Light composite elliptic springs for vehicle suspension

For composites to compete in vehicle suspension applications, it is essential to control their failure by utilising their strength in principal direction instead of shear. This can be achieved efficiently by employing a new configuration instead of existing one. This study marries between an elliptical configuration and the woven roving composites.In this paper, the influence of ellipticity ratio on performance of woven roving wrapped composite elliptical springs has been investigated both experimentally and numerically. A series of experiments was conducted for composite elliptical springs with ellipticity ratios (a/b) ranging from one to two. Typical failure histories of their failure mechanism are presented and discussed. In general, this study demonstrated that composites elliptical spring can be used for light and heavy trucks and meet the requirements, together with substantial weight saving. The results showed that the ellipticity ratio significantly influenced the spring rate and failure loads. Composite elliptic spring with ellipticity ratios of a/b 2.0 displayed the highest spring rate.