable link. Because leaf sets lack rigidity, such a dual-role is only suited for
applications where load-bearing capability is more important than precision in suspension
response. Older transverse leaf spring arrangements mounted the a single leaf set running
parallel to a live axle, but used it both as a suspension link and a spring element in a similar
manner to the traditional arrangement. In vehicles with independent suspension and a
transverse leaf spring arrangement the leaf is not used to control the wheel's location and acts
only as a spring element. In this arrangement double wishbones act to locate the wheel, while a
single leaf or leaf set connected to the front or rear sub-frame in the middle of the vehicle and
the lower wishbone on each side provides the spring element. In some applications two
transverse leaf springs are used on a single axle with each providing separate springing action
to each wheel. In the past most transverse leaf springs arrangements used multiple steel
elements in a set similar to their traditional longitudinal counterparts, but most modern
applications use a composite (generally fiberglass) mono leaf element.

Fig.1.1 A traditional leaf spring arrangement.

Originally called laminated or carriage spring a leaf spring is a simple form of spring,
commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. It is one of the oldest forms of
springing, dating back to medieval times.

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Fig.1.2 Leaf Spring of Automobiles

Sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring or cart spring, it 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 systematically shorter leaves. Leaf springs can serve
locating and to some extent damping as well as springing functions.

1.2 HISTORY OF A LEAF SPRING

Many early vehicles such as the Ford Model T used transverse leaf springs on both the
front and rear suspension in conjunction with a live axle. In the early 1930s, Dante Giacosa
developed the Fiat Topolino which used transverse steel leaf springs and double wishbones in
an independent front suspension. The Triumph Motorcar Company also developed a
independent rear suspension with a transverse leaf spring arrangement for their line of small
cars in the 1950s. The Triumph arrangement, first seen on the 1959 Herald was developed in an
effort to introduce a inexpensive independent rear suspension. Results were mixed with
considerable safety issues surrounding the vehicles tendency to snap into over steer.

There were a variety of leaf springs, usually employing the word "elliptical". "Elliptical" or
"full elliptical" leaf springs referred to two circular arcs linked at their tips. This was joined to

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the frame at the top center of the upper arc; the bottom center was joined to the "live"
suspension components, such as a solid front axle. Additional suspension components, such as
trailing arms, would be needed for this design, but not for "semi-elliptical" leaf springs as used
in the Hotchkiss drive. That employed the lower arc, hence its name. "Quarter-elliptic" springs
often had the thickest part of the stack of leaves stuck into the rear end of the side pieces of a
short ladder frame, with the free end attached to the differential, as in the Austin Seven of the
1920s. As an example of non-elliptic leaf springs, the Ford Model T had multiple leaf springs
over its differential that was curved in the shape of a yoke. As a substitute for dampers (shock
absorbers), some manufacturers laid non-metallic sheets in between the metal leaves, such as
wood.

Leaf springs were very common on automobiles, right up to the 1970s, when the move
to front wheel drive, and more sophisticated suspension designs saw automobile manufacturers
use superior coil springs instead. U.S. passenger cars used leaf springs until 1989 where the
Chrysler M platform was the final production vehicle marketed. However, leaf springs are still
used in heavy commercial vehicles such as vans and trucks, and railway carriages. 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 for trailing arms and a Pan hard rod, thereby saving cost and
weight in a simple live axle rear suspension.

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 centre where the axle is connected. Spacers prevent contact at
other points.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

There are various researches for the comparison between composite leaf spring and
laminated leaf spring for various types of vehicle.
Kumar Krishna and Aggarwal M.L carried out on a multi leaf spring having nine leaves
used by a commercial vehicle. The finite element modeling and analysis of a multi leaf spring
has been carried out. It includes two full length leaves in which one is with eyed ends and seven
graduated length leaves. The material of the leaf spring is SUP9.The FE model of the leaf spring
has been generated in CATIA V5 R17 and imported in ANSYS-11 for finite element analysis,
which are most popular CAE tools. The FE analysis of the leaf spring has been performed by
discretization of the model in infinite nodes and elements and refining the under defined
boundary condition. Bending stress and deflection are the target results. A comparison of both
i.e. Experimental and FEA results have been done to conclude.

Pankaj Saini, Ashish Goel and Dushyant Kumar reducing weight while increasing or
maintaining strength of products is getting to be highly important research issue in this modern
world. Composite materials are one of the material families which are attracting researchers and
being solutions of such issue. In this paper we describe design and analysis of composite leaf
spring. The objective is to compare the stresses and weight saving of composite leaf spring
with that of steel leaf spring. The design constraint is stiffness. The Automobile Industry
has great interest for replacement of steel leaf spring with that of composite leaf spring,
since the composite materials has high strength to weight ratio, good corrosion resistance.
The material selected was glass fiber reinforced polymer (E-glass/epoxy), carbon epoxy and
graphite epoxy is used against conventional steel. The design parameters were selected and
analyzed with the objective of minimizing weight of the composite leaf spring as compared to
the steel leaf spring. The leaf spring was modeled in Auto-CAD 2012 and the analysis was done
using ANSYS 9.0 software

Shishay Amare Gebremeske Reducing weight while increasing or maintaining strength

of products is getting to be highly important research issue in this modern world. Composite
materials are one of the material families which are attracting researchers and being solutions of

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such issue. In this project reducing weight of vehicles and increasing or maintaining the strength
of their spare parts is considered. As leaf spring contributes considerable amount of weight to
the vehicle and needs to be strong enough, a single E-glass/Epoxy leaf spring is designed and
simulated following the design rules of the composite materials considering static loading only.
The constant cross section design of leaf springs is employed to take advantages of ease of
design analysis and its manufacturing process. And it is shown that the resulting design and
simulation stresses are much below the strength properties of the material, satisfying the
maximum stress failure criterion. The designed composite leaf spring has also achieved its
acceptable fatigue life. This particular design is made specifically for light weight three wheeler
vehicles. Its prototype is also produced using hand lay-up method.

Jadhav Mahesh, Zoman Digambar B, Y R Kharde and R R Kharde efforts have been
made to reduce the cost of composite leaf spring to that of steel leaf spring. The achievement
of weight reduction with adequate improvement of mechanical properties has made
composite a very replacement material for convectional steel. Material and manufacturing
process are selected upon on the cost and strength factor. The design method is selected on
the basis of mass production. From the comparative study, it is seen that the composite leaf
spring are higher and more economical than convectional leaf spring. After prolonged use of
conventional metal Coil Spring, its strength reduces and vehicle starts running back side down
and also hits on the bump stoppers (i.e. Chassis). This problem is entirely removed by our
special purpose Composite leaf Springs.

Santhosh Kumar and Vimal Teja composite structures for conventional metallic
structures has many advantages because of higher specific stiffness and strength of composite
materials is discussed. The automobile industry has shown increased interest in the replacement
of steel spring with fiberglass composite leaf spring due to high strength to weight ratio. This
work deals with the replacement of conventional steel leaf spring with a Mono Composite leaf
spring using E-Glass/Epoxy. The design parameters were selected and analyzed with the
objective of minimizing weight of the composite leaf spring as compared to the steel leaf spring.
The leaf spring was modeled in Pro/E and the analysis was done using ANSYS Metaphysics
software

Manas Patnaik, L.P. Koushik and Manoj Mathew has been carried out on a parabolic
leaf spring of a mini loader truck. The spring has been analyzed by applying a load of

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3800 N and the corresponding values of stress and displacement are computed. In this
work, Design of experiments has been applied under various configurations of the spring (i.e
by varying camber & eye distance). Camber and Leaf span of a Parabolic Leaf Spring was
found for Optimized Stress and Displacement value using Artificial Neural Networks.
Various networks with different architecture were trained and the network giving the best
performance was used for optimization.

