Stacking
Multiple Belleville washers may be stacked to modify the spring constant or amount of deflection. Stacking in the same direction will add the spring constant in parallel, creating a stiffer joint (with the same deflection). Stacking in an alternating direction is the same as adding springs in series, resulting in a lower spring constant and greater deflection. Mixing and matching directions allow a specific spring constant and deflection capacity to be designed.
Example: 1 Spring is considered to be 1 in Parallel, 1 in Series. (This notation is needed for load calculations)
If n = # of springs in a stack, then: Parallel Stack (n in parallel, 1 in series) - Deflection is equal to that of one spring, Load is equal to that of n x 1 spring. i.e. Stack of 4 in parallel, 1 in series will have the same deflection as that of one spring and the load will be 4 times higher than that of one spring.
Series Stack (1 in parallel, n in series) - Deflection is equal to n x 1 spring, load is equal to that of one spring. i.e. Stack of 1 in parallel, 4 in series will have the same load of one spring and the deflection will be 4 times greater.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)