AIOUS Racing Team Preliminary Design Report

Meenu Singh
Author
Copyright 2012 SAE International
AIOUS Racing Team
Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Delhi

ABSTRACT
This report describes the preliminary designs of AIOUS
Racing Team. The team aims at participating in Supra
SAE India event which challenges students to conceive,
design, fabricate and compete with a small formula
style, autocross racing cars. The vehicle is so designed
to imbibe in it high performance in terms of acceleration,
braking and handling and making it sufficiently durable
to successfully compete in all the Supra events. The
team has carried out in depth analysis of formula cars
and is using Solidworks for designing and Ansys for
testing of the designs.

torsional rigidity of a structure. The validity of

aerodynamic features will be tested on Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to understand the air
flow of the current design.
CHASSIS:
A chassis is defined as a structural unit that will support
the full load of the vehicle drive train, suspension
mounting points, steering, fuel tank and driver. A
chassis needs to be a platform that resists twisting, is
torsionally rigid and also has high structural toughness
to survive stress imposed by the driver, road surface,
vibrations of engine and other components.

INTRODUCTION
This event provides us a platform to put our designing
skills on test. Since, the vehicle is intended for use by a
non-professional weekend autocross racer, the primary
goals of the team are to make a simple yet reliable
vehicle which involves good engineering design
practices and easy manufacturing so that the
manufacturing firm (for which the prototype is being
made) can meet its production target. The team carried
out all of the necessary background research required
to sustain an accurate database of design criteria.
These design criteria will then allow the design process
and methodology to be derived along with smooth
construction of an efficient and effective space frame
chassis.
The design team is focused on reducing the weight of
the vehicle in order to maximize dynamic performance
and handling .The engine will be used as a stress
member which would reduce the number of rods,
hence, reducing the weight of the rear part. Another
feature of the vehicle is the use of front wings which
provides adequate downforce to improve cornering
speed. In an effort to facilitate the manufacturing
process, we are implementing an inventory control
system as a part of our design strategy. This system
allows us to catalogue components through various
stages of design as well as follow their progress and
view a list of modifications that have been made.
In order to increase the ease and speed of
manufacturing, various design softwares like CATIA,
Pro/Engineer and Solidworks were studied. It was then
decided that the vehicle will be modeled using
Solidworks since its structural member command and
weldaments eases the designing framework. This
enables us to verify designs and check inter-component
compatibility. Also, any parts subjected to loaded
conditions will be tested on Ansys which is a Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) software module to check

A spaceframe chassis construction is being preferred by

us as it has the main advantage of easy repairing and
inspection for damage after a collision and it is also less
prone to rusting as compared to a monocoque chassis.
The torsional rigidity of the chassis has been increased
by designing the chassis on the principles of a true
space frame i.e. by providing ample triangulations. The
design has been made in full accordance with the rules
specified by SUPRA SAE India.
DESIGN:
The flow in the design is as follows- rough sketching, 2D drafting and dimensioning, solid modeling using
SolidWorks, wireframe design, material assignment and
finite element analysis(FEA).
MATERIAL:
It has been decided to use MS 1020 which has high
strength low density, is readily available and economical
too.
TESTING:
Based on points coordinates obtained from SolidWorks
the wireframe was generated in Ansys12.0 modeling
interface. The stress and displacement analysis in case
of frontal collision, side impact and rear collision has
been done. (as shown on the last page).
Satisfactory results were obtained and the design was
optimized in accordance to SAE India rules.
ERGONOMICS:
The five areas of ergonomics include safety, comfort,
ease of use, performance and aesthetics. The cockpit is
the nucleus of a race car. It is a confined area that must
be both functional and secure for the driver. The