Baviskar A. C.1, Bhamre V. G.2, Sarode S. S.3 (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008
Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013. The aim of this review paper is to
represent a general study on the design, analysis of leaf spring. The suspension system in
a vehicle significantly affects the behavior of vehicle, i.e. Vibration characteristics include
in gride comfort, stability etc. Leaf springs are commonly used in the vehicle suspension
system and are subjected to millions of varying stress cycles leading to fatigue failure .A
lot of research has been done for improving the performance of leaf spring. Now the
automobile industry has shown interest in the replacement of steel spring with composite
leaf spring. In general, it is found that fiberglass material has better strength
characteristic and lighter in weight as compare to steel for leaf spring. In this paper there
is reviewed some papers on the design and analysis leaf spring performance and fatigue
life prediction of leaf spring. There is also the analysis of failure in leaf spring. Also the
analysis of leaf spring with ansys is done. The automakers can reduce product
development cost and time while improving the safety, comfort, and durability of the
vehicles they produce. The predictive capability of CAE tools has progressed to the point
where much of the design verification is now done using computer simulation rather than
physical prototype testing.

Bhushan, Deshmukh, Dr. Santosh and B. Jaju Int J Engg Techsci.Weight reduction is
now the main issue in automobile industries. Weight reduction can be achieved primarily by the
introduction of better material, design optimization and better manufacturing processes. The
introduction of FRP material has made it possible to reduce the weight of spring without any
reduction on load carrying capacity. The achievement of weight reduction with adequate
improvement of mechanical properties has made composite a very good replacement material
for conventional steel. Selection of material is based on cost and strength of material. The
composite materials have more elastic strain energy storage capacity and high strength to weight
ratio as compared with those of steel, so multi-leaf steel springs are being replaced by mono-leaf

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composite springs. The paper gives the brief look on the suitability of composite leaf spring on
vehicles and their advantages. The objective of the present work is design, analysis and
fabrication of mono composite leaf spring. The design constraints are stress and deflections. The
finite element analysis is done using ANSYS software. The attempt has been made to fabricate
the FRP leaf spring economically than that of conventional leaf spring.

Venkatesan and Helmen Devaraj sdescribes design and experimental analysis of

composite leaf spring made of glass fiber reinforced polymer. The objective is to
compare the load carrying capacity, stiffness and weight savings of composite leaf spring
with that of steel leaf spring. The design constraints are stresses and deflections. The
dimensions of an existing conventional steel leaf spring of a light commercial vehicle are taken.
Same dimensions of conventional leaf spring are used to fabricate a composite multi leaf
spring using EGlass/Epoxy unidirectional laminates. Static analysis of 2-D model of
conventional leaf spring is also performed using ANSYS 10 and compared with experimental
results. Finite element analysis with full load on 3-D model of composite multi leaf spring is
done using ANSYS 10 and the analytical results are compared with experimental results.
Compared to steel spring, the composite leaf spring is found to have 67.35% lesser stress,
64.95% higher stiffness and 126.98% higher natural frequency than that of existing steel leaf
spring. A weight reduction of 76.4% is achieved by using optimized composite leaf spring.
Gulur Siddaramanna and shivashankar,Sambagam interest in the replacement of steel
spring with fiberglass composite leaf spring due to high strength to weight ratio. Therefore; the
aim of this paper is to present a low cost fabrication of complete mono composite leaf spring
and mono composite leaf spring with bonded end joints. Also, general study on the analysis and
design. A single leaf with variable thickness and width for constant cross sectional area of
unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) with similar mechanical and geometrical
properties to the multi leaf spring, was designed, fabricated (hand-lay-up technique) and tested.
Computer algorithm using C-language has been used for the design of constant cross-section
leaf spring. The results showed that a spring width decreases hyperbolically and thickness
increases linearly from the spring eyes towards the axle seat. The finite element results using
ANSYS software showing stresses and deflections were verified with analytical and
experimental results. The design constraints were stresses (Tsai-Wu failure criterion) and
displacement. Compared to the steel spring, the composite spring has stresses that are much
lower, the natural frequency is higher and the spring weight is nearly 85 % lower with bonded
end joint and with complete eye unit.

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Patunkar1and Dolas Leaf springs are one of the oldest suspension components they are
still frequently used, especially in commercial vehicles. The past literature survey shows that
leaf springs are designed as generalized force elements where the position, velocity and
orientation of the axle mounting gives the reaction forces in the chassis attachment positions.
Another part has to be focused, is the automobile industry has shown increased interest in the
replacement of steel spring with composite leaf spring due to high strength to weight ratio.
Therefore, analysis of the composite material becomes equally important to study the behavior
of Composite Leaf Spring. The objective of this paper is to present modeling and analysis of
composite mono leaf spring (GFRP) and compare its results. Modeling is done using Pro-E
(Wild Fire) and Analysis is carried out by using ANSYS 10.0 software for better understanding

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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY OF LEAF SPRING

3.1 SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR STEEL AND COMPOSITE

LEAF SPRING

3.1.1 Construction of Leaf Spring

A leaf spring commonly used in automobiles is of semi-elliptical form. It is built up of

a number of plates (known as leaves). The leaves are usually given an initial curvature or
cambered so that they will tend to straighten under the load. The leaves are held together by
means of a band shrunk around them at the centre or by a bolt passing through the centre. Since
the band exerts stiffening and strengthening effect, therefore the effective length of the spring
for bending will be overall length of the spring minus width of band. In case of a centre bolt,
two-third distance between centers of U-bolt should be subtracted from the overall length of
the spring in order to find effective length. The spring is clamped to the axle housing by means
of U-bolts.

Fig. 3.1 Semi-Elliptical Leaf Spring

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3.2 SEMI-ELLIPTICAL LEAF SPRING

The longest leaf known as main leaf or master leaf has its ends formed in the shape of
an eye through which the bolts are passed to secure the spring to its supports. Usually the eyes,
through which the spring is attached to the hanger or shackle, are provided with bushings of
some antifriction material such as bronze or rubber. The other Leaves of the spring are known
as graduated leaves. In order to prevent digging in the adjacent leaves, the ends of the
graduated leaves are trimmed in various forms. Since the master leaf has to with stand vertical
bending loads as well as loads due to sideways of the vehicle and twisting, therefore due to the
presence of stresses caused by these loads, it is usual to provide two full length leaves and the
rest graduated leaves. Rebound clips are located at intermediate positions in the length of the
spring, so that the graduated leaves also share the stresses induced in the full length leaves
when the spring rebounds.

3.3 MATERIAL USED IN LEAF SPRING

The basic requirement for spring steel is that it should have sufficient hardening ability
relative to leaf thickness to ensure a fully martensitic structure throughout the entire cross
section of the leaf spring.

The Japanese standard, JIS G4801 for hot formed spring steel, can be widely applied to
coil spring, and leaf spring of automobiles. SUP9, Mn–Cr steel, shows good hot deformability
and good harden ability to be applied for the relatively large sized stabilizers, torsion bars, and
coil springs. SUP9A, which is equivalent to SAE5160 steel, has basically the same chemical
composition as the SUP9 with a little bit higher carbon and higher range of Mn and Cr to
improve its harden ability. Silicon is the key component to most spring steel alloys.
Composition of sup 9 steel is as under.

3.3.1 Basic Characteristics of Spring Materials

Basic characteristics of spring materials are:

1. Static mechanical properties, especially tensile strength, elastic limit, spring deflection limit,
hardness and elastic modulus.

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2. Dynamic properties, especially, fatigue strength (fatigue life at a constant stress amplitude,
or fatigue endurance limit),

3. creep (progressive deformation of material at constant stress) or stress relaxation (time-

dependent decrease in stress under constant constraint), that causes permanent set, and

4. Corrosion resistance.

Besides these characteristics, the elastic modulus which can greatly affect to spring
characteristics is discussed here

An elastic modulus of metallic material under constant temperature has been regarded as a
microstructure insensitive constant decided only by chemical compositions. However, the
demands for more precise mechanical evaluation of parts have been increasing to apply more
precise elastic modulus. (Materials for springs)

3.4 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LEAF SPRING

Steels of the same hardness in the tempered martensitic condition have approximately
the same yield and tensile strengths. Ductility, as measured by elongation and reduction in
area, is inversely proportional to hardness. Based on experience, the optimum mechanical
properties for leaf spring applications are obtained within the hardness range 388 to 461 HBN.
A specification for leaf springs usually consists of a range covered by four of these hardness
numbers, such as 415 to 461 HBN (for thin section sizes)

The mechanical performance of vehicle leaf Spring is influenced, in a complex way, by

the number of material and processing details, for example, spring steel is typically subjected
to hot farming and heat treating operations followed by mechanical processing such as shot
penning and presetting. Each of these steps can significantly affect the structure and properties
of the material as well as the residua1 stress patterns built up in surface layers. Service loading
may also alter original residual stress levels as a result of cyclic stress relaxation.

