DESIGN OF MECHANISMS AND

MACHINES
Lectures 25. Springs

R. Glovnea

(2021-2022)
What are springs?

Springs are components which store potential energy and releases

if when the forces applied are removed.

stress
stress

Energy converted into

heat by internal friction

U
strain strain

Perfect elastic material Real elastic material - hysteresis

Many types of springs
Coil springs

Volute springs
Spiral springs
Coil springs
Coil springs are made by winding a wire around a shaped object,
most often a circular cylinder.

There are two versions of this operation:

Cold wound process – low temperature (small diameter wire).

Hot wound process (wire heated to elevated temperature). In case of

steel austenitic temperature is reached (over 723oC). The steel is
then quenched in oil and tempered.
Axially loaded coil springs

R (coil radius)

a
(helix angle)
d
(wire diameter)

tension compression
Consider extreme cases

a  0o

Torsion and shear

R Mt

W
W

M t  WR
a  90 o

Bending and tension

R
M

W W

M  WR
0<a<90o; A spring with the helix angle between 0 and 90o is the
general case. It can be subjected to both, tension and compression.
Due to their shape the wire in the spring is subjected to all four types
of loading: torsion, shear, bending and tension (compression).

The relationships between the axial force and these specific loadings
are:

torsion moment M t  WR cos a

shear force  W cos a

bending moment M  WR sin a

axial force  W sin a

In practice angle a is usually small, thus the bending and
tension/compression components are small in comparison to torsion.

The shear stress due to torsion and shear in the wire is added too
give a maximum shear stress:

WRr cos a W cos a

 max  
Ip A

Ip 
d 4 d 2
A
32 4

8WD cos a 4W cos a

 max  3

d d 2
For small angle a the cosine can be approximated with unity
8WD 4W
 3
 2
d d

4W

d 2 Shear stress due to shear

8WD

d 3
Shear stress due to torsion

8WD 4W

d 3
 2
d
Combined shear stress
In design practice the ratio of spring diameter D to wire diameter d
defines the spring index C
D
C
d
8WD
With this notation the shear stress becomes:   Ks
d 3

1
where: K s  1
2C

Ks is known as static stress factor

For springs subjected to variable loading, thus where fatigue is a
potential failure mode, another correction factor (Wahl correction
factor), which accounts for the curvature effect on stress, is used.

Combined shear stress considering

curvature effects (inner fibres are
subjected to greater strain)

It follows that for fatigue design the corrected stress used is:
4C  1 0.615
Kw  
4C  4 C

8WD
  Kw
d 3
Stress correction
factors 1.8

1.7

1.6

1.5
Kw , Ks

1.4

1.3
Kw
1.2
Ks
1.1 Preferred range,
ends ground

1.0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Preferred range, ends not ground
Spring index (D/d)
Deflection of helical springs (general case, 0<a<90o)
Compute strain energy ignoring the components due to shear and
axial forces
M t 2 L0 WR cos a 2 L0
UT 
2 I pG

2 I pG
Strain energy due to torsion

UB 
M 2 L0

WR sin a 2 L0 Strain energy due to bending
2 IE 2 IE

According to Castigliano’s theorem deflection is equal to the

derivative of the strain energy with respect to force

U T U B
 
W W

2 
 cos 2
a sin 2
a 
  WR L0 
 GI p EI 

For n complete coils (L0 the length of the wire)
2Rn d 4 d 4
L0  , Ip  , I
cos a 32 64

64WR 3n  cos2 a 2 sin 2 a 

 4   
d cos a  G E 

Note: if the deflection is known (e.g. imposed by the application) then

this formula can be used to find other quantities such as dimensions of
the spring or the angle of the helix

For small a a  0o  cos a  1, sin a  0

64WR 3n 8WD 3n
 4

d G d 4G
Spring rate (also known as stiffness) is given by:

W d 4G
k 
 8nD 3

The compression spring on the left has a variable pitch;

when this spring is loaded the coils at the ends “bottom
– out” thus the effective length of the spring decreases.
As successive coils become inactive, the effective
stiffness of the spring progressively increases which is
convenient in some applications.
Note that in books you will find different formulas for the
total length of the spring, depending on the type of the end.

Coil springs subjected to compression; spring buckling

Similar to straight beams subjected to compression, coil

springs can buckle in certain conditions.

For straight beams we have defined a slenderness ratio as

the ratio between beam’s length and the radius of gyration of
its cross section area.
aL
For coil springs an effective slenderness ratio is defined as: eff 
D
(a is the end-condition constant and L is the free length of spring)
end fixing factor

a=2 a=1 a=0.7 a=0.5

The onset of buckling is evaluated by a critical deflection.

