SPRING

DESIGN
• Virtually any part made from an elastic material has some “spring” to it.
• The term spring in the context of this chapter refers to parts made in particular
configurations to provide a range of force over a significant deflection and/or to store
potential energy.
• Springs are designed to provide a push, a pull, or a twist force (torque), or to primarily
store energy, and can be divided into those four general categories.
• Within each category, many configurations of springs are possible.
• Springs may be made of round or rectangular wire bent into a suitable form such as a coil, or
made of flat stock loaded as a beam.
SPRING
RATE

For springs in series the spring rates add reciprocally:

For springs in parallel, the individual spring rates add directly:

SPRING
CONFIGURATIONS
Types of springs on the basis of physical configuration

• All provide a push force and are capable of large deflections.

• Common applications are valve-return springs in engines, die springs, etc.
• The standard form has a constant coil diameter, constant pitch (axial distance between coils), and constant spring rate.
• It is the most common spring configuration, and many sizes are available off-the-shelf.
• Most are made of round wire, but they can be made from rectangular wire as well.
• The pitch can be varied to create a variable-rate spring.
• The low-rate coils will shut first, increasing the effective rate when they touch one another or “bottom.”
• Conical springs can be made with either a constant rate or an increasing one.
• Their spring rate is usually nonlinear, increasing with deflection, because the smaller diameter coils have greater
resistance to deflection and the larger coils deflect first.
• By varying the coil pitch, a nearly constant spring rate can be obtained.
• Their main advantage is the ability to close to a height as small as one wire diameter if the coils nest.
• Barrel and hourglass springs can be thought of as two conical springs back to back, also having a nonlinear spring rate.
• The barrel and hourglass shapes are used primarily to change the natural frequency of the spring from that of a standard
form.
• Figure shows a helical extension spring with hooks on each end.
• It provides a pull force and is capable of large deflections.
• These springs are commonly used in door-closers and counter balancers.
• The hook is more highly stressed than the coils and usually fails first.
• Anything suspended from the hook will fall when the extension spring breaks, making it a potentially unsafe design.
 • Figure c shows a drawbar spring, which overcomes this problem by using a helical compression spring in a pull
mode.
• The drawbars compress the spring and, if it breaks, will still support the load safely.

• Figure d shows a helical torsion spring, which is wound similar to the helical extension spring but is loaded in twist
(torque).
• Common applications are garage-door counter balancers, mousetraps, etc.
• Many different shapes and details on its “legs” are possible.
• Figure 14-2e shows five common varieties of spring washer.
• All provide a push force and are commonly used to load something axially, such as to take up end play on a bearing.
They typically have small deflections and, except for the Belleville, can only supply light loads.
• The volute spring in Figure f provides a push force but has significant friction and hysteresis.
Volute springs within buffer assemblies on a railway car
• Figure g shows three varieties of beam springs.
• Any beam type can serve as a spring.
• Cantilever and simply supported beams are the most common.
• A beam spring can be constant width or shaped as in the trapezoidal example shown.
• The spring rate and stress distribution can be controlled with changes in beam width or depth along its length.
• Loads can be high but deflections are limited.
Sample Springs and Dimensional Parameters for Helical Compression
Springs
Various Lengths of a Helical Compression Spring
in Use
End
Details
Four Styles of End-Coil Treatments for Helical Compression
Springs

Na: Active Coils

Nt : Number of
coils
Spring
Index
The spring index C is the ratio of coil diameter D to wire diameter d:

• The preferred range of C is from 4 to 12.

• At C < 4, the spring is difficult to manufacture, and at C > 12 it is prone to buckling and also tangles easily when
handled in bulk.
 Spring
Deflection • Figure shows a portion of a helical coil spring with compressive axial loads applied.
• Note that even though the load on the spring is compression, the spring wire is in torsion,
as the load on any coil tends to twist the wire about its axis.

Forces and Torques on the Coils of a Helical Compression

Spring
Force-Deflection Curve for a Standard Helical Compression
Spring
Stress Distributions Across Wire in a Helical
Compression Spring
 Pitch of helical compression spring
Four Styles of End-Coil Treatments for Helical Compression
Springs

Na: Active Coils

Nt : Number of
coils

Lf = p.Na + d Lf = p.(Na+1) Lf = p.Na + 3d Lf = p.Na + 2d

p = (Lf – d)/ Na p = Lf / (Na+1) p = (Lf –3d)/ Na p = (Lf –2d)/ Na

Free length Lf
Tensile strength of spring
wire
Torsional Yield
Strength
Set removal or setting the spring both are same term
Torsional endurance
limit
Zimmerli reports that all spring-steel wire of < 10-mm diameter exhibits a torsional endurance limit for infinite
life with stress ratio R = 0 (which, to differentiate from the fully reversed endurance limit, we will call S’ew ):