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3.5 MANUFACTURING OF LEAF SPRING

In landhi engineering works multi leaf springs are manufactured for the vehicles
suspension from low alloy medium carbon steel (manganese-chrome steel) JIS G4801 sup9 in
the shape of flat bar have different cross section for different vehicles. Sup 9 material is locally
manufactured in people steel mill Karachi. Manufacturing steps of leaf spring employed in
landhi engineering works are shown diagrammatically in flow chart.

Fig. 3.2 manufacturing of a leaf spring

Fig. 3.3 Flow chart Manufacturing Process of Leaf Spring

The manufacturing steps shown in flow chart Fig 3.3 are briefly described below.

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3.5.1 Shearing

Cutting of steel bars in required specification using shearing machine is known as shearing.

3.5.2 Main Eye Rolling

After shearing bars are taken to rolling machine for bending the corners/ends. This step is
known as eye rolling.

3.5.3 Tapering

Tapering is a process of making curve like structure by bending the flat bars.

3.5.4 Drilling

In drilling holes in the centre of all leaf are produced for fastening leaf spring by nut and bolt.

3.5.5 Hardening

Hardening a ferrous alloy by austenitinzing and then cooling rapidly enough so that some or all
of the austenite transforms to martensite. A very rapid rate of cooling forces carbon to remain
in solution and austenite transforms to martensite. Martensite is an interstitial supersaturated
solid solution of carbon in α-iron and has body centered tetragonal lattice. Martensite is very
hard and brittle. The austenitizing temperature for low alloy (Mn-Cr) steel is (850-900 0c).

3.5.6 Tempering

The martensite formed in quench hardened steel is exceedingly brittle, hard and highly
stressed; the cracking and distortion of the hardened article is liable to occur after quenching.
For this reason, the use of steel in this condition is inadvisable except in cases where extreme
hardness is required.

It is therefore necessary to return towards equilibrium, after quench hardening, by heating the
(hardened) steel to a temperature below the lower critical temperature (A1); this is tempering.
In landhi works leaf springs after hardened are tempered at 430-500oC temperature.

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3.5.7 Hardness Test

Hardness is the property of material to resist plastic deformation usually by indentation.

Tests such as Brinell, Rockwel, Vickers etc, are generally employed to measure hardness. In
landhi engineering works Brinell tester are used.

3.5.8 Shot Peening

This process results in increasing the fatigue life of the steel bars and is normally
applied on the products which are manufactured. This process is carried out in specifically
designed machine; the small steel balls are strike on the surface of Leaf spring and induce
stresses on the surface which causes increase in fatigue life.

Then necessary grinding of leaves surfaces is applied. Finally different sizes of bars are
assembled by central bolt and their serial and identification numbers are punched on them
Before Paint and Varnish they are tested for Curvature Arc Height.
Semi-elliptic leaf springs are almost universally used for suspension in light and heavy
commercial vehicles. For cars also, these are widely used in rear suspension

The spring consists of a number of leaves called blades. The blades are varying in
length. The blades are us usually given an initial curvature or cambered so that they will tend to
straighten under the load. The leaf spring is based upon the theory of a beam of uniform
strength. The lengthiest blade has eyes on its ends. This blade is called main or master leaf, the
remaining blades are called graduated leaves. All the blades are bound together by means of
steel straps.

The spring is mounted on the axle of the vehicle. The entire vehicle load is rests on the
leaf spring. The front end of the spring is connected to the frame with a simple pin joint, while
the rear end of the spring is connected with a shackle. Shackle is the flexible link which
connects between leaf spring rear eye and frame. When the vehicle comes across a projection
on the road surface, the wheel moves up, this leads to deflecting the spring. This changes the
length between the spring eyes.

3.6 SUSPENSION SYSTEM

The automobile chassis is mounted on the axles, not direct but some form of springs.
This is done to isolate the vehicle body from the road shocks, which may be in the form of

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bounce, pitch, roll or sway. These tendencies give rise to an uncomfortable ride and also cause
additional stress in the automobile frame anybody. All the part, which performs the function of
isolating the automobile from the road shocks, is collectively called a suspension system. It
includes the springing device used and various mountings for the same.

Broadly speaking, 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 a shock absorber.

3.6.1 Objective of Suspension

1. To prevent the road shocks from being transmitted to the vehicle components.

2. To safeguard the occupants from road shocks

3. To preserve the stability of the vehicle in pitting or rolling, while in motion

3.7 EQUALIZED STRESS IN SPRING LEAVES (NIPPING)

We have already discussed that the stress in the full length leaves is 50% greater than the stress
in the graduated leaves. In order to utilize the material to the best advantage, all the leaves
should be equally stressed. This condition may be obtained in the following two ways.

1. By making the full length leaves of smaller thickness than the graduated leaves. In this
way, the full length leaves will induce smaller bending stress due to small distance from the
neutral axis to the edge of the leaf.

2. By giving a greater radius of curvature to the full length leaves than graduated leaves, before
the leaves are assembled to form a spring by doing so, a gap or clearance will be left between
the leaves. This initial gap is called nip. When the central bolt, holding the various leaves
together, is tightened, the full length leaf will bend back and have an initial stress in direction
opposite to that of the normal load. The graduated leaves will have an initial stress in the same
direction as that of the normal load. The graduated leaves will have an initial stress in the same
direction as that of the normal load.

3. When the load is gradually applied to the spring, the full length leaf is first relieved of this
initial stress and then stressed in opposite direction. Consequently, the full length leaf will be
stressed less than the graduated leaf. The initial gap between the leaves may be adjusted so that
under maximum load condition the stress in all the leaves is equal, or if desired, the full length

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leaves may have the lower stress. This is desirable in automobile springs in which full length
leaves are designed for lower stress because the full length leaves carry additional loads caused
by the swaying of the car, twisting and in some cases due to driving the car through the rear
springs.

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. There are different varieties of leaf spring which are used
according to the requirement.

3.8 TYPES OF LEAF SPRINGS

 Elliptic :

 Semi-elliptic :

 Three quarter-elliptic :

 Quarter-elliptic :

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 Transverse :

Fig. 3.4 Different types of Leaf Springs

3.9 SELECTION OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL

3.9.1 Experimental Materials

There are three types of materials employed in this study: 1.] Steel 2.] E-Glass/Epoxy
3.] Jute/E-Glass/Epoxy 65Si7 is the most popular grade of spring steel being used in
automobile leaf spring.

Parameter Young’s Poisson’s Ratio Tensile Density

Modulus Strength
Value 190-210 MPa 0.27-0.30 572.3 MPa 1000 kg/m3

Table3.1: Mechanical Properties of 55Si7.

Springs are designed to absorb and store energy and then release it. Hence,
the strain energy of the material becomes a major factor in designing the springs.
The relationship of the specific strain energy can be expressed as:

Where, σ is the strength, ρ is the density and E is the young’s modulus of the
spring material. It can be easily observed that material having lower modulus and density
will have a greater specific strain energy capacity. Research has indicated that E-
Glass/Epoxy has good characteristics for storing specific strain energy as E-glass has
lower young’s modulus and lower density than steel. Hence, E-Glass/Epoxy is selected
as the composite material . In this research work , a natural fiber i.e. Jute is introduced
in E-Glass/Epoxy to develop a hybrid composite material which can reduce the weight as
well as cost of leaf spring.

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For experimental work, ARALDITE LY-556 Epoxy resin having density

1.1gm/cm3 and curing agent ARADUR HY-951 from HUNTSMAN Ciba-Geigy India
Ltd. is used. E-Glass fiber as woven roving mat having surface density 400 GSM and
Jute fiber as woven roving mat having surface density 350 GSM is used.

