Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

Dynamic analysis of an off-road vehicle Previewing the failure of the cages integrity.
Frederico Silva, fredericoeugenio6@hotmail.com Tiago Ribeiro, tgribeiro@yahoo.com.br Fernando Neves, ferneves@unb.br
Campus Darcy Ribeiro Asa Norte - CEP 70910-900 - Braslia Distrito Federal

Carla Anflor, anflor@unb.br

Campus UnB Gama Caixa Postal 81114 CEP 71405-610 Gama Distrito Federal

Abstract. In this work is studied the dynamic behavior of an off-road vehicle well known as minibaja. For this analysis was considerate the system cages, which also takes into account the suspension and pneumatic tire, engine mass and the pilot mass. The software Ansys 12 was used as a finite element solver in order to obtain the natural frequencies and their respective final shapes. A several boundary conditions were considerate aiming the evaluation of the structural behavior under different real physical aspects. The natural frequencies and the modal shapes are presented and discussed for each boundary conditions imposed to the system. These analyses point out the locations which are most susceptible to fail, suggesting reinforcement at specific areas preventing the cages integrity. Keywords: Modal Shape, Natural frequencies, Modal Analysis, Mini-baja, FEM 1. INTRODUCO For the last sixteen years a national competition is sponsors by SAE Brazil. The main goal relies in developing an off-road vehicle by the engineering academics, as well known as mini-baja. Many Universities of Brazil are involved and represented by its own team, as well as other international universities also take part. The technology involved in the automotive are always been improved, such as, resistance, high technology, comfort, fuel efficiency, break system, among other issues. In order to a vehicle attain all specifications many tests and analyses must be done, especially when the design is changed. A conception of a vehicle is not a simple task, due to many design variables are involved. It is important to point out that the SAE Brazil changes the rules every two years it means that a new prototype is always in course. This work is turned to the dynamic analysis of the prototype manufactured by the Piratas do Cerrado Team from University of Braslia. The main structure of an SAE Baja consists in the cage, front suspension, rear suspension and the engine support. It is very important to have information about the natural frequencies of the vehicle, because the structure is always being excited by external forces from the engine, irregular road and a possible impact. It is well known the goal of modal analysis in structural mechanics consists in determining the natural mode shapes and frequencies of an object or structure during free vibration. The modal analysis is provided from equations as well known as eigensystems. After the eigensystems had been solved it results in the eigenvalues and eigenvectors. As a physical interpretation the eigenvalues and eigenvectors represent the frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. Generally the most important modes are those which happen in low frequencies, because they can be the most prominent modes at which the structure will vibrate. In order to deal with the modal shapes and the frequencies the analyses will be done using the Finite Element Method (FEM). Once the natural frequencies and the modal shapes are determined it is possible to proposal reinforcement in the structure and as possible as a weight minimization. Another issue no less important is to avoid the resonance frequency. Obviously in a dynamic structure this is almost impossible, but some engineering considerations and theoretical conceptions should be taken to reduce the vibration magnitude. A brief bibliography was done to take some information and results presented by other teams. These informations are useful for determining the boundary conditions, mesh size and as well as future comparatives. Candido et al. (2009) presented the dynamical results analysis done in a vehicle off-road manufacturing by the UFF Team. The modal shapes and its respective frequencies were obtained by ANSYS V10.0. The authors have used the element PIPE 16 to model the cage and had had dispensed a special attention to the maximum local strain. The five first models were presented and are listed in the Table 1. Juras (2005) has focused on modal, harmonic and transient analysis of a previously manufactured cage by Piratas do Cerrado - UnB Team (2005/2006 prototype). An electronic device was used to register the cages coordinates and as a next step the data to modeling the geometry in a computer were used. The author let the routines code available in the manuscript. Some analyses were performed considering the cage locked and unlocked. The idea consisted in study the dynamic influence as the bars were being changed.

Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

Freitas et al. (2004) presented the modal shapes of the cage designed by the UNESP-Ilha Solteira Team. All draws were done in AUTOCAD 3D and after exported to ANSYS V7.0. The first five modes are listed in Table 1. The authors also informed the number of elements and the degree of freedoms used, but they never indicated the boundary conditions applied to the structure. Sousa (2006) showed the modal shape for cage of the SAE Baja Maranho State University-UEMA Team. The results were obtained by using the software COSMOS/M. Two analyses were performed considering different materials, steel 1020 and aluminum 6065. The weight of the engine, pilot and the fuel were taken in to account during the analyses. In summary Table 1 presents a comparative between all results performed by the teams discussed until now. Table 1. Comparative between the final results by each team.
TEAMS UFF - 2009 UEMA - 2006 UNESP - 2004 UnB - 2005 SOFTWARES ANSYS V.10.0 COSMOS/M ANSYS V.7.0 ANSYS MATERIAL Tubular (D = 25.4; w = 2) Tubular (D = 25.4; w = 2.1) Tubular(D = 30; w = 2.125) Tubular (D = 31,75; w = 1,6) 1 shape 1.37Hz 45.74Hz 2 shape 2.1Hz 55.05Hz 3shape 2.6Hz 4shape 3.98Hz 5shape 4.26Hz

58.51Hz 104.9Hz 143.58Hz 2.521Hz 0.906Hz

0.9432Hz 0.9479Hz 1.447Hz 2.412Hz 0.359Hz 0.490Hz 0.721Hz 0.853Hz

* Where D = diameter [mm] and w = width [mm]

2. A BRIEF THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTALS For linear elastic material governed by the Hookes Law, the matrix equations are presented as a dynamic three dimensional spring mass system (Rao, 2008). The generalized equation of motion is given as:

&} & [ M ] { X& + [ C ] { X } + [ K ] { X } = { F (t )}

(1)

& & & where [M] is the mass matrix, X is the vector acceleration, [C] is a damping matrix, X is the velocity, [K] is the & stiffness matrix, X is the vector displacement and [F] is the force vector. For vibrational modal analysis, the damping
is generally ignored, and the equation of motion is simplified as:

{ }

{ }

{ }

&} [ M ] { X& + [ K ] { X } = [ 0]

(2)

& & represent the free-vibration solutions a harmonic motion is assumed. Due to the X is taken as [ U ] . The variable

Equation (1.2) is the general form of the eigensystem encountered in structural engineering using FEM. In order to

{ }

is an eigenvalue and the equation is rewrite as:

&} [ M ] { X& + [ K ] { X } = [ 0]
(3)

Now this is a problem of eigenvalue and eigenvector. Solving this problem, the eigenvalue and eigenvector are the frequencies and the modal vibration, respectively. 3. PROBLEM STATEMENT Every two years SAE changes the rules and a new mini-baja design is required. As the prototype suffers some alterations a new set of decisions must be taken in account. Many issues are considerate during a car assembly, such as, break systems, structural analyze, fatigue and crack, power train, among others items. Minimal structural changes require a dynamic analysis, because the frequencies and modal shapes changes as the mass is added or reduced. In order to illustrate some changes, Figure 1 presents in details the difference between the previous and the current cage. As the new SAE 2010 rules come in to effect a change in the angle of a specific bar was demanded. This simple exchange resulted in a great effort by the team to attend the new exigencies. A new geometric change was performed and consequently an innovator design is also a good new objective, after all, this is a competition.

Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

(a) Previous cage.

