CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600

069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

SPRINGS
1 Introduction
Mechanical spring is an elastic member whose primary function is to deflect under load and to recover
its original shape and position when load is released. Springs are used to absorb shocks and vibrations
(e.g. vehicle suspension system), store energy (e.g. springs n clocks and toys), measure force (e.g. spring
balance) and to apply force and control motion (e.g. cam and follower).
2 Types of Springs
Springs are classified based on their shape. Some of the important types of springs are as follows:
2.1 Helical Springs

Figure.1 Helical Spring

The helical springs are made from a wire coiled in the form of a helix as shown in Figure 1. Cross-
section of the wire is generally circular and it can be square or rectangular also. Helical springs are easy
to manufacture, reliable and have a constant spring rate i.e spring deflection is directly proportional to
the force acting. These are of two types – compression helical springs and tension helical springs.
Compression helical springs are designed to take compressive loads and they get compressed under the
loading and the tension helical springs are designed to take tensile loads and they get elongated under
the external loads. The load acts along the axes of these springs. In helical sprigs, the wire is subjected to
torsional shear stress.
Helical springs are also classified as closely-coiled and open-coiled springs. In closely-coiled springs,
wire is coiled so close that the plane containing each turn is nearly at right angles to the axis of the helix
i.e. the helix angle is very small, usually less than 10°. In open-coiled helical springs, the wire is so
coiled that there is a gap between the two consecutive turns i.e. the helix angle is large.

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 1

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

2.2 Conical Springs

Conical spring works in compression and is used where variable spring rate is required. Wire is coiled in
the form of a cone as shown in Figure .2

.
Figure.2 Conical Spring Figure .3 Torsion Spring
2.3 Torsion Springs
Torsion springs are of two types - helical and spiral. These springs are loaded in torsion and the load
tends to wind up the spring. Wire is subjected to bending moment in this case. Torsion springs are
shown in Figure 3.
2.4 Leaf or Laminated Springs

Figure 4 Leaf Spring Figure 5 Belleville Spring

The laminated or leaf spring consists of a number of flat plates (known as leaves), usually of semi-
elliptical shape, of varying lengths held together by means of clamps and bolts. These are mostly used in
automobiles. A typical leaf spring is shown in Figure.4.
2.5 Disc or Belleville Springs
These springs consists of a number of conical discs held together as shown in Figure 5. Belleville
springs have high spring rate and are compact.
3 Spring Materials
Spring materials should have high yield strength and low modulus of elasticity so that they don’t
permanently deform under the applied loads. Springs are made of the materials that can be formed
(rolled or drawn) to high strength and retain enough ductility to form or the alloys that can be heat

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 2

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

treated to high strength and ductility before or after forming. Both hot and cold working processes are
used for manufacturing springs. The selection of process depends upon size of material, spring index
and the properties desired. Winding of the spring induces residual stresses due to bending, which are
released with the help of heat treatment. Materials used for springs are plain carbon steels, alloy steels
and also the non-ferrous materials like phosphor bronzes, spring brass, beryllium copper and various
nickel alloys.
4 Terminology of Helical Springs
Figure.6 shows a helical spring subjected to compressive force, W.

Figure.6 Compression Helical Spring

Solid Length: Length of the spring when it is compressed so that the coils touch each other.
Solid Length , Ls = n.d
where n = numbers of coils and d = wire diameter
Compressed Length: Length of the spring, when it is subjected to maximum compressive force. Even
under the worst load, minimum clearance is maintained between the two adjacent coils so that they don’t
clash with each other. It is called clash allowance and is generally taken as 15% of the maximum
deflection.
Free Length: Length of the spring in the free or unloaded condition.

Spring Index: Ratio of the mean diameter of the coil to the diameter of the wire .

Spring Rate/Spring Stiffness/Spring Constant: Force required to produce unit deflection in the spring.
Spring Rate , k = W / σ where, and .
Pitch of the Coil: Axial distance between adjacent coils of the spring in uncompressed state.
Pitch of the Coil = p = Free Length / (n - 1)

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 3

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

5 Design of Helical Springs

5.1 Stress in Helical Springs
Under the compressive load, W acting on the spring, coil of the spring is subjected to two types of
stresses – direct shear stress and torsional shear stress due to twisting of the coil.
Torque = T = W . D / 2

In the analysis above effect of stress concentration is not considered. AM Wahl introduced a factor
called Wahl’s Stress Factor, K that takes care of stress concentration also along with the shear stress.
According to Wahl, Maximum shear stress is given by,

Maximum shear stress =

Wahl’s Factor is given by,

Wahl’s Factor ,
5.2 Deflection in Helical Springs

If J is polar moment of inertia and G is Modulus of Rigidity of coil, angular deflection of the wire due to
twisting is given by,

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 4

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

LEAF SPRINGS
1 Introduction
A cantilever beam or a simply supported beam can be used as a spring. For example diving board used
in a swimming pool is a spring in the form of a cantilever beam. Such springs are called leaf springs.
Basic equations of beam can be used to find stress and deflection in the leaf springs.
Let us consider a flat plate with width ‘B’, thickness ‘t’ and length ‘l’. If this plate is used as a leaf
spring in the form of a cantilever, subjected to load ‘F’, as shown in figure 1, maximum stress and
deflection in the plate is given by:

