第 31 卷 第 3 期 北 京 化 工 大 学 学 报 Vol. 31 , No.

3
2004 年 J OU RNAL OF B EIJ IN G UN IV ERSIT Y OF CHEM ICAL TECHNOLO GY 2004

Finite element analysis of an a ir spring f or

automobile suspension
Yang Wei2min1 3 　Chen Can2hui2 　Chen Ya2ling2 　Ren Yan2sha1
( 11College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering , Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029 , China ;
21 Times New Material Technology CO. L TD. ( TM T) , Zhuzhou 412000 , China)

Abstract : This paper is concerned wit h deformation and static characteristic analysis of air spring for automobile suspen2
sion. As an example , t he type of EQ6111 air spring has been analyzed in its performance characteristics of deformation
wit h variations in cord elastic modulus and cord angle. FEA results on t he load vs. t he displacement and t he internal pres2
sure vs. t he displacement are compared wit h t he test results , which agree wit h t he FEA results. The analysis met hod can
play an important role in t he design of air spring.
Key words : air spring ; nonlinear finite element met hod ; fiber2reinforced rubber composite ; cord angle

　　An air spring serves as a spring component wit h
t he elastic effect of compression and expansion of air
in a composite rubber bag. It has high carrying ca2
pacity and low nat ural f requency , so t hat it can great 2
ly enhance stability and comfort of vehicles. It has
been more and more widely used for automobile sus2
pension in advanced count ries. However , it ’s not a
long history since an air spring came to China , and
t here exist some difficulties in it s design and manufac2
t ure. Therefore , research and develop ment of an air
spring wit h high performance is in exigent demand.
Stiff ness is an important performance parameter
of an air spring. The t raditional design met hod is
t hough t he accuracy of experimental met hod is high ,
it ’s still at t he expense of time and money , and it is
too difficult to optimize t he st ruct ure.
In recent years , t he finite element met hod has
been used to calculate and analyze t he air spring due
to t he limitation of t raditional calculation met h2
ods[ 224 ] . Based on t he research on t he dynamical per2
formance simulation of t he radial tire[ 526 ] and t he
characteristics of large deformation of t he air spring ,
we analyzed EQ6111 air spring. The influence of t he
cord angle and t he Young’s modulus on t he deforma2
tion of t he inflated air spring has been st udied as t he
follows.

based on t hermodynamics t heory i. e. PV

n
= con2 1 　Simulation of air spring
stant . Using a graghical met hod and related assump2
111 　Structure analysis
tions , t he empirical formulas of various air springs[ 1 ]
An air spring is similar to a tire in st ruct ure.
can be deduced. But t he accuracy of t his met hod is
The bag for general use is made up of rubber material
too low to reflect t he influence of t he inner st ruct ure
in t he outer part and fiber2reinforced rubber compos2
on t he stiff ness. Currently , t he stiff ness of an air
ite in t he inner part ( as shown in Fig. 1) . When it is
spring is obtained primarily t hrough experiment . Al2
inflated wit h compressed air , t he load on t he air
spring is primarily born by t he cord fabric. The steel
Received : 2003211228
wire ring and t he inside rubber layer play t he f unction
Foundation item :Supported by the Nova Plan of Beijing (954811600)
of sealing. The mechanical behavior of an air spring
First aut hor : male , born in 1965 , professor
present s not only geomet ry nonlinearities , material
3 Corresponding aut hor
nonlinearities and load nonlinearities but contact non2
E2mail : yangwm @mail. buct . edu. cn ,
linearities.
 ・106 ・
(a) Mounting drawing of EQ6111 air spring
(b) Material distribution of t he air spring section
Fig. 1 　Sketch map of an automobile air spring
112 　FEM model
11211 　Material properties 　Compared wit h a tire ,
an air spring behaves very large deformation. Rubber
in a working air spring has an exceeding linear defor2
mation range. Therefore t he Mooney2Rivlin constit u2
tive model is adopted for t he st udy of rubber material
in t he st ruct ure wit h large deformation. C10 and C01
are achieved by a simple tension test , a planar tension
test and a biaxial extension test . The feat ure of t he
fiber2reinforced rubber composite is non2linear , vis2
coelasticity and anisot ropic. According to t he t heory
of composite material , t he cord2rubber composite is
usually assumed as a combination of two elastic mate2
rials , which can be considered isot ropic respectively ,
[7 ]
and t he viscoelasticity can be neglected
t he fiber2reinforced rubber composite can be assumed
as an elasticity , ort hot ropy and homogeneous materi2
al.
11212 　The changing of t he internal pressure 　Due
to t he large deformation of t he air bag , t he volume is
changing , and as a result t he internal pressure is not
constant. In t he calculation , an iterative met hod is
used to simulate t he change. Considering PV = con2
北 京 化 工 大 学 学 报 　　　　　　 　 　　　　　　　　　　2004 年
stant in a static analysis , we can deduce t he t ransient
pressure in each step after t he volume is calculated ,
t hen t he next step of t he calculation proceeds continu2
ously.
Using CAD software , we can get t he numeric
outline of an air spring. The fiber2reinforced rubber
composite is defined wit h an element solid46 in AN2
S YS software. The inner rubber layer , outer rubber
layer and t he t rigonal rubber are defined wit h an ele2
ment hyper58 , t he steel wire rings are defined wit h
solide45. The contact area is defined wit h targe170
and conta173. There are 987 nodes defined in an axi2
al cross section , 256 element s for t he composite lay2
er , 58 element s for t he steel wire ring and 495 ele2
ment s for t he rubber. The bead plate and piston are
fixed. And , t he pressure load is put on t he inner sur2
face. At first , t he inflated shape is calculated as t he
original state. And t hen t he total displacement of ±
90 mm is added wit h an increment of 10 mm in each
step . The changed pressure can be calculated. There2
fore , t he relation curve of t he internal pressure wit h
t he displacement can be obtained.
113 　Analysis results
11311 　 Result s of inflated deformation 　Analysis
condition : fix t he plate and piston in t he design
height , inflate t he air bag wit h 013 M Pa pressure un2
til t he system is balanced
( 1) Effect of cord angle on t he maximum outer
radius
The cord angle is one of t he most important pa2
rameter. From t he calculated result s , Fig. 2 and 3
show t hat t he outer radius notably changes wit h t he
cord angle. The outer radius will increase dramatical2
ly when t he cord angle is small. On t he cont rary , t he
. Therefore , increment of t he outer radius will be small if t he cord
angle is large. The calculated result s t urn out t hat t he
outer radius is sensitive wit hin a range of t he cord an2
gle f rom 30 degree to 60 degree.
( 2) Effect s of Young’s modulus of t he fabric2re2
inforced rubber composite on t he outer radius
Except t hat t he cord angle st rongly affect s t he
performance of an air spring , t he material property of
t he fabric composite is also quite an important factor.
 第 3 期 　 　　　Yang Wei2min et al : Finite element analysis of an air spring for automobile suspension ・107 ・

