Saveetha Engineering College
Modeling and Analysis of Composite Leaf
Spring
Guide name : [Link] Rajeswari M.E.,(Ph.D.)
Designation : Associate Professor
Name : [Link]
Reg-no : 212214402001
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Outline of Contents
Introduction
Literature survey
Research gap
Problem definition
Objective
Research methodology
Material selection
References
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Introduction
Leaf spring is the simple form of spring commonly used for the
suspension in wheeled vehicle
It is in the form of slender and shaped length of spring steel of
rectangular cross section
The centre of the arc provides location for the axle which tie holes are
provided at either end for attaching to the vehicle body
Conventional leaf spring, parabolic leaf spring, corvette leaf spring are
commonly used in the recent times
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Composite Leaf Spring
composite leaf spring comes with the independent suspension in
order to replace conventional steel leaf spring
Composite leaf spring consist of single(mono) master leaf
instead of small graduated leaves
Composite leaf spring are used in order to reduce weight and to
increase the stiffness of the spring.
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Literature survey
E Mahdi , A.M.S Hamouda , An experimental investigation into
mechanical behavior of hybrid and non hybrid composite semi
elliptical springs (2013)
The author have introduced a new composite semi elliptical
suspension spring by utilizing fiber reinforced composite
glass/epoxy , glass/carbon/epoxy were used
Compression , tension , torsion, and cyclic tests are presented
The carbon-glass/epoxy elliptical springs exhibited higher
spring rate but poor ride quality compared with non hybrid .
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y.s kong m.z omar l.b chua [Link] Fatigue life prediction
of paraboic leaf spring under various road condition (2012)
The author et al have examined leaf spring with repeated
cyclic loading during operation condition
Fatigue life assesment of the parabolic leaf spring is a
significant aspect during component design stage
Variable amplitude load(VAL) val signals were gathered from
different road condition
With this design has been modified with the stress-strain graph
developed with the signals from VAL
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c subramanian [Link] Effect of reinforced fiber length on
joint performance of thermoplastic leaf spring (2010)
The author have reported the influence of reinforced fiber length
on the performance of injection molded thermoplastic leaf spring
joint
Fiber reinforced polypropylene as well as un reinforced
polypropylene and evaluated for joint strength
Static and dynamic testing were carried out
Short fiber and long fiber were examined and resulted in load
deflection hysteresis is more in long fiber
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Research Gap
The fiber reinforced polymers are only used as the composite
material for the mono composite leaf spring CRFP could be a
better replacement
Natural fibers can be used for the mono composite leaf spring
In the conventional leaf spring the interleaf friction provides a
damping action it is not well controlled and result in stiction in
the motion of suspension
Best deflection composite is to be numerically analyzed for the
mono leaf spring
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Problem definition
The suspension leaf spring is one of the potential items for weight
reduction in automobile as it accounts for 10-20% of unsprung
weight
In general leaf spring are made of steel alloys. In this project steel
material is replaced by composite materials
The reason for shifting from conventional to mono composite
material is due to some drawbacks
machining cost is high
Corrode resistance is low
More weight
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Objectives
The main objective of the project is to reduce the weight by
increasing the stiffness .
To carry out numerical simulation of the conventional cast leaf
spring and to analyze the spring using finite element analyze
To carry out the mono composite leaf spring and to analyze the
spring using the finite element analyze
To compare and select between suitable composites of best
deflection for the mono composite leaf spring.
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Research Methodology
Literature survey
Collection of data for
conventional leaf spring
Development of mono leaf
spring
Selection of materials
Numerical simulation of
conventional design
Fabrication of the mono leaf
spring
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Material Selection
Fibre reinforced polymer
carbon/epoxy
E-glass/epoxy
Natural fibre
Banana fibre
Roselle fibre
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References
[Link] [Link] Effect of reinforced fibre length on
the joint performance of thermoplastic leaf spring material design
31(2010)3733-3741
Y.s kong m.z omar l.b chua [Link] Fatigue life prediction of
parabolic leaf spring under various condition Engineering failure
analysis 46(2014)92-103
Dipendra kumar roy , kashi nath saha Nonlinear analysis of leaf
springs of functionally graded materials 51(2013)538-543
H.A al-qureshi Automobile leaf spring from composite materials
material processing technology 118(2001)58-61
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Thank you
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