As the bending moment varies linearly along the length of the plate as shown by the bending moment
diagram, maximum value of bending stress occurs at the point of support of the cantilever (Q) and it
decreases linearly as we move away from the point of support and is zero at the point P. Material can be
saved if the cross-sectional area is reduced from Q to P in such a way that each section has same binding
stress. Beam so formed is called beam of uniform strength.
Cross-section can be reduced linearly by reducing either the width or thickness. Generally the
thickness is kept constant and width ‘B’ is reduced as shown by dotted lines in the top view of plate
shown in figure 1. If we consider only binding stress, we can have zero width (B = 0) at point P. But

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 5

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

practically we cannot have zero width and also at each point in the beam the cross section must be
enough to resist the shear force, which also exists in addition to bending. So we need to have some
minimum value of B at point P also. Beam of uniform strength so formed has the same value of
maximum binding stress as that in case of beam of uniform cross-section but maximum deflection
increases. Higher deflection means that they have more resistance and capacity to absorb impact energy
and can store more energy in comparison to the spring of uniform cross-section with same value of
maximum binding stress.

In a similar way simply supported a beam of uniform cross-section and uniform strength can be
compared. Figure.2 shows simply supported beam of uniform strength. Comparison of stress and
maximum deflection is given in table.1.
Table.1 Stress & Deflection in Beams of Uniform Cross-section & Uniform Strength

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 6

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

2 Laminated Springs
The width ‘B’ may become too large if only a single leaf spring is used. In order to make the spring
compact, the original plate may be cut into a number of strips which can be placed one below the other
and assembled using a clamp as shown in figure 18.3.

If friction between the strips (also called leaves) is neglected, stress and deflection equations used for
original plate can be used for this arrangement by replacing ‘B’ with ‘nb’, where n is number of strips or
leaves and b is width of each strip. Relation of maximum bending stress and maximum deflection of
cantilever beam and simply supported beam of uniform strength, in the form of a laminated spring, are
given in table 18.2.
Table 18.2 Stress & Deflection in Beams Used as Laminated Springs

Laminated springs are used in automobile suspension, railway carriages, coaches etc.
3 Semi-elliptical Laminated Springs
Semi-elliptical leaf spring is the most popular and widely used leaf spring. It consists of a number of flat
plates or leaves of semi-elliptical shape. U-bolts and center clip are used to hold these leaves together.
To keep the leaves aligned and avoid lateral shifting, rebound clips are used. Ends of the longest leaf are
bent to form eyes. This longest leaf is called ‘master leaf’ and other smaller leaves are called ‘graduated
Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 7
 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

leaves’. One or two extra full length leaves are generally provided along with the master leaf, to increase
strength against the transverse shear force. Typical semi-elliptical leaf spring is shown in figure 18.4.

Figure 18.4 Semi-elliptical Leaf Spring

When no external load is acting, the spring is curved or cambered. Camber is the perpendicular distance
between the reference line and the master leaf and its magnitude is such that the spring is approximately
straight under the max static load. Center of the spring is fixed to the axle of the automobile.
For the analysis purpose, leaves are divided into two groups: i. Master leaf and graduated leaves ii. Extra
full length leaves. Let
ng = number of graduated-length leaves including master leaf
nf = number of extra full length leaves
n = total number of leaves
b = width of each leaf
t = thickness of each leaf
L = half the length of semi-elliptical spring
F = force applied at the ends of the spring
Ff = part of F taken by extra full length leaves
Fg = part of F taken by graduated leaves and master leaf
Now, this spring can be treated as a simply supported beam of length 2L, with load 2F acting at its
centre or for simplification of analysis, half portion of it can be considered as a cantilever of length L,
with one end fixed (centre of the spring which is fixed with axle) and load F acting on the other. Now
the first group of leaves i.e. master leaf along with the graduated leaves can be considered as a cantilever
beam of uniform strength as discussed in previous article. Similarly group of extra full length leaves can

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 8

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

be considered as a cantilever beam of uniform cross-section. Therefore the relations given in table .1 can
be used to write the stress and deflections in these leaves by replacing B with ‘n f b’ and ‘ng b’ and
considering the the share of load taken by them, as given in table 18.3 below.
Table 3 Stress & Deflection in Leaves of Semi-elliptical Leaf Spring

As deflection in the full length leaves and graduated leaves is equal,

Also,

Solving,
Final relation for stress and deflection can be written as,

4 .Nipping of Leaf Springs

It is clear from the above equations that the stress in the full length leaves is 50% higher then the
graduated leaves. In addition to this, the full length leaves als

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 9

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

o have to carry transverse load, longitudinal load and also the load due to twisting, which further
increases the stress in the full length leaves. In order to reduce the value of maximum stress in the full
length leaves and to equalize the stresses in different leaves the spring may be pre-stressed in such a way
that the full length leaves are stressed in the opposite direction to the stresses due to external load. This
is done by giving different radius of curvature to the full length leaves than the graduated leaves. Full
length leaf is given higher radius of curvature than the adjacent leaf and it is reduced further for smaller
length leaves. Initial gap between the full length leaf and graduated leaf is called nip and this process is
known as nipping. The leaves get pre-stressed when they are clamped together. As discussed earlier,
pre-stressing leads to equalization of stresses in graduated leaves and full length leaves, therefore

Also,

Initial pre-load required to close the gap C can be determined as follows:

Nip is equal to the sum of initial deflections in the full length leaves and graduated leaves,

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 10

 CHENNAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY , CHENNAI – 600
069 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ME 8593- DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

Resultant stress in the extra full length leaves is then given by,

Substituting the values of Ff and Fi

And considering that the stress in all the leaves should now be equal,

Dr.RGM/V-SEM/ME8593-DME/UNIT – II NOTES Page 11