• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.413-419
• /
• 2000

An efficient method for calculating the nonlinear stiffness of the Progressive Multi-Leaf Spring is developed and evaluated. It utilizes the interaction between the main and help spring that induces the nonlinearity. The main and the help springs are modeled as multi-leaf cantilever beams, and, then, they are integrated as one by connecting the two models for each side of the Progressive Multi-Leaf Spring at the center-bolt. The results from the developed model are evaluated by use of the commercial FEA program, ABAQUS. The nonlinear spring coefficients calculated by FEM analysis yield the numbers very close to the numbers calculated for the spring coefficients by used of the developed method. From the comparative evaluations, the developed method is accurate enough and very efficient in calculation time for evaluating the nonlinear spring property of the Progressive Multi-Leaf Spring.