A flexible multi-body dynamic model for analyzing the hysteretic characteristics and the dynamic stress of a taper leaf spring

This paper proposes a modeling technique which is able to not only reliably and easily represent the hysteretic characteristics but also analyze the dynamic stress of a taper leaf spring. The flexible multi-body dynamic model of the taper leaf spring is developed by interfacing the finite element model and computation model of the taper leaf spring. Rigid dummy parts are attached at the places where a finite element leaf model is in contact with an adjacent one in order to apply contact model. Friction is defined in the contact model to represent the hysteretic phenomenon of the taper leaf spring. The test of the taper leaf spring is conducted for the validation of the reliability of the flexible multi-body dynamic model of the taper leaf spring developed in this paper. The test is started at an unloaded state with the excitation amplitude of 1 similar to 2mm/sec and frequency of 132mm. First, the simulation is conducted with the same condition as the test. Then, the simulations are conducted with various amplitudes in a loaded state. The hysteretic diagram from the test is compared with the ones from the simulation for the validation of the reliability of the model. The dynamic stress analysis of the taper leaf spring is also conducted with the developed flexible multi-body dynamic model under a dynamic loading condition.