Fig. 4 　Increment of radius wit h respect to a cord modulus

11312 　Analysis result of stiff ness 　Analysis Condi2
(a) Cord angle :80 degree
tion : fix t he plate and piston in t he design height , in2
flate t he air bag wit h 015 M Pa pressure until t he sys2
tem is balanced , t hen compress t he plate wit h 90 mm
displacement , be back to design height , next , extend
t he plate wit h 90 mm displacement , and at last be
back to t he original position. In t his process , t he
force on t he upper cover plate and t he internal air
pressure will be calculated in each step of 10 mm dis2
placement .
Characteristic curves of t he air spring include t he
load vs. t he displacement curve , t he internal pressure
(b) Cord angle : 40 degree vs. t he displacement curve while t he stiff ness charac2
Fig. 2 　Strain distribution and deformation wit h a teristic curve is described by t he load vs. t he displace2
varied cord angle ment curve. The result s of t he finite element analysis
are shown in Fig. 5 :

(a) Load2displacement relation curve

Fig. 3 　Increment of diameter wit h respect to a cord angle

From t he analysis result s in Fig. 4 , it can be conclud2

ed t hat t he diameter of t he air spring will increase and
t he st resses in t he steel wire ring are quite large when
t he Young ’s modulus of t he cord fabric material is
small , vice versa. But when t he Young’s modulus in2 (b) Internal pressure2displacement relation curve
creases up to a certain degree , t he diameter of t he air Fig. 5 　FEA results wit h t he static characters
spring will change mildly. on an air spring
 ・108 ・ 北 京 化 工 大 学 学 报 　　　　　　 　 　　　　　　　　　　2004 年

steel spring.
2 　Experimental results
211 　Equipment and Method
The static characteristic test was carried out ac2
cording to GB/ T 13061 - 91 of China. Install t he air
spring on a load displacement tester to give a vertical
displacement to t he air spring , which is shown in
Fig. 6. Set t he air spring at standard height , and (a) Load2displacement relations given by experiments

(b) Internal pressure2displacement relations given by experiments

Fig. 7 　Static characteristic tested results wit h
EQ6111 air spring

Fig. 6 　Experimental equipment for EQ6111 air spring In condition of 015 M Pa internal pressure , t he

t hen supply compressed air into t he air spring. Mea2 tested result s and Finite Element Analysis result s

sure and record t he load and t he internal pressure in were compared in Fig. 8. Obviously t here is a good

t he air spring under t his condition , and t hen compres correlation between t hem.