physiological demands placed on driver from heat,

noise and vibrations have been minimized and the car's
safety restraints increased. Moreover, proper analysis
and improvement of specific issues such as driver
comfort and security, and accessibility and serviceability
of components inside the cockpit have been dealt with.
Simulation of driver's behavior and measure key criteria
such as reach, visibility, comfort, posture, biomechanics
and strength have been considered. This analysis
enables F1 teams to make driver-oriented decisions
about cockpit design while respecting the overall
aerodynamics of the car.
For the safety of the driver, it is desired to design the
cockpit such that the driver can egress out of it within
five seconds. To achieve that, it has been decided to
make the cockpit wider and a collapsible steering
column is to be used. The cockpit has been designed in
th
accordance with the biometrics of 95 percentile male
th
and 5 percentile female. The 5 point restrain system is
being used.
IMPACT ATTENUATOR:
The frontal impact attenuator is an important safety
feature which protects the driver in case of frontal
collisions and is placed forward of the front bulkhead.
For the attenuator general geometry, a pyramidal shape
has been chosen. With this shape the increasing cross
sectional area prevents from Eularian instability during
the deformation.
A sandwich structure of honeycomb panel and
aluminium plate will be used. Aluminium panels exhibit
high weight to strength ratios along with high shear
strengths. The aluminum sheet provides protection
against penetration in between the layers of the
attenuator.

longer carried by the lower control arm (hence, lowering

the unsprung mass). Lastly, the resistance offered by
the suspension components to the air flow is greatly
reduced.
The main focus while designing the suspension was on
minimizing the roll centre movement and on the motion
of the wheel relative to the road by setting various
factors such as track width, wheelbase, static camber
angle, kingpin inclination etc. For optimizing the
suspension design the Lotus Suspension Analyser
software is being used. Data as obtained is:
Anti
Dive
(%)

Roll
Centre to
Ground
(mm)

Half
Track
Change
(mm)

Wheel
Base
Change
(mm)

60

3.49

-84.77

-3.51

0.02

40

3.44

-63.54

-1.87

0.04

20

3.42

-42.21

-0.70

0.03

3.43

-20.79

0.00

0.00

-20

3.46

0.73

0.22

-0.05

-40

3.51

22.34

-0.03

-0.12

-60

3.59

44.05

-0.76

-0.21

Bump
Travel
(mm)

(The centre of gravity as calculated is at 7.5 inches

(190.5mm) from the ground and it is considered the
origin, hence the roll centre height in the table is
negative)
A roll centre above the ground causes a roll moment
such that the chassis rolls out of the curve, which is a
natural movement when driving the car.
WHEEL ASSEMBLY

SUSPENSION:
A good suspension design allows to have good
cornering and handling capability at high speed,
providing the approximate responses to the driver by
minimizing the cars response to the external
disturbance, ensuring no major or uncontrollable
instabilities and to make the vehicle dynamic
characteristics as consistent as possible.
A double wishbone suspension with the coil springs
actuated by pushrods on both on front and rear of the
car. The coil springs and dampers of the front
suspension design will be inboard and mounted
longitudinally whereas a lateral arrangement has been
chosen for the rear. The coil springs were preferred
over others due to their lightness, compactness and
their friction free working.
The pushrod type suspension has been chosen this
year for its numerous advantages one of which is
packaging. More brakes, wheel, tire and suspension
engineering can be fit into space that is not being
shared by the spring and damper units. Secondly,
adjustability is an added perk. Thirdly, moving those
suspension components inboard, their weights are no

The forces acting on the car while accelerating

originate principally at the tires and the tires are the
primary source of the forces and torques which provide
the control and stability of the vehicle. Hence, the ride
and handling characteristics of an automobile depend
on the characteristics of the tires. Thus, to ensure
satisfactory performance, proper tire size and wheel
should be selected. This is done by studying the
variation of forces produced at the tires with the load
acting at each tire and the slip angle. Wide tires should
be used for increased traction. Coefficient of friction and
thus the cornering forces increases with increase in slip
angle to reach its maximum value and then decreases
until the tire looses traction. The temperature and
pressure conditions are also taken into account. Thus,
keeping in mind all the factors affecting tire
performance, the tires were decided. The selection of
rims or disc wheels goes hand-in-hand with the
selection of tires. The conditions to consider for suitable
wheel choice are loads, speeds, road surfaces, tire
pressure and size. Wheel offsets have been suitably
selected to ensure proper tire spacing, body and
chassis clearance.

