The Finite Element Simulation Of Air Spring Vertical And Lateral Characteristic

Air-spring is one of the major parts of the vehicle suspension system and is also applied for other industrial branches. The vertical stiffness of theory is relative accurate but lateral stiffness is not so. Because of non-linearity of geometry, material and boundary in the Finite Element Method (FEM), its computer is relatively complex and convergence is very difficult. There is no satisfying solution for its computation and convergence at present.In this paper, ANSYS soft on FEM is used for compute air spring's stiffness. Air spring is analyzed in the performance characteristics of the deformed shape with the cord angle and inner-pressure. And then the FEM analysis results on the load vs. displacement and inner-pressure vs. displacement are compared with the test results. It turns out that the analysis results are well coherent to the test results and can be used as guidance for design of air spring.The analysis results demonstrate that the cord angle and inner-pressure have a great effect on the deformed shape, and consequently those factors will have a great effect on the static stiffness characteristics of air spring.The application of Finite Element Method on air spring has broken the limitation of the traditional experiential formula, which will analysis air spring on the structure and the manufacture parameters. Finite Element Analysis on air spring should play a more and more important role for the design and manufacture in the future.