A New Nonlinear Spatial Compliance Model Method for Flexure Leaf Springs with Large Width-to-Length Ratio under Large Deformation

Flexure leaf spring (FLS) with large deformation is the basic unit of compliant mechanisms with large stroke. The stiffness along the non-working directions of FLSs with large width-to-length ratio (w/L) is high. The motion stability of the compliant mechanism based on this type of FLS is high. When this type of FLS is loaded along the width direction, the shear deformation needs to be characterized. Nevertheless, currently available compliance modeling methods for FLS are established based on Euler–Bernoulli beam model and cannot be used to characterize shear models. Therefore, these methods are not applicable in this case. In this paper, a new six-DOF compliance model for FLSs with large w/L is established under large deformation. The shear deformation along the width direction model is characterized based on the Timoshenko beam theory. The new constraint model and differential equations are established to obtain a high-precision compliance model expression for this type of FLS. The effects of structural parameters on the compliance of the FLS are analyzed. Finally, the accuracy of the model is verified both experimentally and by finite element simulation. The relative error between theoretical result and experiment result is less than 5%.