SPRINGS

16 December 2006
Spring Loads
B
A
Stresses
A
F
J
Tr
+ = t
A B A B
A B
J
Tr
T
= t
A
F
F
= t
Stresses continued
2 3
d
F 4
d
FD 8
t t
t + =
LET
d
D
C=
For a properly designed spring, the
spring index C satisfies:
12 C 4 s s
Final static Stress
2
s
3
s max
d
FC 8
K
d
FD 8
K
t
=
t
= t
where
C 2
1
1 K
s
+ =
K
s
is called the shear stress correction
factor
Wahl Correction
To account for curvature, we use the
Wahl correction factor K
W
given by:
C
615 . 0
4 C 4
1 C 4
K
W
+

=
and re-write the maximum static shear
stress as:
2
W max
d
FC 8
K
t
= t
Material Strength
ut sy
S * 56 . 0 S =
m
ut
d
A
S =
ut su
S * 67 . 0 S =
See Table 10.4
Static Failure
For a spring under static load,
s
sy
2
W max
n
S
d
FC 8
K s
t
= t
Stiffness
From Energy considerations,
the spring constant k is:
a
3
N C 8
dG
k =
where G is the shear modulus of
rigidity and N
a
the number of active
coils.
15 N 3
a
s s
Cyclic Loading
Let the mean and alternating forces on
the spring be P
m
and P
a

then the mean and alternating shear
stresses on the spring are:
2
m
W m
d
CP 8
K
t
= t
2
a
W a
d
CP 8
K
t
= t
Static Yield and Goodman
S
sy

S
su

S
se

45
o

m
t
a
t
Goodman,
1
S S
su
m
se
a
=
t
+
t
Static Yield,
sy m a
S = t + t
c
a
t
Design Control
Let the intersection of the Goodman
and static failure lines be at point
c
a
t
on the
a
t
axis
then
(

= t
su se
su sy
se
c
a
S S
S S
S
Strength Failure
f su
m
se
a
n
1
S S
=
t
+
t
else, Static Yield
governs and,
s
sy
m a
n
S
= t + t
If Goodman
governs and,
a
c
a
t < t
Endurance Limit
In using the Goodman Equation, the
endurance limit is given by:
) S / S ( 1
S
S
su sm
sa
se

=
where S
sa
and S
sm
are the Zimmerli
numbers given by:
Zimmerli Numbers
Peened Unpeened
S
sa
(MPa) 398 241
S
sm
(MPa) 534 379
Buckling
For steel, buckling will not occur if
o
<
D
63 . 2 L
f
where is an end condition factor from
Table 10-2
o
Surge:
The natural frequency of a steel spring
with squared and ground is given by
Hz
CD N
353000
f
a
n
=
where the mean coil diameter D is in (mm)
If the frequency of the external force is f
e
,
Hz, then surge will not occur if
e n
f 13 f >