Optimum Design And Mechanical Properties Analysis Of Composite Leaf Spring

With the improvement of people's attention to modern levels for automotive safety and energy saving,lightweight vehicles become a research focus of the automotive industry.Traditional automotive leaf spring materials,such as steel,aluminum alloys and other metal materials are gradually being replaced by composite materials.The resin-based composite material has the advantages of high specific strength,high specific modulus,strong design,high temperature performance,simple manufacturing process,and low cost.Through practice,it has been proved that the use of composite materials in automobiles can effectively reduce the weight of vehicles and reduce fuel consumption,thereby reducing the cost of use,reducing pollution to the environment,and having important significance for achieving sustainable development.In this paper,the automotive leaf spring assembly is studied,and E glass fiber resin-based composite materials are used instead of the traditional spring steel to reduce the weight.Then,the size of the leaf spring is optimized to achieve light weight.First,we reviewed the history of suspension systems and composite leaf springs.Then introduce the theory of composite laminates,including the main characteristics of laminates,laminate stiffness and strength theory of single-layer panels and so on.Based on the theory of laminates,the dimensions of leaf springs are taken as design variables,and the stiffness,strength and mass of composite leaf springs are used as sub-goals to establish a mathematical model of leaf springs.In combination with an example,a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the design of the leaf spring structure so that the stiffness of the composite leaf spring satisfies the requirements while the strength is maximized and the leaf spring is lightweight.After obtaining the optimized results of the leaf spring structure,a three-dimensional model of composite leaf spring was established using Solid Works software.Then the model was imported into Abaqus finite element analysis software to simulate and analyze the assembly of leaf springs and the application of static loads,deformation and stress conditions.Then considering the frictional factors between the reeds,the effect of friction on the stiffness of the leaf springs was analyzed.Finally,the dynamic simulation of the leaf spring was carried out.The displacement response of the leaf spring after applying sinusoidal excitation was studied.The effects of friction,excitation amplitude and excitation frequency on the hysteresis characteristics and damping characteristics of the leaf spring were discussed.