International Conference on

“Trends in Product Life Cycle, Modeling,

Simulation and Synthesis”
PLMSS 2014
Paper ID : 1007

Design for Fatigue and Simulation of

Glass
Fibre / Epoxy Composite Automobile
Leaf Spring
Presented By
Amol Bhanage & Dr. K.
Padmanabhan SMBS,
VIT University, Vellore
 Contents

• Objective & Background

• Specification & Material properties of Leaf Spring
• FE Modelling of Leaf Spring
• Static analysis & Ride Comfort
• Finite Element Based Fatigue Analysis
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusion & Future scope
• References

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 1.Objective
• In the present work, steel leaf spring used in passenger cars is
replaced with a composite leaf spring made of a glass/epoxy
composite. The primary objective is to compare fatigue
characteristics of SAE1045-450-QT steel and E – Glass/ Epoxy
Composite material.

• Factors like fatigue life, fatigue damage, biaxiality indication etc.

are plotted for steel and composite materials and predict the
fatigue performance using ANSYS Workbench software.

• Therefore the objective of this paper is to present a design and

simulation study on the fatigue performance of a glass
fibre/epoxy composite leaf spring through design and finite
element method and prove the reliability of the validation
methods based only on simulation, thereby saving time,
material and production costs for a complete product realization.

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 2. Background

Author Conclusion
Senthilkumar Composite multi leaf spring using glass fibre reinforced
Mouleeswaran [2] polymer compared to steel spring, found to have
67.35% lesser stress, 64.95% higher stiffness and
126.98% higher natural frequency and also weight
reduction of 68.15% is achieved compared to steel leaf
spring.

D.N.Dubey, Composite leaf springs would offer substantial weight

S.G.Mahakalkar [7] savings by using mono leaf spring in passenger cars.
Mono parabolic leaf spring of a Maruti Omni used HM
and HS Carbon polymers composite material.

Makarand B. Shirke and The life of the spring is an important criterion. In this
Prof. V .D .Wakchaure aspect as well composite leaf spring proves to be much
[5] better than EN45 steel leaf spring.

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 2. Background

Author Conclusion
Shishay Amare Constant cross section design of mono leaf springs is
Gebremeskel [4] employed to take advantages of ease of design
analysis and its manufacturing process. Resulting
design and simulation stresses are much below the
strength properties of the material, satisfying the
maximum stress failure criterion .

Sachin Kr. Patel,
A.K. Jain and
Pratik Gandhi [9]
J.A.M. Ferreira,
J.D.M. Costa,
P.N.B. Reis, M.O.W.
Richardson [8]
Composite materials have high elastic strain energy
storage capacity and high strength to weight ratio
Therefore, composite leaf spring is an effective
replacement for the existing steel leaf spring in
automobile.
The fatigue strength is strongly influenced by the layer
design.
0 laminate results have values 1.5-1.8 times higher
than +45/0/-45 and +30/-30/0 laminates which
exhibit similar fatigue strengths.

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 3. Specification and Material Properties of
Leaf Spring
Table No.1 Specification of Existing
Leaf Spring
Parameters Value

Total Length of the spring (Eye to Eye) 1200 mm

Free Camber (At no load condition) 120 mm

Thickness of leaf 8 mm

Width of leaf spring 60 mm

Maximum Load given on spring 3250 N

No. of full length leave (Master Leaf) 01

E – Glass/ Epoxy Composite

No. of full length leaves 04

SAE1045-450-QT

Fig. 1 Isometric view & Dimension of

Mono
E – Glass Epoxy Composite
Leaf
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 3. Specification and Material Properties of
Leaf Spring
Table .2: Mechanical and Cyclic Properties of Table .3: Mechanical and Cyclic Properties of E
SAE1045-450- QT [11,12] glass/ Epoxy Composite material [11. 12]