3.10 Preparation of Composite Laminates

Hybrid laminates of woven jute and glass mat are prepared by hand layup
technique. A mild steel mold of dimension 165x165x5 mm is used for the fabrication of
composite sheet. The mold is coated with a mold releasing agent for the easy
removal of the sample. At first the glass fiber and jute fiber mats of required size are cut
so that they can be deposited on the template layer by layer during fabrication. Next
the epoxy resin is preheated for about 3 minutes at 400 C temperatures in order to increase
the flow ability of resin. The resin is then cooled and mixed with hardener in a weight ratio
of 10:1 and stirred slowly for about 10 to15minutes. Two OHP sheets are used at the top
and bottom of the mold to give smooth surface finish. Now some amount of resin is
poured into the mold , care is taken to avoid formation of air bubbles during pouring.
Ten layers of fiber mats are placed one over another with resin layer in between. Brush
and roller are used to impregnate fiber mats and also to avoid air entrapped. The fiber
weight fraction is maintained at 40 to 45 %, since optimum mechanical properties are
achieved at this much fiber fraction. Now the mold is placed in the compression molding
machine. Approximately 80 kgf pressure is applied on the mold and it is allowed to cure at
room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours the mold is removed from the
compression molding machine and the sample is taken out of the mold. Samples are
prepared having 100% glass, 10% jute-90% glass, 20% jute-80% glass, 30% jute-70%
glass and 40% jute-60% glass fiber.

3.11 Tensile Property Test

Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, Young’s modulus, elongation at
break and Poisson’s ratio are measured by using a universal testing machine of the
INSTRON model 3382, USA with the maximum load capacity 100 KN. Tensile test is
Conducted according to ASTMD-638 at 2mm/min test speed for each composition, five
measurement are taken and average values of strength, modulus, elongation at break and

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Poisson’s ratio are reported. 100% glass and 20% jute-80% glass compositions both
having epoxy as the base matrix are selected for automobile leaf spring application .

Parameter Young’s Poisson’s Ratio Tensile Density

Modulus Strength
Value 24000 MPa 0.3 205 MPa 1520 Kg/mm3

Table3.2: Mechanical Properties of E-glass/Epoxy.

Parameter Young’s Poisson’s Ratio Tensile Density

Modulus Strength
Value 21000 MPa 0.22 185 MPa 1460 Kg/mm3
Table 3.3: Mechanical Properties of Jute/E-glass/Epoxy.

The following methodology is adopted for the present work.

 Present work is related to the comparative study of “55 Si 7 steel and composite leaf
spring” Component details.
 The component details is studied and prepared 3-D model in CATIYA V5 software.
 The component is studied for the operation required to convey the different types of loads
on it. Design the component in the required shape and dimensions and analyzed.
 Design calculations are carried for the component leaf spring with the help of material
properties which are specified by the previous research.
 Analysis work is carried by importing 3-D model into Ansys software. A FEM model of
leaf spring, only one leaf is created by using Ansys processor. The material properties
loads and boundary conditions are also specified in the Ansys Processor.
 Analysis work is done by applying loads on the leaf spring then the results such as stress,
strain, total deformation are obtained.
 The results are compared with material properties of the material used for the component.
Then we find that results obtained by using FEM are within the material properties. There
we find that the component can withstand for given loads during operation.

3.12 Standard Size of Automobile Suspension Spring

Following are the standard sizes for the automobile suspension springs:

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1. Standard nominal widths are: 32, 40*, 45, 50*, 55, 60*, 65, 70*, 75, 80, 90, 100 and 125
mm. (Dimensions marked* are the preferred widths)

2. Standard nominal thicknesses are: 3.2, 4.5, 5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and
16mm.

3. At the eye, the following bore diameters are recommended: 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28,
30, 32, 35, 38, 50 and 55 mm.

4. Dimensions for the centre bolts, if employed, shall be as given in the following table.

Leaf springs are also made of various fine grade alloy steel. The most commonly
used grades of spring steel are 55 Si 7, 60 Si Cr 7, 50 Cr V4. in India at UAW manufacture
springs using EN 45A, 55 Si 7, 60 Si 7, 65 Si 7, 55 Si Cr 7, 60 Si Cr 7 & 65 Si Cr 7 grades
of steel. d. The flats should be free of defects like Piping, Seams, Edge Cracks, End Kinks,
Rust pitting and other Rolling Defects. Flats shall usually be with round edges. The edges
shall be rolled convex with the radius of curvature of the edge approximately equal to the
thickness of the flat or as agreed between the purchaser and supplier. Different cross
sections of steel are used for the manufacture of leaf springs depending on the design. The
chemical composition of spring steel mentioned above is as under in table 4.

GRADE C Si Mn S P Cr V
1 0.55- 1.70- 0.70-1.00 0.040 0.040
EN 45A - -
0.65 2.10 Max Max
2 0.55-0.6 1.50- 0.70.1.00 0.045 0.045
55 Si7 - -
1.80 Max Max
3 0.55- 1.50- 0.80-1.00 0.040 0.040
60 Si7 - -
0.65 2.00 Max Max
4 0.60- 1.50- 0.70-1.00 0.050 0.050
65 Si7 - -
0.68 1.80 Max Max

Table 3.4: Chemical Composition of Different Grads

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CHAPTER-4

INTRODUCTION TO CATIA
4.1 INTRODUCTION

CATIA is a multi platform 3D software suite developed by Dassault Systems,

encompassing CAD, CAM as well as CAE. Dassault is a French engineering giant active
in the field of aviation, 3D design, 3D digital mock-ups, and product lifecycle
management (PLM) software. It is one of the leading 3D software used by organizations in
multiple industries ranging from aerospace, automobile to consumer products. CATIA is a
solid modelling tool that unites the 3D parametric features with 2D tools and also
addresses every design-to-manufacturing process. In addition to creating solid models and
assemblies, CATIA also provides generating orthographic, section, auxiliary, isometric or
detailed 2D drawing views. It is also possible to generate model dimensions and create
reference dimensions in the drawing views. The bi-directionally associative property of
CATIA ensures that the modifications made in the model are reflected in the drawing
views and vice-versa.

Since it supports multiple stages of product development from conceptualization,

design and engineering to manufacturing, it is considered a CAx-software and is
sometimes referred to as a 3D Product Lifecycle Management software suite. Like most of
its competition it facilitates collaborative engineering through an integrated cloud service
and have support to be used across disciplines including surfacing & shape design,
electrical, fluid and electronic systems design, mechanical engineering and systems
engineering.

4.2 SKETCHER WORK BENCH

The Sketcher workbench is a set of tools that helps you create and constrain 2D
geometries. Features (pads, pockets, shafts, etc...) may then be created solids or
modifications to solids using these 2D profiles. You can access the Sketcher workbench in
various ways. Two simple ways are by using the top pull down menu (Start – Mechanical
Design – Sketcher), or by selecting the Sketcher icon. When you enter the sketcher,
CATIA requires that you choose a plane to sketch on. You can choose this plane either
before or after you select the Sketcher icon. To exit the sketcher, select the Exit

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Workbench icon. The Sketcher workbench contains the following standard workbench
specific toolbars.
4.2.1 Profile toolbar: The commands located
in this toolbar allow you to create simple
geometries (rectangle, circle, line, etc...)
and more complex geometries (profile,
spline, etc...).
4.2.2 Operation toolbar: Once a profile has been created,
it can be modified using commands such as trim,
mirror, chamfer, and other commands located in the
Operation toolbar.
4.2.3 Constraint toolbar: Profiles may be constrained with
dimensional (distances, angles, etc...) or
geometrical (tangent, parallel, etc...) constraints
using the commands located in the Constraint
toolbar.
4.2.4 Sketch tools toolbar: The commands in this
toolbar allow you to work in different modes which
make sketching easier.
• User Selection Filter toolbar: Allows you to
activate different selection filters.
4.2.5 Visualization toolbar: Allows you to, among
other things to cut the part by the sketch
plane and choose lighting effects and other
factors that influence how the part is
visualized.
4.2.6 Tools toolbar: Allows you to, among others other
things, to analyze a sketch for problems, and create
a datum.

4.2.7 The Sketch tools Toolbar

The Sketch tools toolbar contains icons that activate and deactivate different work modes.
These work modes assist you in drawing 2D profiles. Reading from left to right, the

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toolbar contains the following work modes; (Each work mode is active if the icon is range
and inactive if it is blue.)
• Grid: This command turns the sketcher grid on and off.
• Snap to Point: If active, your cursor will snap to the intersections of the grid lines.
• Construction / Standard Elements: You can draw two different types of elements in
ATIA a standard element and a construction element. A standard element (solid line type)
will be created when the icon is inactive (blue). It will be used to create a feature in the
Part Design workbench. A construction element (dashed line type) will be created when
the icon is active (orange). They are used to help construct your sketch, but will not be
used to create features.
• Geometric Constraints: When active, geometric constraints will automatically be
applied such as tangencies, coincidences, parallelisms, etc...
• Dimensional Constraints: When active, dimensional constraints will automatically be
applied when corners (fillets) or chamfers are created, or when quantities are entered in the
value field. The value field is a place where dimensions such as line length and angle are
manually entered.

