A numerical analysis on nonlinear radial stiffness of plane supporting spring and its combination

Precision instrument and system for aeronautics and astronautics usually endure stronger impact or vibration under hostile environments, which results in the storage of more deformation energy within the isolators. Another necessary requirement comes from the limitation of the assembly space where larger isolator is unallowable. With its space-based adaptive performance of lower stiffness and bigger deformation energy, the plane supporting spring finds its wide application in fields like aeronautics, astronautics, etc. A series of Archimedes spiral plane supporting spring Finite element analysis (FEA) models are established in this study via ANSYS parameter design language (APDL) speedy modeling. The radial stiffness curves of both single and double spring combination are analyzed in detail. And the FEA results are fitted by MATLAB. Our findings reveal that there exists a relationship of trigonometric function between the combination stiffness and the combination angles. And regardless of the spiral directions being the same or not, the stiffness of the combined springs remains identical, with the same trigonometric curves.