(b) Current cage. Figure 1. Geometrical modifications: (a) previous cage, (b) current cage. Generally most of all analyses consider only the cage influence in the modal analysis. But it is not true, because it is well known that a simple fact of add mass changes the frequencies signature. A new task relies in determining the dynamic behavior due to the components insertion, such as, damping, suspension, weld and others. Now it will be discussed how some components were handled in the prototype changes. During the prototype manufacturing, the weld process employed was the MAG (Metal Active Gas). One of the many questions was: How much mass is added during a weld process and how it could have an effect on the dynamic behavior? It was checked after the weld process the structure weight increased in 11 kg, a significantly mass insertion. The next question will be answered after the computational analysis. The suspension system was also considerate. It is important to notice that both rear and front suspension with its respective shocks absorbers were taken in to account in this study. The arm suspension was connected to the cage by a joint. As discussed earlier a simple change in the bar angle was required and this action resulted in a new support engine development. This support was manufactured with square profiles and fixed to the structure by screwed union. The suspension arms are connected to the cage by the screw joints allowing their movement. They are structures which connected the tires and the shock absorbers to the cage. In order to deal with all inserted components seven analyses were performed. Initially the gage was considered as a single case. On the next steps the analysis took into account the structural carriage as the components were gradually inserted in the structure. In this way it was allowed determining the intermediate modal shapes behavior as the components were being added. The chronological order of the analysis is presented by Table 2. Table 2. Chronological order for adding the components.

# Analysis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Code E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7

Components Added to the cage Single Cage Engine support front suspension arm Rear suspension arm Front shock absorbers Rear shock absorbers Weld mass added

It is possible to accomplish the structural evolution as the components were being added during the analyses. This picture illustrates the same order presented by Table 2.

Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

E1

E2

E3

E4

E5
4. NUMERICAL RESULTS

E6

E7

Figure 2. SAE Baja evolution analysis. Afterwards that analysis has been carried out, Table 3 shows the frequencies for each case under consideration. A color scheme was used to discriminate the frequencies caused by each component. As it is possible to accomplish by Table 3, cells which were highlighted on blue refers to the structure frequencies as a single body, i.e., considering all components attached. The others cells highlighted in another colors represents the rigid body movement for each specific component. Cells on yellow refer to rigid body movement due to the front suspension arm and finally on red are the rigid body due to the rear suspension arm. Table 3. Frequencies as the components were being added to the Cage.
E4 - Cag +support engine e +front and rear sunspens arm ion #Shape Frequency [Hz] 0,00048232 1 0,0010331 2 1,4072 3 1,4333 4 47,368 5 54,355 6 63,957 7 64,561 8 76,102 9 76,699 10 91,965 11 93,872 12 104,82 13 107,49 14 108,23 15 116,26 16 118,53 17 121,13 18 122,7 19 129,87 20 E5 - Ca +support eng + ge ine front and rear sunspens ion arm +front shock absorber #Shape Fre quency [Hz] 0,00050866 1 0,0010413 2 1,6024 3 1,6401 4 47,221 5 53,974 6 62,676 7 63,747 8 74,719 9 75,302 10 91,684 11 92,646 12 102,19 13 106,55 14 107,63 15 115,05 16 116,15 17 120,88 18 122,37 19 124,93 20 E - Cage +support engine + 6 front and rear sunspension arm +front and rea shock r absorber #S hape Frequency [Hz] 1,5544 1 1,6024 2 1,9492 3 1,9874 4 46,631 5 53,6 6 62,329 7 62,992 8 74,057 9 75,106 10 89,773 11 92,521 12 101,96 13 104,47 14 105,94 15 111,82 16 114,31 17 117,34 18 118,8 19 124,92 20 E7 - Cag +support engine + e front a rea suns nd r pension a +front and rear s rm hock absorber +welds #S pe ha Frequency[Hz] 1,3464 1 1,3595 2 1,8634 3 1,8714 4 42,858 5 48,266 6 54,969 7 57,806 8 67,365 9 67,761 10 82,478 11 84,91 12 91,234 13 95,021 14 96,308 15 102,07 16 105,54 17 109,45 18 109,55 19 110,47 20

E1 - S le cage ing #S hape Frequency [Hz] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 59,441 73,508 77,042 86,147 96,936 99,895 124,53 135,67 139,29 151,43 156,88 168,36 174,6 178,21 186,97 202,86 212,03 219,49 225,37 237,52