4.3 PART MODELED

The part modeled in this tutorial is shown
below. The part is constructed with the
assistance of different work modes.
Section 1: Using Snap to Point
1) Open a New Part drawing and name the
part Spline Shape.
2) Enter the Sketcher on the yz plane.
3) Restore the default positions of the toolbars (Tools – Customize... –
Toolbars tab – Restore position.) Move the Sketch Tools toolbar and the
User Selection Filter toolbar to the top toolbar area.

4) Set your grid spacing. At the top pull down menu, select Tools – Options... In the
Options window, expand the Mechanical Design portions of the left side navigation tree
and select Sketcher. Activate the options Display, Snap to point, and Allow Distortions in
the Grid section on the right side. Set your Primary spacing and Graduations to H: 100
mm and 20, and V: 100 mm and 10.
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5) Select the Spline icon. This is located in the Profile toolbar in the right side toolbar
area.
6) Move your cursor around the screen. Note that it snaps to the intersections of the grid.
Your Snap to Point should be orange (active). Deactivate the Snap to Point icon by
clicking on it and turning it back to blue. Move your cursor around the screen and notice
the difference.
7) Reactivate the Snap to Point icon and draw the spline shown. Select each point
(indicated by a number in a square) in order from 1 to 7, double clicking at the last point to
end the spline command.
8) Edit the spline by double clicking on any portion of it.
9) In the Spline Definition window, select CtrlPoint.7, then activate the Tangency option,
and select OK. Notice that the last point is now tangent to the first point.
11) Exit the Sketcher and Pad the sketch to a length of 50 mm.

Section 2: Using construction elements.

1) Deselect all.
2) Enter the Sketcher on the front face of the part.
3) Activate the Construction / Standard Elements icon. It should be
orange.
4) Deselect all. Hit the Esc key twice.
5) Project an outline of the part onto the sketch plane. Select the Project 3D Elements icon
then select the face of the part. This icon is located in the Operations toolbar near the
bottom of the right side toolbar area. It may be hidden in the bottom right corner.
6) Deselect all. The projection should now be yellow (this means it is associated
with the part and will change with the part) and dashed (this means it is a
construction element).

7) At the top pull down window, select Tools – Options – Sketcher tab. Deactivate the
Grid Display and Snap to Point options. Select OK.

8) Deactivate the Construction / Standard Elements icon.

9) Using the Profile command to draw the triangle shown. The points of the triangle
should lie on the projected construction element. You will know when you are on the
projection when a symbol of two concentric circles appears, and you will know when you

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are snapped to the endpoint of the start point when a symbol of two concentric circles
appears and the inner one is filled.
10) Exit the Sketcher and Pad the sketch to a length of 10 mm.

Section 3: Geometrical and Dimensional Constraints

1) Deselect all.
2) Enter the Sketcher on the front large face of the part.
3) Activate the Geometrical Constraints icon. It should be orange.
4) At the top pull down window, select Tools – Options – Sketcher. Under the Constraint
portions of the window, select SmartPick... The SmartPick window shows all the
geometrical constraints that will be created automatically. These constraints may be
turn on and off depending on your design/sketch needs. Close both the Smart Pick and
Options windows.
5) Draw a Rectangle to the right of the hole as shown. Notice that geometric constraints
(H = horizontal, V = Vertical) are automatically applied.
6) Deactivate the Geometrical Constraints icon. It should be blue.
7) Draw a Rectangle to the left of the hole as shown. Notice that no geometric constraints
are made.
8) For each rectangle, click on one of the points defining a corner and move it using the
mouse. Notice the difference between the two. This is due to the horizontal and vertical
constraints that were applied to the one rectangle.
9) Undo (CTRL + Z) the moves until the original rectangles are back.
10) Exit the Sketcher and Pocket the sketch using the Up to last option.
11) Expand the specification tree to the sketch level.

12) Edit Sketch.3 (the sketch associated with the pocket). In the specification tree, double
click on Sketch.3, or right click on it and select Sketch.3 object - Edit. You will
automatically enter the sketcher on the sketch plane used to create this sketch.
13) Activate the Dimensional Constraint icon. It should be orange.
14) Select the Corner icon, select the bottom left corner point of the left rectangle, move
your mouse up and to the right, and click. A corner or fillet will be created. The corner
icon is located in the Operations toolbar near the bottom of the right side toolbar area. The
corner/fillet may also be created by selecting the two lines that create the corner. Notice
that a dimension is automatically created.

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15) Deactivate the Dimensional Constraint icon. It should be blue. Create a Corner in the
upper right corner of the same rectangle. Notice that this time no dimensional constraint
was created.
16) Exit the Sketcher . We have changed the sketch used to create the pocket. Notice that
the pocket is automatically updated to reflect these changes.

Section 4: Cutting the part by the sketch plane.

Sometimes it is necessary to sketch inside the part. The Cut Part by Sketch Plane
command allows you to see inside the part and makes it easier to draw and constrain your
sketch.
1) Enter the Sketcher on the xy plane.

2) Select the Isometric View icon. This icon is located in the bottom toolbar area.
3) Select the Cut Part by Sketch Plane icon located in the bottom toolbar area. The part in
now cut by the xy plane (the sketch plane).
4) Select the Top view icon and draw a Circle in the middle of the hole as shown in the
figure.
5) Exit the Sketcher .
6) Select the Pad icon and then select the More>> button. Fill in the following fields for
both the First and Second Limits; Type: Up to surface, Limit: Select the inner
circumference of the hole, and Selection: Sketch.4 (the circle). Select Preview to see if the
Pad will be applied correctly, and then OK.

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CHAPTER-5

INTRODUCTION TO ANSYS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The Ansys finite element solvers enable a breadth and depth of capabilities
unmatched by anyone in the world of computer-aided simulation. Thermal, Structural,
Acoustic, Piezoelectric, Electrostatic and Circuit Coupled Electromagnetics are just an
example of what can be simulated. Regardless of the type of simulation, each model is
represented by a powerful scripting language … the Ansys Parametric Design Language
(APDL). APDL is the foundation for all sophisticated features, many of which are not
exposed in the Workbench Mechanical user interface. It also offers many conveniences
such as parameterization, macros, branching and looping, and complex math operations.
All these benefits are accessible within the Ansys Mechanical APDL user interface.

This course introduces new users, or experienced Ansys Mechanical users, to

the Ansys Mechanical APDL user interface. The Mechanical APDL workflow, graphical
user interface, and APDL command syntax will be introduced. With this foundation in
place, users can apply this knowledge to efficiently set up, solve, and postprocess virtually
any type of analysis. Please note that for those wishing to learn the Workbench version of
Ansys Mechanical, the “Ansys Mechanical Getting Started” training course is
recommended.

5.1.1 Creating the Model

To perform a structural analysis, which is what we are focusing on in Strengths,
you will need to add the correct building block (system) from the Analysis Systems
menu, which is the left-hand side (LHS) menu in the Project window that is currently
open. ANSYS can do an amazing number of different types of analyses,

including thermal, dynamic, buckling, fluid interaction, etc., but our focus is on
Static Structural analysis, i.e., our systems are not moving and will only have static
(unchanging) forces applied. This type of analysis will allow us to determine the resulting
displacements, stresses, strains, and internal forces/moments in any structural component
that are caused by loads that are assumed to vary slowly with respect to time. This is

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exactly the same type of results information we are looking for when we solve
Strength of Materials problems by hand using theoretical and/or approximate methods.

Click on the Static Structural item in the LHS menu, drag it into the Project
Schematic window and then drop it off specifically in the region defined by the green
dashed box that appears. In a few seconds you will see the following small window
appear. This is the model system block.

Typically you will give your system a new name that will allow you and others to pick
this specific model out of many others quickly in the future. To do this double click on
the default name on the system and change the name. For example you can rename the
model YourName_Axial_Bar_Tutorial.

