Experimental and FEA for stress, fatigue life and optimum weight of LCV leaf spring

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering

© 2017 by SSRG - IJME Journal

Volume 4 Issue 9

Year of Publication : 2017

Authors : Vikas K. Joshi, Dr.Rachayya R. Arakerimath

10.14445/23488360/IJME-V4I9P105

How to Cite?

Vikas K. Joshi, Dr.Rachayya R. Arakerimath, "Experimental and FEA for stress, fatigue life and optimum weight of LCV leaf spring," SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering, vol. 4,  no. 9, pp. 21-27, 2017. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488360/IJME-V4I9P105

Abstract:

In this paper, a leaf spring with auxiliary spring is tested for its fatigue life and stiffness. The existing design is with both multi-leaf type springs whereas the modified design consists of auxiliary parabolic spring to have a increased fatigue life by reducing stress levels. The leaf spring is being tested for its targeted life of 1x105 and 5x104 fatigue cycles for main and auxiliary leaf springs respectively. All analytical calculations for the said leaf spring for its stiffness and fatigue life has been done by using SAE manual. Also, FEA for fatigue life and stiffness has been done by using Pro-Mechanica software. The experimental investigation is carried out on a leaf spring test rig with a maximum load of 12730 kg allowing maximum deflection of 146mm and maximum stresses up to 100kg/mm2. To increase the fatigue life of a leaf spring, leaves of the spring tension side is shot peened. Now in new leaf spring, main leaf spring consists of 9 leaves whereas auxiliary parabolic leaf spring consists of 3 leaves. The factor of safety for leaf spring is between the ranges 1.2 to 1.5. By using parabolic leaf spring on auxiliary pack, the weight of the leaf spring has been reduced by 43 Kg i.e. from 177 Kg (Existing) to 134 Kg (New) and approximately 24% weight is reduced per leaf spring. All the results i.e. analytical, FEA and experimental are compared in results and discussion.

Keywords:

Leaf spring, main spring, auxiliary spring, FEA, test rig, weight reduction and parabolic leaf spring

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