Numerical and Experimental Study on Optimization of Coil Springs used in Vehicles’ Suspension System

Mostafizur Rahman; Saeem Bin  Abdullah

doi:10.38032/jea.2021.04.001

Authors

Mostafizur Rahman Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chattogram-4349, Bangladesh
Saeem Bin Abdullah Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chattogram-4349, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38032/jea.2021.04.001

Keywords:

Suspension system, Stiffness, Deflection, Stress formation, Coil spring

Abstract

In general, the suspension systems are used to absorb vibrations, bump, rolls, dip from shock loads due to road surface irregularities. It performs its major role without affecting the vehicles’ stability and overall handling during operation. Coil springs are used as suspension element in light vehicles to attenuate unwanted vibrations. A spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy and it can be twisted, pulled or extended by some force and can return to its initial position when the force is released. In this study, mild steel material was taken into consideration in designing and fabricating coil springs. Theoretical and experimental investigations were conducted to calculate springs’ stiffness and to make validation between them. Three model of springs having coils 10, 11, 14 respectively are designed which have slight stiffness difference both theoretically and experimentally. The models were analyzed to determine mechanical behaviors for randomly chosen loading conditions ranging from 29.4 N to 176.4 N which are better suited with spring size. It is noted from both numerical and experimental investigations that deflection is high when the stiffness is less and vice-versa. In addition, shear stress formation increases with the increment of stiffness and applied load. Hence, springs having high stiffness are used in suspension system to reduce vibration and other disturbances. This study shows springs of having high stiffness are comparatively compact in size and cost economic as well.

References

Shala, A., Hajrizi, E. and Likaj, R., 2010. Modelling and Simulation of road Vehicle. IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 43(25), pp.65-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3182/20101027-3-XK-4018.00014

Putra, T.E. and Machmud, M.N., 2020. Predicting the fatigue life of an automotive coil spring considering road surface roughness. Engineering Failure Analysis, 116, p.104722. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104722

Tsubouchi, T., Takahashi, K. and Kuboki, T., 2014. Development of coiled springs with high rectangular ratio in cross-section. Procedia Engineering, 81, pp.574-579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.10.042

Mitra, A.C., Soni, T. and Kiranchand, G.R., 2016. Optimization of automotive suspension system by design of experiments: a nonderivative method. Advances in Acoustics and Vibration, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3259026

Das, S.K., Mukhopadhyay, N.K., Kumar, B.R. and Bhattacharya, D.K., 2007. Failure analysis of a passenger car coil spring. Engineering failure analysis, 14(1), pp.158-163. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2005.11.012

Vukelic, G. and Brcic, M., 2016. Failure analysis of a motor vehicle coil spring. Procedia Structural Integrity, 2, pp.2944-2950. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prostr.2016.06.368

Nohut, S. and Schneider, G.A., 2009. Failure probability of ceramic coil springs. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 29(6), pp.1013-1019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2008.08.012

Pastorcic, D., Vukelic, G. and Bozic, Z., 2019. Coil spring failure and fatigue analysis. Engineering Failure Analysis, 99, pp.310-318. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.02.017

Al Sahlani, A., Khashan, M.K. and KHALEEL, H.H., 2018. Design and analysis of coil spring in vehicles using finite elements method. Int. J. Mech. Product. Eng. Res. Dev, 8(4), pp.615-624. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24247/ijmperdaug201864

Logavigneshwaran, S., Sriram, G. and Arunprakash, R., 2015. Design and Analysis of Helical Coil Spring in Suspension System. International journal for trends in engineering & technology, 9(1), pp. 1-5.

Mulla, T.M., 2016. Fatigue life estimation of helical coil compression spring used in front suspension of a three wheeler vehicle. Proceedings of the modern era research in mechanical engineering-2016 (MERME-16), Urun Islampur, India, 29.

Sreenivasan, M., Kumar, M.D., Krishna, R., Mohanraj, T., Suresh, G., Kumar, D.H. and Charan, A.S., 2020. Finite element analysis of coil spring of a motorcycle suspension system using different fibre materials. Materials Today: Proceedings, 33, pp.275-279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.051

Sathish, T., Sabarirajan, N., Chandramohan, D. and Karthick, S., 2020. A novel technique to design and production of coil spring in centre lathe. Materials Today: Proceedings, 33, pp.2521-2523. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.12.015

Abidin, M.I.Z., Mahmud, J., Abd Latif, M.J. and Jumahat, A., 2013. Experimental and numerical investigation of SUP12 steel coil spring. Procedia Engineering, 68, pp.251-257. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2013.12.176

Ekanthappa, J., Shankar, G.S., Amith, B.M. and Gagan, M., 2016, September. Fabrication and experimentation of FRP helical spring. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 149, No. 1, p. 012098). IOP Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/149/1/012098

Pawar, H.B. and Desale, D.D., 2018. Optimization of three wheeler front suspension coil spring. Procedia manufacturing, 20, pp.428-433. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2018.02.062

Kim, K.T., 2010. A study on mechanical properties and flow-induced vibrations of coil-shaped holddown spring. Nuclear engineering and design, 240(4), pp.747-755. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2009.11.041