International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

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

Design and Analysis of a Leaf Spring for automobile

suspension system: A Review
Baviskar A. C.1, Bhamre V. G.2, Sarode S. S.3
1

M.E. Student,

2,3

Associate Prof., Mechanical Engg. Dept., S.N.D.COE & R.C. Yeola, Dist.-Nasik, India
Several papers were devoted to the application of
composite materials for automobiles I. Rajendran
studied the application of composite structures for
automobiles and design optimization of a composite leaf
spring. Great effort has been made by the
automotive Multi leaf springs used in automotive
vehicles normally consists of full length leaves and
graduated length leaves. The specimen under this
research work consists of nine leaves, two eye pins,
centre bolt with nut etc CAE tools are being used to
analyze the
robustness and
performance
of
components and assemblies. It uses a numerical
technique called the finite element method (FEM). Using
FEA Multi leaf spring is modeled using the discrete
building blocks called elements. Each element has some
equations that describe how it responds to certain loads.
The sum of the response of all the elements in the model
gives the total response of the design. CAE depends
upon actual assumptions of the assembly which acts
as input data. CAE has become an important
technology with benefits such as lower costs and a
shortened design cycle.

Abstract -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 including
ride 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
ther e is reviewed some papers on t h e 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.
Keywords - Leaf spring, finite element analysis, FEM,
CAE tool.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

I. Rajendran , S.Vijayarangan has presented an
artificial genetics approach for the design optimization
of composite leaf spring. The design variable (thickness
and width) of steel and composite leaf springs are
optimized by making use of GA (Genetic Algorithm).
Optimization using GA has contributed to a reduction of
8% of the steel spring weight and 23.4% of the composite
spring weight.
H.A. Al Qureshi has described a single leaf,
variable thickness spring of glass fiver reinforced
plastic (GFRP)
with
similar
mechanical
and
geometrical properties to the multi-leaf steel spring
was designed, fabricated and tested.
M.L Aggarwal ,V.P. Agrawal, R.A. Khan has
calculated fatigue strength of shot peening leaf spring
from laboratory samples of EN45A spring steel
specimen. A lot of research has been done to improve
fatigue strength of material by creating compressive
residual stress field in their surface layers through shot
peening .

I. INTRODUCTION
In order to conserve natural resources and economize
energy, weight reduction has been the main focus of
automobile manufacturer in the present scenario. Weight
reduction can be achieved primarily by the introduction
of better material, design optimization and better
manufacturing processes. The suspension leaf spring is
one of the potential items for weight reduction in
automobile as it accounts for ten to twenty percent of the
unstrung weight. This helps in achieving the vehicle with
improved riding qualities. It is well known that 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 introduction
of composite materials was made it possible to reduce the
weight of the leaf spring without any reduction on load
carrying capacity and stiffness. Since; the composite
materials have more elastic strain energy storage capacity
and high strength-to-weight ratio as compared to those
of steel.

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
The system consists of a hydraulic power pack to give
a hydraulic pressure of 20.6 M Pa with a flow rate of
210l pm, which is sent to a hydraulic actuator to operate
at a frequency of 0.3 Hz with the displacement specified
by the alternating load. This involves applying the axial
load on the leaf spring and measure the deflection and
bending
stress.
Supavut,Chantranuwathana
have
simulated a leaf spring model. An experimental leaf
spring model was verified by using a leaf spring test
rig The master leaf of a laminated spring is hinged to the
supports. The support forces induce, stresses due to
longitudinal forces and stresses arising due to possible
twist. Hence, the master leaf is more stressed compared
to other the graduated leaves. Methods to reduce
additional stresses could be,
1. Master leaf is made of stronger material than the
other leaves.
2. Master leaf is made thinner than the other
leaves. This will reduce the bending stress as
evident from stress equation.
3. Another common practice is to increase the
radius of curvature of the master leaf than the
next leaf that can measure vertical static
deflection of leaf spring under static loading
condition.

W. Hufenbach & F. Adam has presented a method

to adjust the spring r a t e of an leaf spring element.
For dimensioning of this system a strategy was
developed and validated. The tests of manufactured leaf
spring elements with different reinforcements show a
good agreement between the calculation and the
measured characteristic.
B.Vijaya Lakshmi has presented the static analysis
on 8-leafs we can concluded that E-glass epoxy is better
than using Mild-steel as though stresses are little bit
higher than mild steel, E-glass epoxy is having good
yield strength value (5e+008N/m2) and also epoxy
material components are easy to manufacture and this
having very low weight.
III. LAMINATED SEMI-E LLIPTIC SPRING
A laminated semi-elliptic spring .The top leaf is
known as the master leaf. The eye is provided for
attaching the spring with another machine member.
The amount of bend that is given to the spring from the
central line, passing through the eyes, is known as
camber. The camber is provided so that even at the
maximum load the deflected spring should not touch
the machine member to which it is attached. The
camber shown in the figure is known as positive
camber. The central clamp is required to hold the leaves
of the spring. However, the bolt holes required to engage
the bolts to clamp the leaves weaken the spring to some
extent. Rebound clips help to share the load from the
master leaf to the graduated leaf.

