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Lecture 10

The document discusses leaf springs used in railway and automotive suspension systems. It provides equations to calculate the bending stress and deflection of leaf springs. Two example problems are included that demonstrate how to use the equations to determine the thickness, width, and required lift height of leaf springs given load and material properties.

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Joe Allan
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126 views

Lecture 10

The document discusses leaf springs used in railway and automotive suspension systems. It provides equations to calculate the bending stress and deflection of leaf springs. Two example problems are included that demonstrate how to use the equations to determine the thickness, width, and required lift height of leaf springs given load and material properties.

Uploaded by

Joe Allan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MEPC24

Design of Machine Elements

Lecture 10
Dr. T. RAMESH
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Tiruchirappalli – 620 015
Email: [email protected]
Dr. T. RAMESH, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering,
1
NITT - 620015
Leaf Springs - Introduction
Multiple-leaf springs are in wide use, especially in the railway and automotive industries, such as the truck
suspension arrangement shown in Fig. 1.
A multiple-leaf spring can be considered as a simple cantilever type, as shown schematically in Fig. 2b. It can also be
considered as a triangular plate, as shown in Fig. 2(a). The triangular plate is cut into n strips of width b and stacked
in the graduated manner shown in Fig. 2b.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Leaf Springs - Introduction
The layers can slide over each other, as long as they are not welded, clamped, or fastened together. Some interaction between
layers is desirable, however, as is discussed below.
Before analyzing a multiple-leaf spring, first consider a single-leaf, cantilevered spring with constant rectangular cross section. For
bending of a straight beam, the magnitude of the bending stress is given by
(1)

For a rectangular cross section of base, b, height, t, and moment, M = Px, Eq. (1) becomes

(2)

The maximum moment occurs at x = l and at the outer fiber of the cross section, or

(3)
Leaf Springs - Introduction
Treating the spring as a cantilever beam of uniform strength,

and

Spring with extra full length leaves

PSG Design Data Book Page No. 7.104


Leaf Springs – Example Problems
Given: A 1-m-long cantilever spring is composed of eight graduated leaves. The leaves are 50 mm wide. A load of
2000 N at the end of the spring causes a deflection of 75 mm. The spring is made of steel with modulus of elasticity of
207 GPa.
Find: Determine the thickness of the leaves and the maximum bending stress.

Solution:
From Equation, y = [(6PL3) / (Enbt3)] (DDB Page No. 7.104)

t3 = [(6PL3) / (yEnb)]

t3 = [(6) (2000)(13)]/[(3)(207 x 109)(8) (0.05)]

t = 2.0 mm

From equation for bending stress,

sb = [(6PL) / (nbt2)]

= 1250 MPa
Leaf Springs – Example Problems
Given: A leaf spring for a locomotive wheel axle is made of spring steel with a thickness of 20 mm and an allowable
bending stress of 1050 MPa. The spring has a modulus of elasticity of 207 GPa, is 1.6 m long from tip to tip, and
carries a weight of 12,500 N at the middle of each leaf spring.

Find:
(a) The width of the spring for a safety factor of 3
(b) How high the locomotive has to be lifted during overhauls to unload the springs

Solution:
(a) The design stress is, smax = sallowable / n = 0.35 GPa (350 N/mm2)

The maximum bending stress is, sb = [(6PL) / (bt2)]

Because P is the force applied at the tip, the load is 6250 N and the length is 800 mm in the locomotive
spring.
Therefore,
b = 2101 mm
Splitting into 10 leaves gives the width of the leaf spring as, b/10 = 210.1 mm
Leaf Springs – Example Problems
(b) The locomotive has to be lifted at least as high as the spring’s deflection.

y = [(6PL3) / (Ebt3)]

= 0.05412 m = 54.1 mm.

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