International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 7, Issue 5, September–October 2016, pp.31–37, Article ID: IJMET_07_05_004

Available online at
http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJMET?Volume=7&Issue=5
Journal Impact Factor (2016): 9.2286 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
© IAEME Publication

DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT OF MULTI LAYER LEAF

SPRING
Mohammed Liyaquat Ali Farooqui
M. Tech Student, Mechanical Department,
Vijay Rural Engineering College, Nizamabad, India,

G.Bheemanna
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Department,
Vijay Rural Engineering College, Nizamabad, India.

ABSTRACT
Design and analysis of composite leaf spring has been done in the present paper. ANSYS -12
has been used to conduct the analysis. Static structural tool has been used of ANSYS. A three layer
composite leaf spring with full length leave. E-Glass/epoxy composite material has been used.
Conventional steel leaf spring results have been compared with the present results obtained for
composite leaf spring. E-glass/epoxy material is better in strength and lighter in weight as contrast
with conventional steel leaf spring. A wide amount of study has been conducted in this paper to
investigate the design and analysis of leaf spring and leaf spring fatigue life.
Key words: Leaf spring, Finite element analysis, FEM, Fatigue analysis CAE tool
Cite this Article: Mohammed Liyaquat Ali Farooqui and G.Bheemanna, Design and Assessment
of Multi Layer Leaf Spring. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology,
7(5), 2016, pp. 31–37.
http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJMET?Volume=7&Issue=5

1. INTRODUCTION
Leaf spring is widely used in automotive and one of the components of suspension system. It consists of
one or more leaves. As a general rule, the leaf spring must be regarded as a safety component as failure
could lead to severe accidents. The leaf springs may carry loads, brake torque, driving torque, etc. In
addition to shocks, the multi-leaf spring is made of several steel plates of different lengths stacked
together. During normal operation, the spring compresses to absorb road shock.
The leaf springs bend and slide on each other allowing suspension movement. Fatigue failure is the
predominant mode of in-service failure of many automobile components. This is due to the fact that the
automobile components are subjected to variety of fatigue loads like shocks caused due to road
irregularities traced by the road wheels, the sudden loads due to the wheel traveling over the bumps etc.
The leaf springs are more affected due to fatigue loads, as they are a part of the un sprung mass of the
automobile. In this paper, the analysis of eight-leaf steel spring is presented. The leaf spring was analysed

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 31 [email protected]
 Mohammed Liyaquat Ali Farooqui and G.Bheemanna

over its full operating range from 1kN to 10 kN. Bending stress and deflection are the target results.
Finally, fatigue life of the steel leaf spring is also predicted.
The main objective of this work is to perform finite element analysis of multi leaf spring. experimental
results have been taken on a full scale static load testing machine, in which leaf spring is held under an
axial load at centre till maximum deflection. These experimental results will be compared with FEA results
for validation.

2. MATERIAL AND METHODS

Material properties and Design parameters below is showing the different parameters related to material
properties;

Design parameters of the multi leaf spring used in this work are:
Total span length (eye to eye): 1450mm
Number of full length leaves: 02
Length of full length leaves (L-1 and L-2): 1450 mm each
Width of all leaves: 70mm
Thickness of all leaves: 12mm
Number of graduated length leaves: 07
Length of graduated length leaves;
(L-3, L-4, L-5, L-6, L-7, L-8 and L-9): 1320mm, 1140mm, 940mm, 800mm, 640mm, 464mm &
244mm respectively.