Slick tires of specifications: 20.0x7.0-13 R065 will be

used for achieving maximum acceleration and traction.
(Overall Diameter: 20 Inches, Section Width: 7 Inches,
Configuration: Radial)
Aluminium alloy wheels owing to their lower weight will
be employed.(Rim Width: 5.7 Inches, Rim Diameter: 13
Inches, Offset: -20 mm)
An aluminium upright will be designed to further reduce
the unsprung mass.
DRIVETRAIN:
The drivetrain includes a gearbox, a power transmission
or transfer system i.e. chain and sprocket or drive shaft,
a differential, axles, CV joints, wheels and tyres and
finally the braking system.
A Maruti 800 BSIII MPFI engine is used. It is a 4 stroke,
naturally aspirated gasoline, 3 cylinder inline engine. It
is a 796 cc engine with a compression ratio of 8.8 and a
maximum net on bench power of 26 kW@ 5000 rpm.
A manual transmission is used; it allows the operator to
manually select the desired gear ratio by moving a shift
lever. This directly connects the engine to the
differential through a set of gears. A dry, single plate
type clutch is used in the manual transmission to
engage and disengage the engines output shaft to the
transmission. The purpose for this is that an engine
must be started and running at speed before a load can
be applied. A clutch also allows for low or reverse gear
to be selected when the vehicle is stationary and the
load to be applied to the engine gradually. A rotating
drive shaft, connected to the transmission and
differential by universal joints, is used to transfer the
engines torque from the output of the transmission to
the input of a differential. The differential is of straight
bevel gear type.

Velocity
(m/sec)

Decele
ration
(m/
sec2)

Weight Transfer
(kg)
Front

Rear

Torque Generated
(Nm)
Front

Rear

6.9

13.8

195.55

124.45

2518.99

1603.115

7.35

14.7

198.52

121.48

2764.09

1666.90

7.77

15.54

201.29

118.71

2919.86

1711.438

8.33

16.66

204.99

115.00

3187.13

1788.37

11.11

22.22

223.344

96.65

4632.41

2004,71

13.8

27.6

241.11

78.9

6211.74

2033.6

16.66

33.33

260.01

60

8089.04

1866.69

22.22

44.44

296.68

23.31

12306.98

967.053

27.77

55.55

333.35

13.35

17282.4

5306.87

Exhaust would be of catalytic converter type. The

catalytic converter converts most of the harmful
pollutants into less harmful emissions, hence it is
chosen above other exhaust systems. Another
important component of the exhaust system is the
dissipative-reactive type muffler which is used to reduce
the sound levels.
ELECTRICALS:
The Starting system consists of components of the car
that crank the engine by using a starting/cranking motor,
which utilizes the current provided by the battery.
Amaron Fresh battery will be used since it has the
highest cranking power, longest life and patented BIC
vents for increased safety.
The battery will be placed in the front bulkhead, making
sure that no hindrance is caused to suspension system
or braking system .The battery is charged by the
alternator and regulator on a continuous basis, while the
engine is in operation. The major components of the
charging system include alternator attached to the
engine and the charging circuit.
The Transistorised Coil Ignition (TCI) type ignition
system will be used. The brake over travel switch, when
actuated would activate the relay to open the circuits for
the ignition and pumps, which kills the ignition and cuts
the power supply to fuel pumps. It will be in series with
the primary master switch.
Primary Master Switch may be connected in a separate
circuit while the cock-pit mounted switch will be
attached to the fuel pump and ignition relay.
BRAKES:
Dual hydraulic Disc brakes will be used in both front as
well as rear because they have better heat dissipation in
fast moving vehicles unlike drum brakes. The other
advantages of Disc brakes include their tolerance to
hard braking, simpler construction and easy servicing.
Dual master cylinder design will be used employing
master cylinder used in Maruti 800 and will be
assembled with a pedal ratio of 6:1. Dot 4 braking fluid
is being preferred due its tolerance to temperature
changes and constant dry and wet boiling point. Steel
brake lines are used which do not expand much
because of any fluid entering.
Floating rotors used in bikes will be used owing to their
lighter weight. They are connected through buttons.
These buttons provide lateral motion (less than 0.3mm),
and thus prevent the vehicle form vibrating.
For different velocities the weight transfer and torque
generated have been calculated:

STEERING:
Rack and pinion steering system will be used for its
various advantages as mentioned ahead.
In rack and pinion steering mechanisms, the steering
wheel turns the pinion gear; the pinion moves the rack,
which is a linear gear that meshes with the pinion,
converting circular motion into linear motion along the
transverse axis of the car (side to side motion). The rack
and pinion design has the advantages of a large degree
of feedback, direct steering "feel" and has high
mechanical efficiency. Low cost, simple construction
and less space requirement are its other advantages.

