Leaf springs play an important role in maneuver stability and ride comfort. End rubber gasket of the leaf spring is used to reduce the friction noise so called noise reduction gasket. But in addition to the friction reduction between leaves, it also affects the stiffness of suspension assembly. The ride of vehicle may deteriorate as the stiffness of suspension changes.In this paper the influence of end rubber gasket on the static stiffness performance of parabolic leaf spring suspensions is studied. The geometry model of parabolic leaf spring suspension was built by SolidWorks, and meshing was done in Hypermesh. Considering the contact and friction effects, a finite element model of the leaf spring suspension is developed by Abaqus to study the static stiffness performance of the suspension assembly. The static stiffness of the finite element model is verified against the static stiffness test. The verification results show that the static stiffness accuracy of the finite element model is controlled within 5%, which proves that the finite element model is accurate and effective. Effects of end rubber gasket parameters on the static stiffness of leaf spring are analysed based on an orthogonal test design. The geometric model and mesh size of the end rubber gasket is adjusted through Hypermesh. A five levels and four factors orthogonal experiment is proposed, which includes width, length, end thickness, tail thickness and distance to the end of the middle leaf. The interaction between various factors is not considered in these simulation tests. A L16(45) orthogonal test table is used to analyze the static stiffness of parabolic leaf spring suspension which uses two end rubber gaskets. 16 groups of simulation tests are performed. The sensitivities of five different parameters on the static stiffness characteristics of suspension are verified by two different methods, which are the range analysis and variance analysis. It is found the contributions can be ranked in descending order as tail thickness, end thickness, distance from the end of middle leaf, width and length. The first two factors are considered of significant effects on the suspension stiffness. According to supplementary single-factor analysis, it is found that under the same load, as the tail thickness and end thickness increase, the maximum deformation of the rubber gasket decreases, the stiffness of the rubber gasket increases, and the stiffness of the leaf spring suspension increases, which provides a reference for the forward design of the rubber gasket and the stiffness matching of leaf spring suspension.

 


Effect of End Rubber Gasket on the Performance of Parabolic Leaf Spring

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace, Bioengineering, Applied Mechanics, Design Engineering Division, Advanced Energy Systems, Manufacturing Engineering Division, Noise Control and Acoustics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Prognosis (NDPD), Nuclear Engineering Division, Process Industries Division, Fluids Engineering, Heat Transfer, Materials, Microelectromechanical Systems, Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis, Computers & Information in Engineering


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2020/volume/84478

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