Ankara International Congress on Scientific Research-IX, Ankara, Turkey, 26 December 2023, pp.199-212
The function of leaf springs is to compensate for the impacts created by vertical vibration and unbalanced loads coming from the road to the vehicle, to store energy, and to provide a soothing ride with the possibility of a more pliable suspension system. In this study, vibration analysis of leaf springs was performed through finite element analysis. Modal analysis of the leaf spring, which was designed with the help of the CATIA (Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application) program, was carried out using the finite element method. According to the results of the analysis performed by defining the structural steel material in the main case, AISI 5160 material was defined in 4 different cases, and design optimization was carried out in 4 different cases. The results were collected through ANSYS sub-module modal analysis, and total deformation, equivalent stress, weight, and safety factor values were also presented in the comparison. In the main case defined as structural steel material, the deformation amount was 0.16 mm and the equivalent stress value was 149.12 MPa. Among the other 4 different cases with AISI 5160 material, in case 3, the deformation amount increased by 37.1%, while the equivalent stress amount increased by 3.04%. In addition, the case 3 design was lighter in terms of spring weight by 20.72% compared to the main case design. When the mode results are examined, the frequency value in mode 6 in case 3 decreases by 1.12 times compared to the value in the main case, while the frequency value in mode 1 shows that the case 3 value is at the same rate higher than the main case. The results show that the most suitable design among the leaf spring design models in terms of weight reduction, frequency, and deformation values is the design in case 3.