This process defines a specific system block that is made up of several

components that are called cells. These cells define the sequential steps needed to
perform the specific type of analysis. To perform your analysis, you will work through
the cells of each system in order—typically from top to bottom—defining inputs,
specifying project parameters, running your simulation, and investigating the results. To
interact withthe cells, you will typically do one of the following:

 Single-click: Single-click an object to select it. This does not modify data or initiate
any action.
 Double-click: Double-click an object to initiate the default action,
which may later help you increase your speed.
 Right- click: Right-click to display a context menu applicable to the current state of

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the selected object.

5.1.2 Saving Your Model & any Future Analyses

Before you go any further, save your current ANSYS workspace and system by selecting
File->Save As from the toolbar. Save your files to a folder that is on the desktop or to a
folder on the CEE Scratch Drive. You can store files to a memory key also, but this may
slow things done a little. As you continue through the different program elements be sure
to save your work from time to time in case anything bad happens and you need to go
back to a previous saved model. ANSYS does not have an Undo button so having
previous saved versions can be useful in helping you avoid starting from scratch if
something goes wrong.

Time to Start Modeling

To create a model in ANSYS and then analyze it you will work through the cells in the
System menu in top- to-bottom order. This means that you need to define the Engineering
Data and Geometry before you can put together the Model, and you must have the Model
defined before you can run the analysis and get the Solution and view the Results.

To help you understand these cells and the process needed to create each one of the
System Components we will create a model of a solid, circular steel axial bar. The bar has
a diameter of 1 inch, a length of 12 inches,

a concentrated load, P = 10,000 lbf at one end and is fixed to a wall at the other end. This
axial bar setup is shown in the picture below.
To create the model we will need to define the material used – Steel; the geometry of the
bar – length and cross-sectional shape and dimensions; the loading – force magnitude
and direction; the boundary conditions

– the type of support provided and the support locations; and the type of mesh element
and the coarseness of the mesh used to analyze the system. A coarser mesh and simpler
elements will provide less accurate results than a more refined mesh and more complex
elements, but the coarser mesh will provide quicker analysis results as a tradeoff. The
analysis part is straightforward once the model has been defined.

5.1.3 Engineering Data

To have the correct behavior modeled, you need to define the type of material, along with
its mechanical properties, using the Engineering Data cell. The model deformation

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response will depend on the material defined. To view the default Steel material
properties, right-click on the Engineering Data cell and select Edit… You will see the
following as the default. In some cases you will not see the bottom graph axes, which is
just fine.

Some of the numbers may look familiar, especially in this set of units, but we will set the
material properties to reflect that we are using a standard A992 Steel material. The
primary material properties that we need to specify are the Modulus of Elasticity, E =
29,000,000 psi and Poisson’s Ratio, ν = 0.3. These will allow the correct relationship to
exist between stress and strain in the model and when we run our hand calculations to
check the results obtained. Other critical material properties that our analysis needs are
the steel yield strength of 50,000 psi (50 ksi) and the steel ultimate strength of 65,000 psi
(65 ksi). Although our bar will not yield due to having a stress below the material yield
stress, it is important to define these material behavior limits in case the stress is enough
to cause yielding to occur. Yielding will lead to very large deflections typically, so
knowing if something has yielded becomes an important design consideration. These
values are different from the default values provided by ANSYS and so you will need to
change these. The A992 steel density is the same as the default ANSYS steel material and
will be used in problems where we include the self-weight of the material as part of the
loading.

To change each value, click on each of the cells in the lower left pane and then
enter the value desired in the box that appear in the upper right pane. Remember the units

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are psi here. To change E and υ click on the + sign in front of the Isotropic Elasticity
menu item to open up its options. Then click on each cell to enter 29000000 for E and
0.3 for υ. Use the same process to change both the tensile and compressive yield
strength to 50000 and the tensile and compressive ultimate strength to 65000.

When you are done you should have the values shown in the screenshot below for our
specific Steel material.

Save the changes with Save. To return to the Project tab either close the A2:
Engineering Data (X) tab or click on the grayed-out Project tab to the left of the
A2:engineering Data tab and leave the Engineering Data tab open, but hidden. This
action will take you back to the overall ANSYS project window. The Engineering
Data cell in your Axial Bar System menu should now have a green check mark next to it.

5.1.4 Geometry
During this semester, you will either create a new geometry from scratch using the
DesignModeler program or you will import an existing geometry previously created by

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you or a colleague. We will jump right in and create our geometry for this axial bar model
from scratch. To do this right click on the Geometry cell in the System menu and select
New Geometry. This will open the DesignModeler program in a new window. This
may take a little while depending on the computer you are working on but in the end you
will see that a new window has been opened (with the green bullet and DM icon). This
window should look like the one below. tab open, but hidden. This action will take
you back to the overall ANSYS project window. The Engineering Data cell in your
Axial Bar System menu should now have a green check mark next to it.

You should notice that the LHS menu now presents a Tree Outline. The Tree
Outline matches the logical sequence of simulation steps. Object sub-branches relate to
the main object. For example, an analysis environment object, such as Static Structural,
will eventually contain loads. You can right-click on an object to open a context menu
that relates to that object. You can rename objects prior to and following the solution
process.

Using the Design Modeler we will ‘draw’ our system part(s) using basic drawing
tools and then extrude our 2D cross-sections into 3D elements. To do this now, follow
these steps:

 First, change the Units from the default of m to inch using the toolbar Units if you
notice that the units on the window scale are in shown in m instead of inch.
 Second, click on the YZ Plane leaf, which is located in the Tree utline on the LHS,
to have that plane available to draw on with a 2D shape. This will make the X axis the
axial direction axis.
 Third, change the selection from the Modeling Tab showing the Tree Outline to the
Sketching Tab that allows drawing to begin.

At this point you should see a set of Draw options listed in the LHS menu. The rest
of the options included in the Sketching Tab are hidden under the Modify, Dimension,
Constraints, and Settings items.

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Draw Options under

Sketching Tab

X‐axis is Axial
Direction
In the Mechanical Tree Outline you should see a Mesh leaf. Right-click on Mesh
and then select Generate Mesh. For now we will use the default mesh element. Later in
the semester we will talk more about what happens when you change the type of element
or the size of the elements used to define the mesh. Once the mesh is generated it will
appear on the 3D bar as shown. The default ANSYS element type is officially a 3D
quadratic tetrahedron (solid) element. Typically you will not need to any other solid
element.

Solving the Problem by Running an Analysis and Viewing Analysis Results

Try to run the analysis now by right-clicking on the Solution leaf in the LHS
menu and clicking Solve. This will confirm there are no model errors or missing
components. The analysis will run and finish, but you will not be able to look at any of
the analysis results. You can confirm that the analysis was successful by checking the
Project window and noting all the nice green check marks all the way through the
Results cell or by noting the green checks on the Solution and Solution Information
leaves in the Mechanical window view.

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To be able to see and visually review the analysis results you will need to tell
ANSYS exactly what you want to see. There are many options so we need to be careful
in defining what we want to see. The results we are interested in for this first analysis
problem with the axial bar are axial stress and axial deformation results.

To set-up a viewer for the Axial (Normal) Stress we will select Solution->Insert-
>Stress->Normal Stress

We do not need to change the Orientation in the bottom left menu from the axis since
this is the axial direction we are interested in. If it was not then we would need to change
this information to get normal stress in other directions.

To set-up a viewer for the Axial (Normal) Deformation we will select Solution-
>Insert->Deformation- >Directional

In the bottom left menu again we do not need to change the Orientation from the X axis.

Now you can run the analysis again by right-clicking on Solution and then Evaluate
All Results or right- clicking on Solution and then Solve.

Viewing Axial (Normal) Stress Results

Click on the ISO view if not done already. To view the normal stress in the bar just left
click on the Normal Stress leaf in the Tree Outline. Change the view to Smooth
Contours from Contour Bands to smooth out the stress transitions shown using the
toolbar option under the banded icon.

Your view should change to show the color stress levels as shown below. According to
the results provided by ANSYS the Normal Stress in the bar varies in value according to
the color legend shown.

Cell States

ANSYS tries to help out the modeler by showing states for what is still to be done, what
needs to be updated, and what is up to date. The blue question mark indicates Attention
Required. All of the cell’s inputs are current; however, you must take a corrective action
to proceed. To complete the corrective action, you may need to interact with this cell or
with an upstream cell that provides data to this cell. Cells in this state cannot be updated
until the corrective action is taken.

