Chapter 7 Design of Springs

At the end of this chapter students should be able to :

1) Know different types of springs

2) Materials used for helical springs
3) Standard sizes for spring wire
4) Stresses in helical springs of circular wire.

A spring is defined as an elastic body, whose function is to distort when loaded and to recover its
original shape when the load is removed.

Application of springs

1 To apply forces as in brakes, clutches and spring loaded valves

2 To control motion by maintaining contact between two elements as in cams and followers

3 used to protect soil engaging tools as in agricultural machinery

Types of Springs

There are many types of springs, but from the subject point of view, we are going to focus on helical
springs.

Helical springs The helical springs are made up of a wire coiled in the form of a helix and is primarily
intended for compressive or tensile loads. The cross-section of the wire from which the spring is made
may be circular, square or rectangular. The two forms of helical springs are compression
helical spring as shown in Fig. 23.1 (a) and tension helical spring as shown (b).

a)

b)

The springs are mostly made from oil-tempered carbon steel wires containing 0.60 to 0.70 per cent
carbon and 0.60 to 1.0 per cent manganese.

Table 23.1 shows the values of allowable shear stress, modulus of rigidity and modulus of elasticity for
various materials used for springs. The helical springs are either cold formed or hot formed depending
upon the size of the wire. Wires of small sizes (less than 10 mm diameter) are usually wound cold
whereas larger size wires are wound hot. The strength of the wires varies with size, smaller size wires
have greater strength and less ductility, due to the greater degree of cold working.
Terms used in compression springs

1. Solid length. When the compression spring is compressed until the coils come in contact with each
other, then the spring is said to be solid. The solid length of a spring is the product of total number of
coils and the diameter of the wire. Mathematically, Solid length of the spring, L = n'.d

'
Free length of the spring =n d +δ max +0.15 δ max or

'
free length of the sring=n d +δ max +(n¿¿ ' −1)1 mm ¿

3. Spring index. The spring index is defined as the ratio of the mean diameter of the coil to the diameter
of the wire. Mathematically, Spring index, C =D/d

4. Spring rate. The spring rate (or stiffness or spring constant) is defined as the load required

per unit deflection of the spring. Mathematically, Spring rate, k = W/ δ

Where W = Load, and δ = Deflection of the spring.

Note : In designing a tension spring (See Example 23.8), the minimum gap between two coils when the
spring is in the free state is taken as 1 mm. Thus the free length of the spring, LF = n.d + (n – 1)

It may be noted that part of the coil which is in contact with the seat does not contribute to spring
action and hence are termed as inactive coils. The turns which impart spring action are known as active
turns. As the load increases, the number of inactive coils also increases due to seating of the end coils
and the amount of increase varies from 0.5 to 1 turn at the usual working loads.

Let G = Modulus of rigidity for the spring material,

W = Axial load on the spring,

τ = Maximum shear stress induced in the wire,

C = Spring index = D/d,

 p = Pitch of the coils, and

δ = Deflection of the spring, as a result of an axial load W

Now consider a part of the compression spring as shown in Fig. 23.10 (b). The load W tends to rotate the
wire due to the twisting moment ( T ) set up in the wire. Thus torsional shear stress is induced in the
wire.
3
D π × τ1× d ,
T =W × =
2 16

8 WD
τ1= 3 ,
πd

In addition to the torsional shear stress (τ1) induced in the wire, the following stresses also act on the
wire : 1. Direct shear stress due to the load W, and 2. Stress due to curvature of wire.

We know that direct shear stress due to the load W,

load w 4W 4W
τ 2= = = 2 =1.23×
cross sectional area of the wire d
2
πd
2
π d , note 1.23 was obtained
π
4
experimentally

Combining τ 1 and τ 2

8WD 4 W 8 WD
τ total= 3 +
1.23 × 2
= 3
¿ , where d =C=spring constant
πd πd πd D
 8 WC
τ max= 2
¿) but in actual practice it is
πd

τ max=
π d 4 C−4
3 (
8 WD 4 C−1 0.615 8 KWC
+
C
=
πd 2 where K= )
4 C−1 0.615
4 C−4
+
C
,

Active number of turns

Tl
By using the twist in the shaft given by θ= where J is the polar moment of inertia of the cross
JG
section

Gdδ
n= 3
8W C

Where n is the active number of turns

In compression springs the ends can be 1 plane 2 plain and ground 3 squared 4 squared and ground. The
number of in active turns in each case are 1.5, 1, 1 and 2 respectively. Hence this number is added to the
calculated value of number of turns to get the actual number of turns.

Design of the spring subjected to variable load

A close coiled helical spring subjected to fluctuating load fails due to fatigue. The maximum variation of
the load in the spring is only on the positive or negative side.

τ max
τ m=τ v = ,
2

For the part subjected to a variable load of completely reversible type τ m= 0 and τ v =Ses hence, in this
S es
case τ m=τ v = .
2

Note important equations

S ys
τv −τ m
N 8 K v PvC 4 C−1
= , τ v= and K v =
Ses S es πd
2
4 C−4
S ys −
2 2

8 Km PmC 0.615
τ m= , and K m = +1
πd
2
C

Tutorials
1) A coil spring is used for the front suspension of an automobile. The spring has a stiffness of
90N/m with squared and ground ends. The material used is oil tempered chrome vanadium
steel for which the permissible shear stress may be taken as 500Mpa. The load on the spring
causes a total deflection of 8.5mm. Find the spring wire diameter and free length of the spring
using a spring index of 6
2) Design a close coiled helical spring subjected to a tensile load of magnitude varying from 2500N
to 3000N. The axial deflection of the spring for this range of load is 6.5mm. design the spring,
taking the spring index as 6 and the safe shear stress for the material of the spring equal to 465
Mpa
3) A spring loaded safety valve is held against its seat by a close coiled helical compression spring.
The diameter of the valve is 75mm and the blow off pressure is 1.1 Mpa. Mean diameter of the
coil is 100mm and compression is 25mm. Find the diameter of the spring bar and the number of
active coils if permissible shearing stress is 500Mpa and G = 0.8 ×10 5Mpa.
4) A helical spring is subjected to continuously varying load. A number 8 oil tempered wire is used
with the mean diameter of the coil as 30mm. The maximum and minimum force acting on the
spring is 500N and 300N respectively and deflection during this variation is 10 mm. Find the
factor of safety and the number of active turns