Material Properties Value Material Properties Value

Elastic Modulus (E), GPa 207 Tensile modulus along X-direction (Ex), MPa 34000

Yield Tensile Strength , MPa 1515 Tensile modulus along Y-direction (Ey), MPa 6530
Ultimate Tensile Strength, MPa 1584
Tensile modulus along Z-direction (Ez), MPa 6530
Cyclic Strength Coefficient (K’) 1874
Tensile strength of the material, MPa 900
Fatigue Strength Coefficient (Sf) 1686
Compressive strength of the material, MPa 450
Fatigue Strength Exponent (b) -0.06
Shear modulus along XY-direction (Gxy), MPa 2433
Fatigue Ductility Exponent (c ) -0.83

Fatigue Ductility Coefficient (Ef) 0.79 Shear modulus along YZ-direction (Gyz), MPa 1698

Cyclic Strain Hardening Exponent (n’) 0.09

Shear modulus along ZX-direction (Gzx), MPa 2433
Density , Kg/m 3
7.7  10 3

Poisson ratio along XY-direction (NUxy) 0.217

Possion’s ratio 0.266

Behaviour Isotropic Poisson ratio along YZ-direction (NUyz) 0.366

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 4. Finite Element Modelling
• Assumptions:
 SAE1045-450-QT multi leaf and E-Glass Epoxy composite mono leaf spring
modeled with constant thickness and constant width design.
 Unidirectional (0) E-Glass Epoxy composite layup are assumed along the
longitudinal direction of spring.
 The constraints parameter i.e. dimensions and boundary condition of SAE1045-
450-QT multi leaf spring is same as that of E-Glass Epoxy composite leaf spring.
 Fatigue life predication of leaf spring based on finite element analysis using
Stress life approach.

• Element & Meshing:

Fig. 3 Geometric Mesh Model – Mono

Fig. 2 Geometric mesh model –
Composite Leaf Spring
SAE 1045-450-QT leaf spring

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 4. Finite Element Modelling
• Boundary Condition and Loading:

D.O.F. Constrained Front Eye Rear Eye

Translation X, Y & Z direction Y & Z direction

Constrained

Rotation X & Z direction X & Z direction

Constrained

Allowing Free Y rotation Free X translation &

Y rotation

Table. 4 : Boundary condition – Mono Leaf Fig.. 4 Boundary condition – Leaf Spring
Spring

For E-Glass Epoxy composite leaf spring modeling 10 lamina of 0 degree fiber orie
(Element – Shell 181) (thickness of each lamina

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 5. Static Analysis and Ride Comfort
Table. 5 Comparison result of Stress for Static Results :
SAE 1045-450 - QT and E-Glass Epoxy Composite
Shear stress (τ12= 6.77 MPa) multiplied
Material
by a factor of ‘9’ (9*3 = 60.93 MPa) is
SAE1045- E-Glass Epoxy much less than the shear strength (S =
Parameters 450-QT Composite
68.95 MPa) of the specified composite
material, E-glass/Epoxy.
Maximum load in N 3250 3250
Specifying the criteria : (9*τ12< S),
Absolute Maximum 724.52 715
Stress , MPa Design is safe even for the flexural
Table 6 Natural frequency of SAE 1045-450-QT and
failure. E-Glass Epoxy Composite material
Stiffness, N/mm 24.33 53.59
SAE1045-450- QT E- Glass Epoxy
Modes
Frequency Hz Frequency Hz

Ride Comfort : 1 13.13 17.15

2 54.55 56.16
To avoid resonant condition The road
irregularities usually have the 3 78.59 72.19
maximum frequency of 12 Hz. [7] 4 116.89 119.36

In modal analysis only boundary 5 178.49 202.78

conditions are applied and no load is 6 243.27 288.43
acted on the leaf spring.
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 6. Finite Element Based Fatigue Analysis
• Main purpose of Finite Element Based Fatigue tool using for
leaf spring simulation – during the design stage of
development process to enable reliable fatigue life
calculations.

