A Computational Approach for Evaluating Helical Compression Springs

Helical compression springs are generally synthesized and evaluated by determining the maximum torsional stress, fatigue life, natural frequency, and/or load loss due to stress relaxation. To this end, researchers have developed finite element analysis (FEA) modeling methods to simulate the design performance of helical compression springs. The intent of this paper was to make a useful contribution to the published works for evaluating round wire helical compression springs. Specifically, commercially available FEA software was used to construct a structural model of a helical compression spring to simulate its full range of compression. The proposed FEA modeling methodology considers coil-to-coil contact and the end coils were modeled as rigid surfaces. With 9 mm of compression, the predicted spring rate correlated with the analytically calculated value to within 5%.