There is no need in this case to apply surface-, size-, or loading-correction factors to either S’fw or S’ew, since
the test data were developed with actual conditions for those aspects of the wire materials.
The Torsional-Shear S-N Diagram for
Spring Wire
The torsional strength Sms at 1000 cycles equal to
Problem Create the torsional-shear S-N diagrams for a range of spring-wire sizes.
Given ASTM A228 music wire, unpeened.
Assumptions Three diameters will be used: 0.010 in (0.25 mm), 0.042 in (1.1 mm), and 0.250 in (6.5 mm).
Buckling of Compression
Springs
Compression-Spring
Surge

• If allowed to go into resonance, the waves of longitudinal vibrations, called surging, cause the coils to impact one
another.
• The large forces from both the excessive coil deflections and impacts will fail the spring.
• To avoid this condition, the spring should not be cycled at a frequency close to its natural frequency.
• Ideally, the natural frequency of the spring should be greater than about 13 times that of any applied forcing
frequency.
• The natural frequency ωn or fn of a helical compression spring depends on its boundary conditions.
• Fixing both ends is the more common and desirable arrangement, as its fn will be twice that of a spring with one end fixed
and the other free.
• For the fixed-fixed case:

where k is the spring rate, Wa is the weight of the spring’s active coils, and g is the gravitational constant. It can be expressed
either as angular frequency ωn or linear frequency fn. The weight of the active coils can be found from

where γ is the material’s weight density. For total spring weight substitute Nt for Na.
Creating the Modified-Goodman Diagram for a Helical
Spring
Given The required cycle life is N = 1E6 cycles. Wire is 0.042-in (1.1-mm) dia.
Assumptions The torsional strengths and torsional shear stresses will be used on the Goodman diagram.

1. The material’s ultimate tensile strength converted to ultimate torsional strength allows one point on the Goodman line to
be determined:
2. The S-N diagrams each provide one data point (Sfw or Sew, depending on whether for finite or infinite life) on the
modified-Goodman line for a material/size combination in pure torsional loading.

The x and y intercepts are 0.5Sfw = 50 996 psi. This is plotted as point B on the diagram in Figure
stress ratio R = τmin/ τmax = 0)
τmax
τalt.

τmean
τmin = 0
Note in Figure 14-14 that the wire fatigue strength
Sfw is plotted at point B (τa = τ m = 0.5 Sfw)
corresponding to the test conditions of equal mean
and alternating stress components (stress ratio R =
τmin/ τmax = 0). Point B is then connected with the
ultimate shear strength Sus on the mean-stress axis
at point A to draw the Goodman line, which is
extended to point C.
3. We can now find the value of the fully reversed fatigue strength (R = –1), which is point C on the diagram. This
value can be found from the equation for the Goodman line, defined in terms of its two known points, A and B:
DESIGNING HELICAL COMPRESSION SPRINGS FOR
FATIGUE LOADING
A dynamically loaded spring will operate between two force levels, Fmin and Fmax. From these values, the alternating
and mean components of force can be calculated from

A force ratio RF can also be defined as:

In the most common spring-loading cases Fmin and Fmax are both positive, with the force ratio about 0 < RF < 0.8.
Considering residual stresses, bidirectional loading of coil springs is to be avoided, as it causes early failure.
The load line, which represents the applied stress state, is not drawn from the origin in this case, but rather from a point
on the τm axis representing the initial stress τi in the coils at assembly, as shown in Figure
This ratio can be derived from the geometry of the two lines. Let x represent the independent variable on the mean stress
axis, m represent the slope of a line and b its y intercept. Let the value on the load line for any x be yload.
The load-line equation is

From geometry

Let the value on the Goodman line for any x be yGood. Then its equation is:

At the failure point, yload = yGood.

where the fully reversed endurance limit (point C) from Example 14-3 is
Design of a Helical Compression Spring for Cyclic Loading

Problem Design a compression spring for a dynamic load over a given deflection.

Given The spring must give a minimum force of 60 lb and a maximum force of 150 lb over a dynamic deflection
of 1.00 in. The forcing frequency is 1000 rpm. A 10-year life of 1-shift operation is desired.

Assumptions Music wire (ASTM A228) will be used, since the loads are dynamic.
Peening will be used to obtain a higher endurance strength.