Helical Coil

Springs
 Springs
• A spring is defined as an elastic body, whose function is
to distort when loaded and to recover its original shape
when the load is removed.
• Some important applications of springs are as follows :
1. To cushion, absorb or control energy due to either shock
or vibration as in car springs, railway buffers, air-craft
landing gears, shock absorbers and vibration dampers.
2. To apply forces, as in brakes, clutches and spring
loaded valves.
3. To control motion by maintaining contact between two
elements as in cams and followers.
4. To measure forces, as in spring balances and engine
indicators.
 Types of Springs-According to Shape
1. Helical springs. The helical springs are made up of a wire coiled in
the form of a helix and is primarily intended for compressive or tensile
loads. The cross-section of the wire from which the spring is made
may be circular, square or rectangular. The two forms of helical
springs are compression helical spring and tension helical spring .
2. Conical and volute springs. The conical and volute
springs are used in special applications where a
telescoping spring or a spring with a spring rate that
increases with the load is desired.
3. Torsion springs. These springs may be of helical or spiral type. The
helical type may be used only in applications where the load tends
to wind up the spring and are used in various electrical mechanisms.
The spiral type is also used where the load tends to increase the
number of coils and when made of flat strip are used in watches
and clocks.
4. Laminated or leaf springs. The laminated or leaf spring (also
known as flat spring or carriage spring) consists of a number of
flat plates (known as leaves) of varying lengths held together by
means of clamps and bolts, as shown . These are mostly used in
automobiles. The major stresses produced in leaf springs are
tensile and compressive stresses.

5. Disc or bellevile springs. These springs consist of a number of

conical discs held together against slipping by a central bolt or
tube. These springs are used in applications where high spring
rates and compact spring units are required.
6. Special purpose springs. These springs are air or liquid
springs, rubber springs, ring springs etc. The fluids (air or
liquid) can behave as a compression spring.
Helical Springs

where :
Dw  spring wire diameter
Di  inside coil diameter
Dm  mean coil diameter
Do  outside coil diameter
F  axial load of spring
 Spring Lengths

F.L.  free length of the spring

F .L.  C.L.  
The free length of a spring is the length of
F .L.  S .H .   max
the spring in the free or unloaded condition.
C.L.  compressed length
S.H.  solid height or length
When the spring is compressed until the coils come in contact
with each other, then the spring is said to be solid.
  axial deformation or deflection of spring due to load F
 max  max. axial deformation
This is reached at solid length condition, caused by the max. force, Fmax .
P  pitch of spring
  spring angle or spring pitch angle
Spring index : is defined as the ratio of the mean diameter of
the coil to the diameter of the wire.
Dm
C
Dw
Spring rate. The spring rate (or stiffness or spring constant) is defined
as the load required per unit deflection of the spring. Mathematically,
F
k

 Stresses in Helical Springs of Circular Wire

Consider a part of the compression spring as shown in Fig. (b). The load
F tends to rotate the wire due to the twisting moment ( T ) set up in the
wire. Thus torsional shear stress is induced in the wire.
A little consideration will show that part of the spring, as shown in Fig.
(b), is in equilibrium under the action of two forces F and the twisting
moment T.
 In addition to the torsional shear stress
induced in the wire, the following stresses
also act on the wire :
1. Direct shear stress due to the load F, and
2. Stress due to curvature of wire.
F
Direct Shear Stress : S 2 
As
F 4F
S2  
 Dw2
Stresses in the wire : Dw2
Tr 4
Torsional Stress : S1  Total shear stress :
J
D  D  4 ST  S1  S 2 
8 FDm 4 F

T  F  m ; r  w ; J  Dw
 2  2 32 Dw Dw2
3

 D m  Dw 8 FDm  Dw 
F  ST 
 2  2 8 FDm 1  
S1   Dw3  2 Dm
 4  D 3
Dw w
32 K s  factor for direct shear
In order to consider the effects of the curvature of the wire,
a stress concentration factor, K c is introduced.
8 FDm
Ss  K s Kc  max .shear stress
Dw3

