FEA of Composite Leaf Spring for Light Commercial Vehicle: Technical Note
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Abstract
The intent of automotive sector for 21st century is to save fuel and reduce emissions. Due to this, the automotive designers are revisiting automotive systems and its parts for reducing the mass of the vehicles. For a suspension system, leaf spring is one of the key targets for weight reduction because it adds to unsprung mass which affects the ride quality of the vehicle. In this present study, a novel material such as a glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) was selected. The polyester resin was used for conducting the numerical analysis via finite element analysis technique using ANSYS R15.0 software. Stresses, deformation and strain energy results for both steel and composite leaf spring material were obtained. Result shows that, the composite spring has a maximum strain energy than the steel leaf spring. The design constraints were stresses, deformations and strain energy. Compared to the steel spring, the composite spring (S-glass fiber) resulted in higher deformation, strain energy and stress.
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