• Input Parameter and Fatigue Analysis Cycle

Figure 5 Fatigue Analysis Prediction Strategies

Figure 6 FEM Based Fatigue Analysis Cycle [11]

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 6. Finite Element Based Fatigue Analysis
• Fatigue life criteria and S-N Curves:
• For E - Glass/ epoxy composite material, Hwang and Han developed an
analytical fatigue model to predict the number of fatigue cycles to
failure.

……
(1)
Where, N is the number of cycles to failure;
B = 10.33; C = 0.14012;
r = Applied stress level

------
(2)

Where,  max = maximum stress ; u = ultimate tensile strength

-------
(3)

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 6. Finite Element Based Fatigue Analysis

• The life data analysis is a tool to be used here to predict the fatigue
life of mono composite leaf spring.
• Fatigue life results are based on analytical result and resulting S-N
graph for SAE1045-450-QT and E – Glass Composite as shown in
Fig. 7 and 8
• E glass-epoxy figure is for tension, torsion or bending ? Specify !
( Figure 7)

Figure 7 S-N curves for E-Glass/epoxy composite Figure 8 S-N curves for SAE1045-450-QT
[2] spring [11]
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 7. Results and Discussion

• Fatigue Life
In ANSYS Workbench, fatigue analysis is generally conducted by four
approaches namely Goodman’s approach, Gerber’s approach, mean stress
approach and Soderberg’s approach .By using Gerber approach, applying a
load of 3250 N, with a loading condition from history data – SAE
Transmission. The results obtained using ANSYS Workbench.

Fig. 10, Fatigue Life distribution of E- Glass Epoxy

Fig. 9, Fatigue Life distribution of SAE
Composite
1045-450-QT

Fatigue Life - SAE 1045-450-QT 1.025*105 cycles

Fatigue Life - E- Glass Epoxy 1.725*109 cycles
Composite
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 7. Results and Discussion
• Fatigue Sensitivity
This plot represents the variation of fatigue results as a function of the
loading at the critical location on the leaf spring model

Fig. 11 Fatigue Sensitivity Plot – E- Glass Fig. 12 Fatigue Sensitivity Plot – SAE 1045-
Epoxy 450-QT

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 7. Results and Discussion
• Fatigue Damage
Fatigue damage is defined as the design
life divided by the available life. Fig. 13
shows Fatigue Damage plot for E- Glass
Epoxy material

Fig. 13 Plot of Fatigue Damage – E Glass

Epoxy

• Fatigue Safety factor

At resulted design life, this is factor of

safety with respect to a fatigue failure. The
maximum Factor of Safety displayed is 15.
For Fatigue Safety Factor, values < 1
indicate failure before the design life is
reached
Fig. 14 Fatigue Safety
Factor
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 7. Results and Discussion
• Biaxiality Indication
Biaxiality indication is defined as the
smaller principal stress divided by the
larger principal stress with the principal
stress nearest zero ignored

Fig. 15 Biaxiality Indication Plot - E Glass

Epoxy
 
• Rainflow Matrix Chart
 
This results in nothing but a measure of
the composition of a loading history.
Where Z axis is nothing but counts for
given alternating and mean stress bin. It
consists of cycles corresponding to low
stress range and higher stress range
Fig. 16 Rainflow Matrix
Chart
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 8. Conclusion & Future Scope
• By using Stress Life approach, Absolute Maximum Principal
Stress used basis for calculating E- Glass Epoxy Composites
leaf springs life for passenger vehicles.

• Due to Weight reduction and stress, stiffness criteria, multi

steel leaf spring is proposed to be replaced with E- Glass Epoxy
composite leaf springs.

• It can be shown that, design and simulation stresses satisfy

maximum stress failure criterion; hence design is safe.

• Ride comfort of both Steel SAE1045-450-QT Leaf Spring and

unidirectional E- Glass Composite Leaf Spring was found to be
1.3 times more than the 12Hz produced on road which
decreases resonance. This is compared by using modal
analysis for increasing ride comfort.

