Design of stiffness for air spring based on ABAQUS

Abstract

In this paper, an axisymmetric finite element (FE) model of an air spring was carried out with the software ABAQUS to design its target vertical stiffness. The bellows was simulated by the reinforced surface element. The compressed gas in the cavity of the air spring was represented by the hydrostatic fluid element. The target stiffness is obtained by modifying the valid area of the cross section. At last, the results of experiment coincided well with the simulation data. The study shows that the static stiffness of air spring is sensitive to the effective area of the cross section. The conclusion has certain practical significance for the design and the optimization of the same kind of air spring. © 2013 Hongguang Li et al.