A. Stresses due to support hinges

Fig 3.2 Nipping of leaf spring

The master leaf has a larger radius of curvature

compared to the additional leaf that is placed below so
obviously a gap will be created between the two leaves
as indicated in the figure. Now, an initial bent is created
during assembly by tightening the central bolt. Therefore,
some amount of compressive stress will be produced at
the inside curvature of the master leaf. Similarly, at the
outside curvature of the master leaf tensile stress will be
produced. Both these stresses are initial stresses in the
master leaf.

Fig 3.1 Laminated semi-elliptic leaf spring

The leaf spring involves two full length leaves and

seven graduated leaves, four packing which are made
of 65Si7 material. This conventional leaf spring model
consists of 37 parts which, includes two full length leave,
seven graduated leaves. The remaining part involves
four rebound clips of MS, four shim pipes of
C.D.S.T/ERW, centre nut & bolt and bush of bronze. The
experimental setup consists of a full scale testing
machine for leaf spring, jigs and fixture.

407

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)
However, by such operation of tightening the central
bolt, the additional leaf that is placed beneath the master
leaf has a tendency to flatten out and as a result the stress
pattern of the additional leaf will be reverse of that of the
master leaf, tensile stress is produced at the inner
curvature and compressive stress is produced at the outer
curvature. Hence, when the spring is loaded, for both the
master leaf and the additional leaf, tensile stress will be
produced at the inner curvature and compressive stress
will be produced at the outer curvature. Therefore, due to
opposite nature of initial stress and loading stress, the
master leaf will experience lesser stress on both the
surfaces. However, due to same nature of initial stress
and loading stress, the additional leaf is stressed more
compared to the master leaf. But, it is to be noted that the
higher stress on the additional leaf is actually shared
between all other leaves than the master leaf. This
practice of stress relief in the master leaf is known as
Nipping of leaf spring. As a matter of fact, all the
leaves of a laminated leaf spring do have certain amount
of nipping, so that there will be gaps between the leaves,
as a result the stresses will be uniformly distributed and
accumulated dusts can also be cleaned.

This old crack exhibited features indicative of a

corroded surface, as can be seen fracture between the old
crack and the mid-plane was also rusted but less so than
the old crack. The fracture mode in the old crack was
difficult to see because of corrosion and physical damage.
However, a few small areas were clear enough to reveal
uniform, very small micro voids. Fracture between the
old crack and the mid-plane was also by micro void
coalescence, but the void size was duplex with large and
small micro voids. The fracture was also rougher. X-ray
spectroscopy of the old crack in the SEM revealed
unusually high peaks for oxygen, silicon, calcium,
chlorine, sulfur, and aluminum, the X-ray spectra from
the old crack. Calcium, silicon, and aluminum are
contamination elements, because they should not be
present at the observed concentrations on a 5160 steel
fracture surface. The geological report revealed calcium
carbonate, alumina, and, to a lesser extent, silica were a
major portion of the road material. Chlorine was not
reported in the roadbed analysis, and roads are not
salted for ice where the vehicle was driven. obvious
source for chlorine in this case was the known transport of
the vehicle by an ocean-going ship. The high oxygen level
is consistent with corrosion. The source of the sulfur is
not known at this time, area of thumbnail-shaped
crack origins on the inside diameter (ID) surface.
Woody fracture regions on this specimen were observed
to be areas of decohesion of flat, elongated sulfide
inclusions with regions of very fine micro voids in the
broken ligaments. Bands of intergranular fracture were
observed to be mixed in with the fracture, both of
these morphologies together. X-ray analysis of the
intergranular fracture area and the woody area strong
peaks for carbon, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and chlorine.
For comparison, X-ray analysis of the clean, inboard half
of the fracture revealed only a small peak for silicon in
addition to the normal peaks for iron, manganese, and
chromium.

IV. LEAF S PRING F AILURE

The determination of the point of failure during an
accident sequence of a rear leaf spring in a sport utility
vehicle is presented in terms of fracture surface
analysis and residual-strength estimates. Marks at the
scene of the accident pointed to two possibilities for
the point of failure: marks in the roadway at the start
of the accident sequence and a rock strike near the end
of the sequence. Evidence from rust and chemical
contamination on the fracture pointed to the spring
having been cracked in half prior to the accident.
Extensive woody fracture and secondary cracking at the
mid-plane of the spring was evidence for segregation
and weakness in the spring. Stress estimates for the
effect of both the weakness and prior cracking on the
residual strength of the spring revealed reductions in
strength of the spring that could produce fracture at
the start of the accident sequence. The point of failure
of the spring was placed at the start of the accident
sequence. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was
used to examine the fracture on the eye at higher magnifications. Examination of the mid-plane fracture was
difficult because the mid-plane fracture surface faced the
surface of the spring itself. Such a geometry creates
signal detection problems, particularly for X-ray
analysis. However, significant results were achieved by
repeated repositioning of the spring eye.