K  Wahl' s Factor  resultant factor due to torsional shear,

direct shear and curvature
K  K s Kc
8 FDm Dm
Ss  K ; C  spring index 
Dw3
Dw
8 FC Wahl' s Factor (stress factor) :
Ss  K
Dw2 4C  1 0.615
K 
4C  4 C
End Connections for Compression Helical Springs
• It may be noted that part of the coil which is in contact with the
seat does not contribute to spring action and hence are termed as
inactive coils.
• The turns which impart spring action are known as active turns
or active coils.
• As the load increases, the number of inactive coils also increases
due to seating of the end coils and the amount of increase varies
from 0.5 to 1 turn at the usual working loads.
Approximate Free Lengths and Solid Heights
Type of Ends Free Length Total No. Solid Height
of Coils
Plain PN c  Dw Nc Dw  N c  1
Ground PN c Nc Dw N c
Squared PN c  3Dw Nc  2 Dw  N c  3
Squared and PN c  2 Dw Nc  2 Dw  N c  2 
ground
Note: Nc= no. of active coils; P= pitch of coil; Dw=wire diameter
Data taken from textbook by Faires, AT 16
 Deflection of Helical Springs of Circular Wire

The length of one coil  πDm

L  total active length of wire  Dm N c
  angular deflection of wire when acted upon by torque T , or
angle of twist of wire caused by the load F
 Dm 
Axial deflection of spring,     
 2 
Dm
TL D   4 But C  spring index 
 ; T  F  m ; J  Dw Dw
JG  2  32
Dm3
D 
F  m Dm N c  C  3
3

 2  16 FDm2 N c Dw
 
  4 Dw4 G 8 FC 3 N c
 Dw G 
 32  GDw
16 FDm2 N c  Dm  8 FDm3 N c Spring' s Axial Deflection Equation
   
 DwG  2 
4
Dw4 G
Pitch Angle of Helical Spring

P
tan  
Dm
 P 
  tan 
1


 m
D

For good design,   12.

If   12, stress and deflection equations
become less and less accurate.
 Spring Rate
Also referred to as:
F F GDw
- Spring constant k   3
- Stiffness of spring  8FC N c 8C N c
3

- Spring scale GDw

- Spring gradient
- Spring modulus

For 2 springs of same materials :

F1 F2 F2  F1 F
k   
1 2  2  1 
 Springs in Parallel
Concentric Springs of Equal Lengths

W  Fi  Fo
  o  i
 Concentric Springs of Unequal Lengths

e  initial difference in lengths between the outer

W  Fi  Fo
and inner springs
o  i  e
Fi  force exerted by inner spring
Fo  force exerted by outer spring
W  total load on the nest of spring
Non-concentric Parallel Springs

 Mo  0
W a  b  c   F1 a  b   F2 a 
By similar triangles :
2 1

a ab
W  F1  F2
  1   2
Springs in Series

W  F1  F2
 T  1   2
Springs under Impact Load
PE  IE
P
W h    
2
P  equivalent impact load;
becomes the load on the spring

KE  IE
1 2 P
mv 
2 2
W 2
v  P
g
 Sample Problem 1
• A helical coil spring is made of steel whose allowable
stress is 80 MPa. The dimensions of the spring with
squared and ground ends are, as follows:
Dw  20mm
D0  250mm
N c  10coils
F .L.  500mm

Determine the following:

a. Maximum permissible axial load F;
b. Deflection as caused by the load F; and
c. Stress at solid height.
 N
S allow  80
mm 2
Dw  20mm
D0  250mm
N c  10coils
F .L.  500mm
Gsteel  11.5 x106 psi
 79300 N
mm 2
a. permissible F so as not to overstress the spring
8 FC Dm Do  Dw 250  20
Ss  K ; C     11.5
Dw2
Dw Dw 20
4C  1 0.615 411.5  1 0.615
K     1.125
4C  4 C 411.5  4 11.5
 8 F 11.5 
80 N  1 . 125  2 
mm 2    20  
F  971.31N
b.  caused by F
8 FC 3 N c 8971.31N 11.5 10 
3
   74.514mm
GDw 79300 N
mm 2
20mm 
8 Fmax C F F1 F2 Fmax   max 
c. S ssolid  S smax  K ; k    ; Fmax  F  
Dw2
 1  2  max   
F .L.  S .H .   max   max  F .L.  S .H .
From AT 16, for squared and ground ends :
S.H.  Dw  N c  2   2010  2   240mm
 max  500  240  260mm
 260 
 Fmax  971.31   3389.2 N
 74.514 
83389.2 N 11.5
S ssolid  S smax  1.125  279.14 N
 202 2
mm
 Sample Problem 2
• (Board Problem) Three extension coil springs are
hooked in series that support a single weight of 100
kg. The first spring is rated at 0.4 kg/mm and the two
other springs are rated 0.64 kg/mm. Compute the
total deflection.

Given : W  F1  F2  F3
W  100kg
 T  1   2   3
kg
k1  0.4 F
mm k

kg
k 2  k3  0.64 100 100 100
mm T     562.5mm
0.4 0.64 0.64