A Characteristic Analysis on the Elastic Stiffness of the Tapered-width Leaf Type Holddown Spring Assembly Designed in KOFA's Design Space

A Characteristic Analysis on the Elastic Stiffness of the Tapered-width Leaf Type Holddown Spring Assembly Designed in KOFA's Design Space

An elastic stiffness formula of a leaf type holddown spring(HDS) assembly with a uniformly tapered width from $w_0$ to $w_14$ over the length, has been analytically derived based on Euler beam theory and Castigliano's theorem. Elastic stiffnesses of the tapered-width leaf type HDSs(TW-HDSs) designed in the same dimensional design spaces as the KOFA HDSs have been evaluated from the derived formula, in addition, a parametric study on the elastic stiffness of the TW-HDSs has been carried out. Analysis results show that, as the effects of axial and shear force on the elastic stiffness of He TW-HDSs have been 0.15~0.21% of the elastic stiffness, most of the elastic stiffness is attributed to the bending moment, and that elastic stiffnesses of the TW-HDSs have been about 32~33% higher than those of the KOFA HDSs. It is found that the number of leaves composing a HDS assembly could be lessened by one under the conditions that the TW-HDSs have been adopted in KOFA.