3. MATERIAL PROPERTIES
Material properties of E glass/ Epoxy (GFRP): The different parameters related to GFRP leaf springs are
tabulated in the table below:

Properties of E-Glass/ Epoxy composite leaf spring

Sr. No Parameter Value

1 Tensile Strength (MPa) 900

2 Compressive Strength(MPa) 450
3 Possions Ratio 0.217
4 Density (kg/m3 ) 2.16x105
5 Flexural modulus (E) (MPa) 40000

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 32 [email protected]
 Design and Assessment of Multi Layer Leaf Spring

We find the composite material have better mechanical properties than conventional steel as the energy
storage capacity of composite material is much higher than steel therefore it is the best material for
application selected. Also from eq.1 the material with maximum strength and minimum modulus of
elasticity is the most suitable material for leaf spring application

4. STATIC ANALSYS
The aim of this analysis is to study the multi-leaf steel leaf spring and verification of the results within the
desirable limits. ANSYS software is used to analyze the stresses by performing static analysis for the given
leaf spring specification and to determine the deflection in leaf springs. Analysis involves discretization
called meshing, boundary conditions, loading.

4.1. Elements Type

SOLID45- 3-D Structural Solid.
CONTA174 - 3-D 8-Node Surface-to-Surface Contact.

4.2. Meshing
Meshing involves division of the entire of model into small pieces called elements. It is convenient to
select the free mesh because the leaf spring has sharp curves, so that shape of the object will not alter. To
mesh the leaf spring the element type must be decided first. Here, the element type is solid 45. The element
edge length is taken as 5 mm. The numbers of elements are taken 2225 and the total numbers of nodes are
8099.

4.3. Boundary Conditions

The front eye of the leaf spring is coupled directly with a pin to the frame so that the eye can rotate freely
about the pin but no translation is occurred. The rear eye of the spring is connected to the shackle which is
a flexible link the other end of the shackle is connected to the frame of the vehicle. The force 4169N
applied at both the eye end of leaf spring. The both eyes of the leaf spring have the flexibility to slide along
the X-direction when load applied on the spring and also it can rotate about the pin in Z- direction. The
link oscillates during load applied and removed. So the displacement at the both eye is constrained along
the X and Z directions

Figure.1 Meshed Model of Steel Leaf Spring with Boundary Conditions

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 33 [email protected]
 Mohammed Liyaquat Ali Farooqui and G.Bheemanna

Figure.2 Bending Stress of Steel Leaf Spring

Figure.3 Bending Stress of Steel Leaf Spring

Figure.4 Bending Stress of Composite Leaf Spring

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 34 [email protected]
 Design and Assessment of Multi Layer Leaf Spring

Figure.5 Complete Deformation of Composite Leaf Spring

5. RESULTS
From the results of static analysis of steel leaf spring, it is seen the displacement of leaf spring is 53.159
mm which is well below the camber length of leaf spring shown in fig.4. It is seen that the maximum
bending stress is about 450.73MPa, which is less than the yield strength of the material shown in fig.3. The
FEA results are compared with the theoretical results and found that the theoretical result and FEA result
are nearer to each other.

Table 4 Comparison between theoretical and ANSYS results of conventional steel leaf spring
Parameter Theoretical Results FEA Results for
Variation
for steel leaf spring steel leaf spring
Load, N 4169 4169 NIL

Bending Stress, MPa 466.84 450.73 3.04 %

Total Deflection, mm 51.24 53.159 3.06 %

After that the multi leaf spring with E-Glass/Epoxy material is analyzed in ANSYS-12 with same
dimension and same boundary condition as that of conventional leaf spring, showing bending stress and
deflection under load in figures.5 & 6.
The comparison between steel leaf spring and composite leaf spring for deflection and bending stress
results from the ANSYS is shown in the Table-V.
FEA results comparison between steel and composite leaf spring

Table 5 FEA results comparison between steel and composite leaf spring

FEA Results for steel FEAResultsfor

Parameter leaf spring composite leaf spring Variation

Load, N 4169 4169 NIL

Bending Stress, MPa 450.73 338.03 - 25.05 %

Total Deflection, mm 53.159 34.676 - 34.76 %

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 35 [email protected]
 Mohammed Liyaquat Ali Farooqui and G.Bheemanna