trimming devices and its efficiency depends on the

aspect ratio and the angle of attack. These wings also
assist the airflow to radiator and side walls.
Two side pods on either side of the driver are being
designed to house the car's electronics and the
channels feeding air to the radiators. Moving the
suspension spring and damper inside will also reduce
the drag.
We are using FLUENT software (ANSYS with CFD) for
the aerodynamic analysis. It is a powerful tool for
calculating vortex flows and for providing valuable flow
visualizations
CONCULSION:

We aim to design the rack and pinion to obtain an

optimum gear ratio of 3.9 and the chosen steering ratio
is 11:1. We have obtained (by analyzing the steering
and suspension system in the Lotus Analyser) a
negative camber angle of about 2.29 degrees to
generate more grip at the tires. The KPI (kingpin
inclination) and castor angle as obtained under static
conditions are 8.55 degrees and 1.41 degrees
respectively. The KPI will provide sufficient jacking
effect when the car is steered .Castor is an angle that
gives directional stability to the car in straight ahead
position, and this contributes to weight jacking when the
steering is turned.
ACKERMANN GEOMETRY:
A 100% reverse Ackermann steering geometry will be
aimed at as it compensates for under-steering effect
during cornering, puts weight on the outer tire to turn
better and increases toe out on turning.
Mathematically, the Ackermann angle is given by

.
COLLAPSIBLE STEERING:
A collapsible steering column is a mechanism that is
used to transfer energy from the steering wheel into the
steering gear box, which transfers energy to turn the
wheels of a vehicle. A typical collapsible steering
column with two interlocking shafts that attach directly to
the steering wheel and the steering gear box has been
chosen. Such an energy absorbing steering column co
has the advantage of reducing trauma to a drivers
head, neck and breastbone during a collision by
collapsing.
AERODYNAMICS:
Aerodynamics is the most integral aspect of a racing
car. It helps in facilitating the vehicle with acceleration,
high speed, along with suitable balance by providing
downforce and minimizes the drag caused by
turbulence. It also increases fuel economy.
In order to incorporate aerodynamics in the vehicle,
streamlined shape and the front wings are the major
concern and are hence included. Front wings serve as

The team aims to produce a reliable, affordable and

easy to manufacture vehicle. a simple design would
allow ample time for manufacturing and testing of the
vehicle. Reducing manufacturing time is not only
important for the team in prototype stage, but would be
many times more important for a company producing
these vehicles on a larger scale. Less time spent in
manufacturing will save funding and other recourse. In
the interest of reliability, affordability and weight
reduction, the number of parts and systems on the car
are kept to a minimal. The parts should be so positioned
for packaging to enable easy access for tuning and
replacement. We hope to complete the designing and
fabrication process in time which would leave us ample
time for testing of our vehicle.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
We would like to thank our HOD, Dr. Chitra Sharma and
our faculty advisor without whose support this project
would have been incomplete.
REFERENCES:
Hughes, J. N. (2004). Formula One Racing for
Dummies. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Costin, M., Phipps, D. Racing and Sports Car Chassis
Design. B.T.Batsford Ltd.
Katz, J. Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed.
Bentley Publishers.
Smith, C. (1978). Tune to Win. Aero Publishers Inc.
William F. Milliken, D. L. Race Car Vehicle Dynamics.
SAE International.
Yu, G. L. Energy Absorption of Structures and
Materials. Woodhead Publishing Ltd.
CONTACT:
Main

author

can

be

contacted
at
meenulvsfreedom.1228@gmail.com. She is currently
pursuing B. Tech in Mechanical and Automation
Engineering from Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology.

FRONT VIEW
FIG 1

SIDE VIEW
FIG 2

TOP VIEW
FIG 3

ROLL CAGE ANALYSIS

FRONT IMPACT DISPLACEMENT

FRONT IMPACT STRESS

SIDE IMPACT DISPLACEMENT

SIDE IMPACT STRESS

REAR IMPACT DISPLACEMENT

REAR IMPACT STRESS