  1/ 2 

C'
 cr  LC '1 1  1  2 2  
  eff  
   

C’1 and C’2 are elastic constants defined by:

E 2 2 E  G 
C '1  C '2 
2E  G  E  2G

Buckling occurs when the actual deflection equals or exceeds

the critical deflection:

   cr
Critical deflection curves

1.0

0.9 Free end

Hinged a = 0.5
0.8 end
a=1
0.7
Critical deflection/L

0.6

0.5

0.4
Buckles
0.3 Buckles
0.2
Stable Stable
0.1

0.0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Slenderness ratio (L/D)
Buckling can be prevented by guiding the spring in a fit cylinder
on the external diameter, or by a mandrel at the inner diameter.

There are problems associated with this solutions, due to friction,

temperature rise and wear of the spring.

As a guideline a clearance of at least ten percent of the coil

diameter should be allowed.
Spring surge

In springs subjected to deformations at high speed, a phenomenon

called surge (surging) can occur.

This happens when the operating frequency is close to the natural

frequency of the spring.

In this case a displacement wave front forms and travels forth and
back along the spring. This phenomenon may produce large and
erratic local stresses and causes the spring to disconnect from the
ends.
If we denote the specific weight of spring wire by “w” the natural
frequency of the spring can be written as:

d Gg
fn 
2nD 2 2w

For steel, G is about 79GPa which gives the natural frequency:

358000d (D and d in mm)

fn 
nD 2

Note that this is the natural frequency of the spring and not that of
the spring – mass system. To calculate that we need to adjust the
specific weight with the value specific to the application.
 Spring materials

The materials used for springs need to have high strength (ultimate,
yield, fatigue), good creep resistance, high resilience, etc.

There are many materials which meet these criteria including steels
(carbon, alloyed, stainless), brass, bronze (phosphorus), beryllium
copper and nickel alloys.

Spring wire is cold drawn to desired diameter, surface finish.

Commonly used spring materials:

• Music wire (highest quality, highest strength)

• Oil – tempered steel valve spring wire (high quality, high strength,
limited sizes
Mechanical design of machine elements and machines” by J. Collins, H. Busby and G. Staab, 2nd edition
• Oil – tempered spring steel wire (good quality, good strength, often
used)

• Hard – drawn steel wire (modest strength, inexpensive, static loads

use)

• Alloy steel wire; chrome – vanadium, chrome – silicon (high

quality, high strength, good for elevated temperatures up to 230oC)

• Stainless steel wire(high quality, high strength, good corrosion

resistance at temperature up to 260oC)

• Beryllium copper wire (high strength, excellent fatigue resistance,

good electric conductivity)

• Nickel alloy wire, e.g. Inconel X-750 (good corrosion resistance at

elevated temperatures to 600oC, expensive)
 3000
Music wire
Ultimate tensile strength [MPa]

2500
Stainless steel
Cr-Si steel
2000

1500 Inconel alloy

Hard-drawn carbon steel
Phosphorous bronze
1000

500

2 3 4 5 6789 2 3 4 5 6789 2 3 4 5 6789

0.1 1 10
Wire diameter [mm]
Ultimate tensile strength of steel wire (diameter d) can be
calculated with the approximate formula:

Sut  Bd a

Material Diameter range (mm) a B [MPa]

Music wire 0.25-6.5 -0.1625 2153.5

Oil tempered steel 0.5-16 -0.1833 1831.2
Hard drawn wire 0.5-16 -0.1822 1753.3
Cr-Va alloy steel 0.5-13 -0.1453 1909.9
Cr-Si alloy steel 0.8-11 -0.0934 2059.2
Spring wire diameters (mm) commonly available are
0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55, 0.6, 0.65, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9,
1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.5, 2.8, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5,
5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
Coil spring design

The main concern for springs subjected to static loading is short

term shortening (lengthening) which is known as setting and is due
to creep of the material of the spring.

As coil springs are mainly subjected to torsion, “set” is directly

related to material’s shear yield strength Ssy. Unfortunately there is
very little data available on shear yield strength of materials.

If we know ultimate tensile strength we can use an approximate

formula.
S sy  0.53Su “Machine component design” by R.C. Juvinall and K. M. Marshek
Coil spring design

The maximum shear stress in a spring subjected to compression

corresponds to a deflection when the coils have closed solid. For
typical values of the spring index this stress is smaller than Ssy.

8WD
  Kw  S sy
d 3
Less than two percent long – term set will occur in steel springs
designed for solid = 0.4 – 0.45Sut or nonferrous springs and
austenitic stainless steel springs designed for solid = 0.35Sut.

The design values stated above imply an actual factor of safety of

0.53Su/0.45Su = 1.18.

