Analysis of composite leaf spring’s elastic properties for truck suspension system

BACKGROUND: Currently, the issue of reasonable use of energy resources, dictated by the increase in environmental standards and production capacity, as well as the reduction of consumer costs, often arises. This issue is especially acute in the automotive industry. The fundamental factor in the issue of increasing the energy efficiency of a vehicle is its weight, reduction of which causes many design and layout contradictions. One of the possible solutions to this problem is the use of composite materials in the vehicles design. Currently, composite materials are widely used in aircraft manufacturing and the aerospace sector, where their use is a generally accepted approach. In the conditions of constant competition in the automotive industry, products made of polymer composite materials have also recently begun to be widely used. The main areas of application of composite materials are large-sized body structures (cabins, hoods, bumpers, doors), components of transmission, chassis and brake systems (friction linings of clutch discs, elastic elements of the suspension system, friction elements of brakes). The paper presents the main approaches and intermediate results of calculating fiberglass springs for the rear suspension system of a vehicle with a gross weight of 3500 kg. AIM: Reducing the weight of the truck’s rear suspension with a gross vehicle weight of 3500 kg. METHODS: To reduce weight and to determine the required mechanical characteristics of the suspension system, a search for reasonable parameters of a leaf spring made of fiberglass, taking into account the manufacturing features, is carried out using the finite element analysis method. RESULTS: A reasonable design of a composite leaf spring with minimum mass has been obtained. The optimal distribution of composite layers and angles of its reinforcement along the thickness of the leaf spring has been determined. The load characteristic of the obtained spring, made using a polymer composite, has been built. CONCLUSION: The optimization of the composite leaf spring made of fiberglass was carried out. The obtained leaf spring has a nonlinear stiffness characteristic. When subjected to dynamic force, the spring failure criterion does not exceed 1, which indicates its operability.