Fig 4.1 Secondary cracks at the mid-plane

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The toughness of the ID half of the spring was less than
that of the OD half because of the extensive presence of
intergranular fracture, which is evidence for
embrittlement. Therefore, the combination of a stable tear
and dynamic loading probably further reduced the final
longitudinal rupture force below 0.72 g. criterion.
The mid-plane segregation leading to delaminating
would be expected to arrest the running crack from the
outsidesurface, and it did. This would leave the spring
weakened but intact rubbing at the mid-plane
demonstrates that this arrest did occur. Residual
strength for this condition was estimated by assuming
the spring was cracked halfway through.

V. STRESS ANALYSIS
Stress calculations were performed to estimate the
reduction in strength in the spring resulting from cracks
existing before the accident and the mid-plane
segregation. Exemplar spring test data were also used to
provide a basis for estimating the reduction in strength.
The reduction-in-strength estimates were then used to
determine if normally expected dirt road forces in the
absence of a large rock strike were adequate to rupture this
spring. Finite-element stress analysis was used to study the
existence of transverse tensile stresses at the location of
the fracture. The leaf spring was secured directly to the
vehicle frame at the forward end and through a
shackle assembly at the end.

TABLE I

Parameters
Thickness of each leaf, mm

5.5

Width of the each leaf ,mm

34

Thickness of the fiber, mm

0.2

Width of the fiber, mm

34

Thickness of the resin, mm

Width of the resin, mm
Thickness of single layer, mm
Number of layers

Fig 5.1 Reaction forces on the spring eyes in the vehicle

These crack depth measurements for the old OD crack,

produced an estimate of 1460 MPa for an outer fiber
bending stress required for spring fracture. The calculated
outer fiber (or outer surface) bending stress estimated for
fracture in the presence of the small OD crack is at or
below the expected tensile strength for the spring. This
analysis indicates that the strength has been reduced when
compared to the nominal properties. Any delimitation in
the spring would raise the stresses and result in unstable
fracture at even lower force levels. (The observed
elimination would double the stresses.). The longitudinal
force required to produce the fracture initiation stress
predicted by fracture mechanics was estimated by elastic
bending calculations. The force to reach 146 M Pa was
estimated to be 23,000 N for no delimitation and
10,200 N for the observed elimination in the accident
spring. Using 48,200 N pull to failure from test results on
exemplar springs yielded a 52 to 79% reduction in spring
strength. These numbers demonstrate the serious
reduction in strength possible for both the small crack and
the delimitation. Evidence of the outer half being cracked
for some time indicates that the reduction in strength did
in fact occur. plane-strain unstable rupture occurred.

Values

0.075
34
0.275
20

Fig 5.2 Reaction forces in spring eye in the pull test test

A 12,900 N pull to rupture was estimated using

this approach. This is a 73% reduction in strength over
the exemplar springs, or 0.72 g forward deceleration for
a 17,800 N vehicle. Accelerations of 0.72 g or less are
in the range of reasonably expected forces for a vehicle
traveling on dirt or unimproved roads. Final rupture
forces for the spring were probably lower still.

409

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

Thumbnail regions were observed at the ID

surface on the accident aexemplar springs at
approximately 45 to the spring surface and to the rest
of the ID half of the fracture. These thumbnail regions
are at least plane-stress stable tear features.

VI. F INITE E LEMENT ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE

LEAF S PRING

With the extensive use of laminated composite

materials in almost all engineering fields, the optimal
design of laminated composites has been an extensive
subject of research in recent years. The dimensions of the
composite leaf spring are taken as that of the
conventional steel leaf spring. Each leaf of the composite
leaf spring consists of 20 plies of thickness 0.275 mm
each. The number of leaves is also the same for
composite leaf spring. The following graphs show the
analysis of spring.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]
Fig 6.2 Variation of experimental stress of steel and composite
springs.
[7]

[8]
[9]

[10]
Fig 6.3 Variation of longitudinal stress of composite leaf spring.
[11]

VII. CONCLUSION

E-glass epoxy is better than using Mild-steel as

though stresses are little bit higher than mild steel,
E-glass epoxy is having good yield strength value.
The prior cracking in the spring was extensive
enough to reduce the strength of the spring to
the point where normal dirt road forces were
adequate to produce rupture.
The weight of the leaf spring is reduced
considerably about 85 % by replacing steel leaf
spring with composite leaf spring. Thus, the
objective of reducing the unstrung mass.

[12]

The composite leaf spring is lighter than

conventional steel leaf spring with similar design
specifications but not always is cost- effective over
their steel counterparts. Composite materials have
more elastic strain energy storage capacity and high
strength to weight ratio as compared with those of
steel. Therefore, it is concluded that composite leaf
spring is an effective replacement for the existing
steel leaf spring in automobile.

[13]

410

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