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The yellow lightning bolt indicates Update Required. Signifies that local data has
changed and the output of the cell needs to be regenerated. When updating a Refresh
Required cell, the Refresh operation will be performed and then the Update operation will
be performed.

The green check mark indicates Up to Date. An Update has been performed on the cell
and no failures have occurred. It is possible to edit the cell and for the cell to provide up-
to-date generated data to other cells.

Other Things You Can Do With The Results Obtained for the Axial Bar Problem

Animation of Deformation and Stress

You can run the Animation in the bottom Graph view and see how the stress and/or
deformation increases as the load is increased from 0 lb to 10,000 lb for this problem.

Review Normal Strain Results

Add a Review of Normal Strain using Solution->Insert->Strain->Normal and running
the analysis again. Note than the Strain across most of the bar is constant. This is due to
having the same internal stress (and force since we have the same cross-sectional area)
for this region of the bar. We can check if the strain value is correct by comparing the
analysis value of 4.3912x10-4 in/in to the calculated value of 4.3904x10-4 in/in.

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CHAPTER-6

MODELLING OF LEAF SPRING

6.1 STANDARD SEMI ELLIPTICAL LEAF SPRING

This chapter involves the determination of bending stress by using mathematical
formula. Determination of length of leaf spring leaves, consequently the rotation angle
and the radius of curvatures of each leaf, these are used in geometric modeling. There is a
difference in measurement between the terms "spring arch" and "spring camber". Both are
a height measurement, and both are referenced from the center mounting surface. Arch is
measured to the center of the end mounting eyes. Camber is measured to the top of the
main leaf immediately below the center of the end eyes. As such, if you load the spring
until the main leaf is flat, camber will be zero, but arch will be 1/2 the diameter of the end
eye.

Fig. 6.1. Standard Semi elliptical leaf spring

Distance between eyes = 1100

Camber = 96.8
Height = 167.64
For the leaf spring in original form,
Free Camber = 3.60" (factory specification)
spring eye = 1-1/4" diameter (0.625"- radius).
Leaf thickness = 7/32"
Number of functional leaves = 6

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Fig. 6.2. Standard height of semi elliptical leaf spring

If you place the original leaf spring upside down on the floor, then start measuring from
the floor up, you get:
0.22 = Thickness of top loop
1.25 = Eye inside diameter
3.60 = Free camber
1.31 = Spring thickness (7/32 x 6 leaves)
0.22 = Bottom plate (short, flat, non-functional)
6.60 = Total spring height, not including center bolt

6.2 LENGTH OF LEAF SPRING LEAVES

The length of the leave spring leaves obtained as discussed below

Let

2LI = Length of span or overall length of the spring

I = Distance between centers of U- Bolts

It is the ineffective length (I.L) of the leaf spring

nF = Number of full length leaves

nG = Number of graduated leaves and

n = Total number of leaves = nF + nG

E.L = Effective length of the spring = 2LI – (2/3) I

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Effective length
Length of smallest leaf = X1 + Ineffective length
n−1

Effective length
Length of next leaf = X2 + Ineffective length
n−1

Similarly,

Effective length
Length of (n − 1)Th = X1 + X (n − 1) + Ineffective length
n−1

Length of master leaf = 2LI + 2π (d+t)

Where

d = Inside diameter of eye

t = Thickness of master leaf

Relation between radius of curvature (R) and the camber (C) of the spring

C (2R – C) = LI2

Total Length Of Leaf Spring (Eye to Eye) 1100 mm

Arc Height At Axle Seat 170 mm
Thickness Of Leaf Spring 6 mm
Width Of Leaf Spring 56 mm
Outer Diameter Of Eye 50 mm
Inner Diameter Of Eye 44 mm
Table 6.1: Design Parameters Of Steel Leaf Spring.

The following table shows the specifacitions of a leaf spring in catia v5

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6.3 FINAL DESIGNED MODEL OF LEAF SPRING IN CATIA V5

FOR 55 Si 7.

Fig. 6.3 55 si 7 Leaf Spring Designed in Catia v5

6.4 DESIGN PARAMETERS OF COMPOSITE LEAF SPRING.

Total Length Of Leaf Spring (Eye to Eye) 965 mm

Arc Height At Axle Seat 125 mm
Thickness At Centre 60 mm
At Ends 10 mm
Width At Centre 30 mm
At Ends 45 mm

Table 6.2: Design Parameters of Composite Leaf Spring.

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6.5 FINAL DESIGNED MODEL OF LEAF SPRING IN CATIA V5 E-

GLASS/EPOXY LEAF SPRING AND JUTE/EGLASS/EPOXY.

Fig. 6.4 Composite leaf Spring Designed in Catia

1. By varying the dimensions and considering the composite material large variation of
stress, strain and deformation is obtained when compared with 55 si 7 steel.

2. By considering the modified design values the weight of E-glass/Epoxy leaf spring
weight 2.8 Kg and Jute/E-glass/Epoxy leaf spring weighs 2 Kg.

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CHAPTER-7

ANALYSIS OF LEAF SPRING

7.1 PROCEDURE USED TO FIND THE RESULTS IN ANSYS:

Select type of analysis Static structural [Double click] >Engineering data [Double
click] >Isentropic materials >Update project (select) >Return to project >Geometric (Right
click) >Import Geometry > Browse > from desktop>Model[RC] > Edit > Select geometry
> part select structural >Mesh(Right click) > Generate mesh > Select the surface where we
want to fix > static structural > > Insert > Fixed support > ctrl Select the surface b> static
structural > insert > Displacement > xo > 250>Zo enter > Right click on solution > solve >
Right click solution > Deformation > Total Deformation > Right click on solution > insert
> strain > Equivalent –von mesh > solution > Insert > stress > maximum shear stress >
solution Right click > Insert > stress > Equivalent –von mesh > Right click on solution >
insert >stress> maximum shear stress > Right click on solution > Evaluate all results >
Total Deformation > play > next report preview Engineering materials + General materials
Al + Add Update project return to project.

7.2 STATIC STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS FOR (55 Si 7) STEEL LEAF

SPRING

Fig. 7.1 Total deformation 500N (55 Si 7 steel)

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Fig. 7.2 Equivalent Stress 500N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.3 Equivalent Elastic Strain 500N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.4 Total deformation1000N (55 Si 7 steel)

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Fig. 7.5 Equivalent Stress 1000N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.6 Equivalent Elastic Strain 1000N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.7 Total deformation 1500N (55 Si 7 steel)

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Fig. 7.8 Equivalent Stress 1500N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.9 Equivalent Elastic Strain 1500N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.10 Total deformation 2000N (55 Si 7 steel)

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Fig. 7.11 Equivalent Stress 2000N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.12 Equivalent Elastic Strain 2000N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.13 Total deformation 2500N (55 Si 7 steel)

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Fig. 7.14 Equivalent Stress 2500N (55 Si 7 steel)

Fig. 7.15 Equivalent Elastic Strain 2500N (55 Si 7 steel)

7.3 STATIC STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS FOR E-GLASS/EPOXY

LEAF SPRING.

Fig. 7.16 Total deformation 1000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.17 Total deformation 2000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.18 Total deformation 3000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.19 Equivalent Elastic Strain 1000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.20 Equivalent Elastic Strain 2000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.21 Equivalent Elastic Strain 3000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.22 Equivalent Stress 1000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.23 Equivalent Stress 2000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.24 Equivalent Stress 3000N (E-GLASS/EPOXY)

7.4 STATIC STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS FOR JUTE/E-

GLASS/EPOXY.

Fig. 7.25 Total deformation 1000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.26 Total deformation 2000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.27 Total deformation 3000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.28 Equivalent Elastic Strain 1000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.29 Equivalent Elastic Strain 2000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.30 Equivalent Elastic Strain 3000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.31 Equivalent Stress 1000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

Fig. 7.32 Equivalent Stress 2000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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Fig. 7.33 Equivalent Stress 3000N (JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY)

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CHAPTER-8

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

8.1 THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS:

A semi-elliptical leaf spring may be considered as two cantilever leaf springs, and a full-
elliptical leaf spring.

