STATIC AND DYNAMIC FEA ANALYSIS OF A COMPOSITE LEAF SPRING

Abstract

Composite materials are widely used in aeronautical, marine and automotive industries, because of their excellent mechanical properties, low density and ease of manufacture. Due to this increasing trend to utilize composite materials, it has become necessary to investigate the pros and cons of composites. This research investigated the static and dynamic behaviors for a composite leaf spring that are used in Chevrolet Corvette Grand and light tractor-trailers. The objective of this study was to find the cause of de-lamination/ failure of the unidirectional composite layers in varying cross sections of the leaf spring. Finite element method is used to calculate Static and dynamic behavior using ANSYS V17 software to simulate real time operating conditions. Anisotropic material properties are taken into account to observe resultant behavior. The leaf spring is modeled using SOLIDWORKS 2016 for the three materials, reinforced fiberglass epoxy, Kevlar epoxy and Carbon epoxy which are of great interest to the transportation industry. Vibration analysis is carried out using same FEA software. This study depicts and explains the causes of de-lamination. Suitable design changes are suggested to mitigate the defects sustained during operation for the preceding model.