By the comparison of results between steel leaf spring and the composite leaf spring from ANSYS-12
the deflection is decreased by 34.76 % in composite leaf spring that is within the camber range. The
bending stresses are decreased by 25.05% in composite leaf spring means less stress induced with same
load carrying conditions.
The conventional multi leaf spring weights about 10.27kg whereas the E-glass/Epoxy multi leaf spring
weighs only 3.26 kg. Thus the weight reduction of 67.88% is achieved. By the reduction of weight and the
less stresses, the fatigue life of composite leaf spring is to be higher than that of steel leaf spring. Totally it
is found that the composite leaf spring is the better that of steel leaf spring.

Table 6 Percent saving of weight by using composites

Materials Weights % weight saving

Conventional Steel 10.27 kg -----

E-glass/epoxy 3.26 kg 67.88%

6. CONCLUSION
In the present work, a steel leaf spring was replaced by a composite leaf spring due to high strength to
weight ratio for the same load carrying capacity and stiffness with same dimension as that of steel leaf
spring. A semi-elliptical multi leaf spring is designed for a four wheel automobile and replaced with a
composite multi leaf spring made of E-glass/epoxy composites. Under the same static load conditions the
stresses and the deflection in leaf springs are found with great difference. Stresses and deflection in
composite leaf springs is found out to be less as compared to the conventional steel leaf springs.
All the FEA results are compared with the theoretical results and it is found that they are within the
allowable limits and nearly equal to the theoretical results. A comparative study has been made between
steel and composite leaf spring with respect to strength and weight. Composite leaf spring reduces the
weight by 67.88% for E-Glass/Epoxy. E-glass/epoxy composite leaf spring can be suggested for replacing
the steel leaf spring both from stiffness and stress point of view. Totally it is found that the composite leaf
spring is the better that of steel leaf spring. Therefore, it is concluded that composite multi leaf spring is an
effective replacement for the existing steel leaf spring in vehicles.

REFERENCES
[1] M.Venkatesan “Design And Analysis Of Composite Leaf Spring In Light Vehicle”, International
Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) Vol.2, Issue.1, Jan-Feb 2012 pp-213-218 ISSN:
2249-6645.

[2] M.M. Patunkar “Modeling And Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring Load Condition By Using FEA”,
(IJMIE) International Journal of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Volume 1 Issue 1-2011.

[3] U. S. Ramakanth, K. Sowjanya “Design and analysis of automotive multi-leaf springs using composite
materials” International Journal of Mechanical Prod uction Engineering Research and Development
(IJMPERD) ISSN 2249-6890 ,Vol. 3, Issue 1, Mar 2013, 155-162 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

[4] N.V. Hargude, J.G. Herekar and P.P. Awate, “Analysis of Composite Mono Leaf Spring”. International
Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), 5(5), 2014, pp. 9–16.

[5] B.Vijaya Lakshmi, I. Satyanarayana “static and dyn amic analysis on composite leaf spring in heavy
vehicle” International Journal of Advanced Engineer ing Research and Studies E-ISSN2249–8974,
IJAERS/Vol. II/ Issue I/Oct.-Dec.,2012/80-84.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 36 [email protected]
 Design and Assessment of Multi Layer Leaf Spring

[6] Y. N. V. Santhosh Kumar & M. Vimal Teja “Design an d Analysis of Composite Leaf Spring”
International Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (IJMIE), ISSN No. 2231 –6477, Vol-2,
Issue-1, 2012.

[7] Syambabu Nutalapati, “Design and Analysis of Leaf Spring by using Composite Material for Light
Vehicles”. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), 6(12), 2015,pp.
36–59.

[8] Dara Ashok , M.V. Mallikarjun and Venkata Ramesh Mamilla “design and structural analysis of
composite multi leaf spring” International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development
ISSN 2249-6149 ,Issue 2, Vol.5 (July 2012).

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJMET 37 [email protected]