Let

F= force applied at the end of the leaf spring

b = width of each leaf spring

t = thickness of each leaf

n = number of graduated leaves

l = length of the spring

σb = bending stress

Maximum bending movement, Mmax =F l

Mmax

Mmax nbt2 6F l
bending stress , σb = , where z= = σb =
Z 6 nbt2

6X 500 X 1049.26
σb = = 260.23 N/mm2
6 X 56 X 62

6Fl3
Maximum deflection, δ max =
Enbt2

6X 500 X 1049.263
δ max = = 238.75 mm
2.1X 103 X 6 X 56 X 63

P2
Strain energy U = A X E = 0.0009 MJ

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8.2 COMPARISON OF 55 SI 7 STEELS WITH THEORETICAL AND

SIMULATION RESULTS:

Total deformation (mm) Stress (N/mm2) Strain energy (MJ)

LOAD (N) Theoretical Ansys Theoretical Ansys Theoretical Ansys
values of values of values of values of values of values of
steel steel steel steel steel steel
500 238.75 194.56 260.23 167.05 0.0009 0.0007
1000 477.50 389.12 520.46 334.11 0.0019 0.0015
1500 716.25 583.68 780.699 501.16 0.0028 0.0023
2000 955.00 778.25 1040.93 668.21 0.0036 0.0031
2500 1193.76 972.81 1301.165 835.26 0.0046 0.0039

Table 8.1: Comparison between Theoretical and Simulation results of 55Si7.

DEFORMATION
1400

1200
DEFORMATION(mm)

1000

800

600 Theoretical values of steel

Ansys values of steel
400

200

0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500
LOAD (N)

GRAPH -8.1 Load Vs Deformation

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STRESS
1400

1200

1000
STRESS (N/mm2)

800

600 Theoretical values of steel

Ansys values of steel
400

200

0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500
LOAD (N)

GRAPH -8.2 indicates Load Vs Stress

STRAIN ENERGY
0.005
0.0045
0.004
STRAIN ENERG (MJ)

0.0035
0.003
0.0025
Theoretical values of steel
0.002
Ansys values of steel
0.0015
0.001
0.0005
0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500
LOAD (N)

GRAPH -8.3 Load Vs Strain energy

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8.3 COMPARISON BETWEEN [A](E-GLASS/EPOXY) LEAF SPRING

AND [B](JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY).

Total Stress (N/mm2) Strain energy (MJ)

Deformation(mm)
LOAD [A] [B] [A] [B] [A] [B]
(N)
1000 10.39 11.88 12.822 12.822 0.00053 0.00061
2000 20.78 23.76 25.644 25.645 0.00106 0.00122
3000 31.19 35.65 38.466 38.467 0.00160 0.0018
4000 41.59 47.53 51.287 51.289 0.0021 0.00244

Table 8.2: Comparison between E-Glass/Epoxy and Jute/E-Glass/Epoxy results.

50
DEFORMATION
45
40
DEFORMATION (mm)

35
30
25
20
15 E-GLASS/EPOXY
10 JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY
5
0
1000 2000 3000 4000
LOAD(N)

GRAPH -8.4 Load Vs Deformation.

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STRESS
60

50
STRESS (N/mm2)

40

30
E-GLASS/EPOXY
20 JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY
10

0
1000 2000 3000 4000
LOAD(N)

GRAPH -8.5 Load Vs Stress

STRAIN ENERGY
0.003

0.0025

0.002
STRAIN ENERGY (MJ)

0.0015
E-GLASS/EPOXY
0.001 JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY

0.0005

0
1000 2000 3000 4000
LOAD (N)

GRAPH -8.6 Load Vs Strain

8.4 COMPARISON OF WEIGHTS

Bar- Chart drawn for the comparison of weight of both steel and composite leaf
springs. The bar chart drawn below shows the comparisons in leaf spring weight (Kg) in
case of steel and composite material. From this comparison of bar chart it is easily
observed that the weight reduction in leaf spring. For steel leaf spring weight is 15kg and
for composite leaf springs it is 2 & 2.8 kg.

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16
WEIGHT (kg) 14
12
10
8
6
4
JUTE/E-GLASS/EPOXY
2
0 E-glass/Epoxy
55 SI 7

MATERIAL'S

GRAPH -8.7 indicates Weight Vs Material

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CHAPTER-9

CONCLUSIONS

9.1 CONCLUSIONS OF LEAF SPRING

The 3-D modeling of both steel and composite leaf spring is done and analyzed A
comparative study has been made between composite and steel leaf spring with respect to
Deflection , strain energy and stresses. From the results,
1. This research work provides optimum values for design variables (leaf spring
thickness and width) of hybrid composite leaf spring by using finite element
Analysis.
2. Weight can be reduced by 55% if steel leaf spring is replaced by Jute/E-
Glass/Epoxy hybrid composite leaf spring. Weight reduction reduces the fuel
consumption of the vehicle.
3. At various loading conditions, hybrid composite leaf spring is found to have
Lesser stresses and deflections as compared to conventional steel leaf spring.
4. Jute/E-glass/Epoxy hybrid composite has higher elastic strain energy storage
capacity than both steel and E-glass/Epoxy composite because it has lower
young’s modulus and lower density as compared to both. Hence hybrid
composite leaf spring can absorb more energy which leads to good comfortable
riding.
5. Jute/E-glass/Epoxy hybrid composite leaf spring is found to be more economical
than E-glass/Epoxy composite leaf spring as the cost of jute fiber is very much
less as compared to E-glass fiber and it is abundantly available in nature.

9.2 FUTURE SCOPE OF LEAF SPRING

Our work can be further continued to perform Dynamic loading
conditions and Design Optimization, to achieve Cost effective product that can
be commercially used.

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REFERANCES

[1] KumarKrishna and Aggarwal M.L, “A Finite Element Approach for Analysis of a
Multi Leaf Spring using CAE Tools” Research Journal of Recent Sciences ISSN 2277-
2502 Vol. 1(2), 92-96, Feb. (2012) Res.J.Recent Sci.

[2] Shishay and Amare Gebremeskel, “Design, Simulation, and Prototyping of Single
Composite Leaf Spring for Light Weight Vehicle”.Global Journal of Researches in
Engineering Mechanical and Mechanics Engineering Volume 12 Issue 7 Version 1.0 Year
2012 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global
Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-4596 Print ISSN:0975-5861

[3] Jadhav Mahesh V, Zoman Digambar B, Y R Kharde and R R Kharde,

“Performance Analysis of Two Mono Leaf Spring Used For Maruti 800 Vehicle”.
International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-2, Issue-1, December 2012.

[4] Y. N. V. Santhosh Kumar and M. Vimal Teja “Design and Analysis of Composite
Leaf Spring”. International Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (IJMIE),
ISSN No. 2231 –6477, Vol-2, Issue-1, 2012.

[5] Manas Patnaik, L.P. Koushik and Manoj Mathew, “Determination of Camber and
Leaf Span of a Parabolic Leaf Spring for Optimized Stress and Displacement Using
Artificial Neural Networks”. International Journal of Modern Engineering Research
(IJMER) www.ijmer.com Vol.2, Issue.4, July-Aug 2012 pp-2771-2773 ISSN: 2249-6645.

[6] Baviskar A. C., Bhamre V. and G., Sarode S. S, “ Design and Analysis of a Leaf
Spring for automobile suspension system”. A Review 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) pp 407-410.

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[7] Bhushan, B. Deshmukh and Dr. Santosh B. Jaju “ Design and Analysis of Fiber
Reinforce Polymer (FRP) Leaf Spring”. - A Review Int J Engg Techsci Vol 2(4)
2011,289-291

[8] M.venkatesan and D.helmen devaraj , “Design And Analysis Of Composite Leaf
Spring In Light Vehicle”. International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)
www.ijmer.com Vol.2, Issue.1, Jan-Feb 2012 pp-213-218 ISSN: 2249-6645.

[9] Gulur Siddaramanna, Shiva Shankar and Sambagam, “Mono Composite Leaf
Spring for Light Weight Vehicle – Design End Joint Analysis and Testing” ISSN 1392–
1320 Materials Science (Medžiagotyra). Vol. 12, No. 3. 2006

[10] M. M. Patunkar, D. R. Dolas, “Modelling and Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring

under the Static Load Condition by using FEA” International Journal of Mechanical
& Industrial Engineering, Volume 1 Issue 1-2011.

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