This may seem small, but the high quality of spring steel and
practically the absence of uncertainties regarding the load (the
spring cannot be loaded further than closed solid) makes this
value reasonable.
Main steps in coil springs design

In designing helical coil springs we aim at an acceptable stress level

and a desired spring rate. The main steps in designing a coil spring
are as follows
(Mechanical design of machine elements and machines” by J. Collins, H. Busby and G. Staab, 2nd edition)

• Analyse the geometry and functional specifications of the

system and generate a sketch of the spring, taking into account
spatial limitations, overall weight, etc.

• Identify potential failure modes

• Select tentative material for the spring

• Select ( or adopt) a design safety factor

• Calculate design stress

S fs
d 
nd

Sfs is strength for failure mode

nd is design safety factor
• Determine wire diameter d and spring mean diameter D from
strength requirements. The same stress can be obtained for a large
combinations of D and d and the designer has to find the best
combination (also considering weight, size and cost) for the
particular problem.

• After D and d are selected, the number of coils “n”, can be

calculated in order to get a desired spring rate.

• Select an appropriate end configuration

• Determine solid height (length Ls), free height (length L) and

functional deflection and check if they satisfy external
requirements; allow a clearance (about ten percent of maximum
operational deflection) between coils at full deflection in order to
avoid coil contact (clash).
Ls  d N L  2RN tan a
• Calculation of slenderness ratio and checking the buckling
condition are necessary steps, especially for long springs.

• Calculate natural frequency and check for potential surge

Coil spring design – example
A coil compression spring must be designed to exert a static load of
500N when compressed by 50 mm and it must fit inside a cylindrical
hole 52 mm diameter. The environment is dry, clean air. Design
factor of safety of 2 is required and five springs will be manufactured.
F
1. According to design guidelines presented previously when springs
are enclosed a gap of 10 percent must be set
Dcyl  1.1D  d   52mm
F 2. Because of static loading, the most
probable mode of failure is plastic yield
(buckling is prevented by cylinder)

3. Because of the number of springs is

small and because this steel has best
properties, music wire is tentatively
selected for the material of spring

4. Design stress in the spring is the yield

stress divided by factor of safety.
D y
d 
Dcyl nd
According to design guidelines from Mechanical design of machine
elements and machines” by J. Collins, H. Busby and G. Staab, 2nd
edition, shear strength of music wire is
 y  0.4 Sut

Further on, the ultimate tensile strength of music wire is

determined by:

Sut  Bd a  2153.5d 0.1625

From these formulas we get the shear yield strength required in

terms of wire diameter

 d  430.72d 0.1625
5. According to design guidelines the spring index should first be
taken as 7 or 8; we choose 8
D
C  8 Or: D  2 R  8d
d
Combining this with the relationship obtained from the diameter of
the cylinder
52
Dd   47.27mm
1.1

8d  d  47.27mm

d  5.25mm

We first choose a wire with standard diameter of 5 mm.

We can now calculate the design yield stress of the spring

 d  430.72d 0.1625  430.72  0.0050.1625  1018.8MPa

8WD
6. The working stress in the wire is given by:  w  Kw
d 3

Wahl factor Kw is either calculated with formula: K  4C  1  0.615

w
or chosen from diagrams (lecture 25) 4C  4 C

8WD
 w  Kw 3
 480.7 MPa
d
Working stress smaller than design stress
 3000
Music wire
Ultimate tensile strength [MPa]

2500
Stainless steel
Cr-Si steel
2000

1500 Inconel alloy

Hard-drawn carbon steel
Phosphorous bronze
1000

500

2 3 4 5 6789 2 3 4 5 6789 2 3 4 5 6789

0.1 1 10
Wire diameter [mm]
We can change material or we can continue with this material and
calculate other parameters

7. Number of coils

8WD 3n  d 4G 0.05  0.0054  79 109

From:  4 n   9.64
d G 8WD 3
8  500  0.04 3

The number of active coils is thus: n = 9.64

8. Choose end type. This is not specified, but we choose closed and
ground coils which means that we have to add 2 coils (one inactive
coil for each end)

Total number of coils is thus: n = 11.64

9. Solid length of the spring:

Ls  nd  11.64  5  58.2mm

10. Minimum free length would then be equal to the maximum

deflection plus the solid length plus the clearance at maximum
deflection (to avoid clash)

L  50  58.2  0.1  50  113.2mm

11. Buckling is avoided but we may still check for buckling in order
to avoid the spring rubbing on the cylindrical surface; slenderness
ratio is:
aL 0.5  113.2
eff    1.415
D 40
 1.0

0.9 Free end

Hinged a = 0.5
0.8 end
a=1
0.7 So our spring will not buckle
Critical deflection/L

0.6
at any physically achievable
Buckles
deflection
0.5

0.4 Stable

0.3

0.2 Buckles

0.1
Stable
0.0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Slenderness ratio (L/D)