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 8. Conclusion & Future Scope
• Finite element analysis can be used directly to calculate fatigue
damage and the damage contour shows that the highest damage
value is inacceptable .

• Finite element method using CAE tool like ANSYS Workbench prove the
reliability of the validation methods based only on simulation, thereby
saving time, material and production costs for a complete product
realization. The fatigue life of the leaf spring has also been improved.

• In future, using different lay ups to calculate fatigue life can lead to
the choice of best lay up configuration. Accurate results can be
plotted using n code Design Life software ?.

• It is proposed to conduct the fatigue analysis of a hygrothermally

saturation conditioned composite leaf spring in order to evaluate its
real environment fatigue life . Himalayan sub zero temperature fatigue
performance will also be evaluated .

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 9. References
1. G Harinath Gowd et al, “Static Analysis of Leaf Spring”, International Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology (IJEST), ISSN: 0975-5462, Vol. 4 No.08 August
2012, Pg. No (3794-3803)

2. Senthilkumar Mouleeswaran, “Design, Manufacturing and Testing of Polymer

Composite Multi-Leaf Spring for Light Passenger Automobiles - A Review”, Materials
Science and Technology, Prof. Sabar Hutagalung (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-0193-2
 
3. B. Raghu Kumar, R. Vijaya Prakash, N. Ramesh, “Static analysis of mono leaf
spring with different composite materials”, Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Research, ISSN 2141-2383 , Vol. 5(2), February 2013, pp. 32-37.
 
4. Shishay 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 ,Year 2012,
21-30
 
5. Makarand B. Shirke and Prof. V .D .Wakchaure, “Performance Association of Static
and Fatigue Behavior of Steel and Glass Epoxy Composite Leaf Spring of Light Motor
Vehicle”, International Journal of Advanced Research in Science, Engineering and
Technology, Vol.01, Issue 04, year ?, pp. 08- 11

6. S. Abdullah, F.N. Ahmad Refngah, A. Jalar, L.B. Chua, A.K. Ariffin And A. “FEA-based
durability assessment: A case study using a parabolic leaf spring”, Proceedings of
the 7th WSEAS International Conference on System Science And Simulation In
Engineering (ICOSSSE 2008), ISSN: 1790-2769, pp-67-72
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 9. References
7. D.N.Dubey, S.G.Mahakalkar, “Stress Analysis of a Mono-parabolic Leaf Spring–A
Review”, International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER), ISSN: 2249-
6645 Vol.3, Issue.2, March-April. 2013 pp-769-772

8. J.A.M. Ferreira, J.D.M. Costa, P.N.B. Reis, M.O.W. Richardson, “Analysis of fatigue and
damage in glass-fibre-reinforced polypropylene composite materials”, Composites
Science and Technology 59 (1999), 1461-1467
 
9. Sachin Kr. Patel, A.K. Jain and Pratik Gandhi, “Review of Effect of Material on Fatigue
Life of Leaf Spring”, VSRD International Journal of Mechanical, Civil, Automobile and
Production Engineering, Vol. 2 (4), 2012, 161-165
 
10. Mahmood M. Shokrieh , Davood Rezaei, “Analysis and optimization of a composite
leaf spring ”, Composite Structures 60 (2003), 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd, 317–325
 
11. J. P. Karthik, K. L. Chaitanya and C. Tara Sasanka, “ Fatigue Life Prediction of a
Parabolic Spring under Non-constant Amplitude Proportional Loading using Finite
Element Method”, International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, Vol. 46,
September, 2012, 143-156
 
12. M.Venkatesan , D.Helmen Devaraj , “Design And Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring
In Light Vehicle”, International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER), ISSN:
2249-6645, Vol.2, Issue.1, Jan-Feb 2012, pp-213-218
 
13. D. Alfred Hancq, Fatigue Analysis Using ANSYS, Ansys Inc, year ? Vol ?, Issue ? Page ?
 

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 Thank you…

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