t he air spring down to a possible maximum compres2

sion , measure t he load and find t he relation between
t he pressure and t he deformation. Furt hermore ex2
tend it up to a possible maximum lengt h , give again
t he displacement up to t he standard height , record
t he load and t he internal pressure for every 10 mm
(a) Load2Displacement relation curve
displacement .
212 　Experimental results and discussion
( 1) Experimental result s
Using t he above met hod , t he static characteristic
test s were done at different internal pressures , which
is 013 , 015 and 017 M Pa respectively. The load vs.
t he displacement curve and t he internal pressure vs. (b) Internal pressure2displacement relation curve

t he displacement curve are shown in Fig. 7.
( 2) Discussion
The experimental result s demonst rate t hat t he
air spring can provide varied loads by adjusting t he in2
ternal pressure , and t he stiff ness of t he air spring
varies wit h t he load , which will lead to a constant
nat ural f requency. Those advantages make t he air
suspension more comfortable and smoot her t han a
Fig. 8 　Comparison between tested results and FEA results
3 　Conclusion
The analysis was carried out for t he deformation
behavior and t he static stiff ness characteristics of an
air spring wit h fiber2reinforced rubber composites.
The analysis result s demonst rate t hat t he cord angle
and t he fabric elastic modulus have a great effect on
 第 3 期 　 　　　Yang Wei2min et al : Finite element analysis of an air spring for automobile suspension ・109 ・

t he deformation , and consequently t hose factors will
have a great effect on t he static characteristics of t he
air spring.
The application of Finite Element Met hod to t he
air spring has broken t he limitation of t he t raditional
experiential formula , which can be used to analyse
t he st ruct ure are manufact ure parameters of an air
spring. And application of FEA to an air spring will
play a more and more important role for t he design
and manufact ure in t he f ut ure.
ment met hod [ J ] . Machinery Design & Manufacture ,
2002 ( 4) : 17 - 18
[ 3 ] 　Zhao Hong2lun , Zhang Guang2shi. A study on nonlinear
lateral stiffness of air spring for high speed railway [J ] .
Journal of t he China Railway Society , 1999 ,21 ( 5) : 30 -
33
[ 4 ] 　Zhang Guangshi , Kong J un. The development and design
of automobile suspension air spring [ J ] . Automobile
Technology , 2002 ( 1) : 5 - 7
[ 5 ] 　Yang Wei2min. Computer simulation and optimum design
of radial tire performance[J ] . Rubber Industry , 2001 ,48
( 1) : 32 - 37 ;

References [ 6 ] 　Yang Weimin , Cui Wenyong , Ding Yumei , et al . Influ2

[ 1 ] 　Zhang Jianwen , Zhang Dejun , Lin Yi , et al . Survey of ences of cord pretension rate on radial tire performance in2

automotive air spring suspension system [J ] . Journal of dexes[ J ] . China Synt hetic Rubber Industry , 1999 , 22

Highway and Transportation Research and Development , ( 3) : 182

2002 ( 12) : 151 - 155 [ 7 ] 　Jones R M. Composite material mechanics [ M ] . Shang

[ 2 ] 　Wu Shanyue , Huang Yingyun. The calculation of rectan2 Hai Science and Technology Publishing House , 1981 , 6

gular type air spring ’s vertical stiffness wit h finite ele2 　

汽车减震用空气弹簧的有限元分析
杨卫民1 　陈灿辉2 　陈亚玲2 　任燕莎1
( 11 北京化工大学机电工程学院 ,北京 　100029 ; 21 时代新材料技术公司 ,株州 　412000)

摘 　要 : 论文研究了汽车减震用空气弹簧在变形情况下的静力学特征 。以 EQ6111 型空气弹簧作为研究对

象 ,改变空气弹簧帘布层的弹性模量和帘线角 ,然后用实验分析其在变形情况下的力学性能 。用有限元分析
方法研究了空气弹簧在外力作用下的变形以及对应的内部压力 。有限元方法和实验结果吻合良好 。
关键词 : 空气弹簧 ; 非线性有限元方法 ; 纤维增强橡胶成分 ; 帘线角
( 责任编辑 　刘同帅)

( 上接第 104 页)

Application of multilayer f uzzy synthetic evaluation

to analysis of injury
Wang Ming2ming 　Sui Wei2ying
(College of Economy and Management , Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029 , China)

Abstract : A new model to evaluate anti2dumping injury and t he injury degree by multiplayer f uzzy synt hetic e2
valuation was proposed for injury research on anti2dumping cases. In t his model , injury indexes were quantified
and classified scientifically and reasonably , and t hen t he injury and injury degree were evaluated by multiplayer
f uzzy synt hetic evaluation , so t hat higher scientific evaluation of injury and injury degree and more t ransparent
and fair adjudge to anti2dumping injury research were obtained. This model can offer an assistance to govern2
ment depart ment s for t he final judgment of dumping and anti2dumping cases.
Key words : anti2dumping ; injury ; injury degree ; multilayer f uzzy synt hetic evaluation ( 责任编辑 　刘同帅)