E2 - Ca +s ge upport eng ine #Shape Frequency [Hz] 56,233 1 74,934 2 77,43 3 92,328 4 96,803 5 99,596 6 123,68 7 131,27 8 138,01 9 150,44 10 151,96 11 163,17 12 168,99 13 175,32 14 181,03 15 189,29 16 194,48 17 204,98 18 210,77 19 219,35 20

E3 - Cag +s e upport engine +front sunspension arm #S pe Freque ha ncy [Hz] 1,4089 1 1,445 2 53,209 3 65,578 4 69,876 5 73,047 6 87,632 7 92,347 8 103,33 9 105,45 10 117,16 11 125,52 12 129,96 13 130,89 14 142,1 15 146,56 16 153,95 17 155,89 18 160,44 19 167,01 20

Figure 3 depicts the modal shape for case E7 which all components connected to the cage structure are considerate. It is possible to accomplish the behavior for six modes of vibration. The modal shape selected were the first, second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth. The first mode is responsible by the movement of the front and rear suspension and second one affects predominantly the front suspension. The third mode affects specially the rear suspension. The fifth mode presents torsion in the cage and the movement of the rear suspension. It is important to notice that this mode occurs at 42.858 Hz which represents the predominant rotations of the engine during the race. The sixth mode affects the structure as all and a special attention must be focused on the torsion presented in front of the cage. The eighth mode is

Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

similar to the sixth mode but with a more pronounced torsion at the top of the structure. A special attention must be turn for the modal shapes in the range of 40 and 60 Hz. This range of frequency causes a large movement in the structure, resulting in a possible fail by crack in that regions. Another aspect that must take in account is the addition of the mass weld which decreased the natural frequencies, as well expected.

1 Modal Shape - 1.346 Hz

2 Modal Shape - 1.359 Hz

3 Modal Shape - 1.863 Hz

5 Modal Shape - 42.858 Hz

6 Modal Shape - 48.266 Hz

8 Modal Shape 57.806 Hz

Figure 3. Modal Shapes of the structure E7.

Proceedings of COBEM 2011 Copyright 2011 by ABCM

21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering October 24-28, 2011, Natal, RN, Brazil

5. CONCLUSIONS The objective of this work was to study the behavior of the frequencies and modal shapes as the components were being added to the structure. The modal analysis turns possible to check the behavior geometry of the structure. The main modes were those which impose a large movement to the structure. Analyzing the modal shapes it was possible to check that this event occurs between the fifth and eighth modes and the frequency range was 42.811 Hz and 57.806 Hz, respectively. As a further work an experimental modal analysis is strongly recommended. The results will be useful to calibrate a finite element to determine if the underlying assumptions were taken correctly. Afterwards, some decisions were taken by the team, such as reinforcement and failures preview. The authors hope the results presented in this work be useful for the other teams. 6. REFERENCES Rao, S.S., Vibraes Mecnicas, Pearson Prentice Hall, 4ed., 2008.

Ansys users Manual. Theory Manual. Ansys 12.

Juras, F. M. 2005. Anlise numrica do chassis do mini baja. Departamento de Engenharia Mecnica, Universidade de Braslia. Projeto de Graduao, 2005 Candido N. C., Faisca R. G., Feiteira J. F. S., Anlise dinmica de um veculo off-road, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Escola de Engenharia Industrial Metalrgica, XII Encontro de Modelagem Computacional, 2009. Sousa, H. J., Anlise Estrutural do Veculo terrestre Mini Baja Utilizando o Mtodo dos Elementos Finitos, Trabalho de concluso de curso, universidade Estadual do Maranho, 2006. Freitas T. C., Jardim M. F., Pereira J. A., Anlise Esttica e Modal da Gaiola do Mini-Baja Utilizando o Mtodo dos Elementos Finitos, Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira, XI CREEM - Congresso Nacional de Estudantes de Engenharia Mecnica, 2004. 7. RESPONSIBILITY NOTICE The authors are the only responsible for the printed material included in this paper.