Jeppiaar Engineering College

Jeppiaar Nagar, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Chennai – 600119

Tamilnadu, INDIA.

Preliminary
Design
Report
Baja SAE-Asia 2010

Report submitted by:

Srikrishna.A.S
Akshay Arvind
Michael Tyson. I
Dinesh Kumar. N
 Jeppiaar Engineering College
BAJA SAE-ASIA 2010, Design Report (Preliminary)
Copyright © 2009 SAE International
ABSTRACT
The aim of the initiative was to have a hands-
on experience about the applications of computer in
the field of designing with regards to the Mini Baja
2010. The task at hand was to design an All Terrain
Vehicle taking into consideration all the basic loads
and forces that may act on the same. The report deals
with the basic approach followed for the roll cage
design and then the analysis followed for the same.
The configuration and modeling of the vehicle is also
later discussed.
INTRODUCTION
According to the common objective of BAJA
SAE-Asia 2010, TEAM MAVERIX, the SAE collegiate
club team from Jeppiaar Engineering College had to
initially formulate a virtual design of an All Terrain
Vehicle aimed at the weekend off-road enthusiast at a
reasonable price point and also factor in the
manufacturability and marketing aspects.
The team used cutting-edge design and
analysis software effectively to convert their mental
ideas and designs to virtual reality on computers. The
usage of computers aided us in checking the feasibility
and safety of the designs.
The team consisted of 15 members who had
basic knowledge in the field of designing and 3D CAD
software like Pro/E, SolidWorks, and ANSYS etc. The
team was committed to perform and envisioned the top
prize as their goal. This commitment helped the team
perform on an integrated scale thus ensuring a
constant and laudable progress. The members
complimented each other with healthy knowledge and
experience transfer which helped in enthusiastic
atmosphere maintenances.
Spurred by the coveted prize of “Champions of
Baja SAE-Asia 2010” and the pride of working under
the auspices of SAE-India, TEAM MAVERIX set out to
test their prowess and prove their worth.
Chennai -600119, Tamilnadu, INDIA
SRIKRISHNA.A.S
AKSHAY ARVIND
MICHAEL TYSON.I
DINESH KUMAR.N
teammaverix09@gmail.com
CHALLENGE AHEAD
The vision of the Design Event was to formulate an
ATV that can be manufactured on a scale of 4000
vehicles per year. This was kept in mind at every step
of the design. The designers sought to design a
vehicle that possesses high static and dynamic
stability, considerable ease of manufacture and
economic viability too
The first step taken in this regard was to formulate a
process flow chart that would be followed. This action
plan proved to be a standard based on which the
progress of the team was evaluated. Since no external
technical assistance was available for the team, such
intricate techniques helped the team progress well. At
the same time, no compromise was made on the
component quality and customer satisfaction keeping
in mind the competition standards.
CHASSIS
The chassis forms an integral part of any vehicle.
Since every other component of the vehicle is mounted
and supported on the chassis, its design and
fabrication required a lot of care and consideration.
The team set out with a series of goals before starting
the design of the chassis. Some of the common
considerations for the chassis were:
Safety of the driver
Stability of mounting of the vehicle
components.
Driver ergonomics.
Roll over prevention and
Aerodynamic stability
Other aspects like speed and ease of
manufacture etc.
All these factors were taken into consideration at every
single step undertaken in the design process of the roll
cage.
A roll cage frame was adopted as per the rules laid
down by the Baja SAEINDIA Rule Book. The roll cage
provides a minimal three-dimensional space
surrounding the driver and hence very safe for the
same. The team endeavored to test their innovation by
designing a roll cage that stuck to the rules and also
proved to be innovative.

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS:

The team had to adhere to the rules and also provide

an innovative design thus having a competitive edge.
The flow in the design is as follows:

Rough sketching ( Pencil and Paper ).

2-D drafting and dimensioning.
Solid modelling using 3D CAD software.
Wireframe design.
Material assignment.
Reading model attribute values.
Finite element analysis.
The details of the same are given below.

ROUGH SKETCHING:

For any designer, the preliminary ideas are always

pencil and paper ones. A brainstorming session was
convened for all designers to present their design
ideas and the core design team zeroed in on the final
draft. All subsequent design actions were based on the
finalized draft.

2D DESIGN (Detailed Drawing and Dimensioning): Figure 2 – Top View

The 2-D detailed drawing of the Roll cage was

generated using AutoCAD 2007. The standard views
viz. plan, elevation and side views were generated and
all the dimensions were clearly indicated in
conformance with the ISO standards. The
dimensioning showed that the Roll Cage met the
specifications laid down by SAE-India. The 2-D design
served as a template on which the next phase of the
project, 3D solid modeling, was executed. However,
the 2-D design was open to modifications to
accommodate certain features in the 3D model which
were incorporated with manufacturability in mind.

Figure 3 – Side View

DIMENSIONING

All the dimensioning was done as per ISO standards

and the choice of dimension of cross-section was 1”
I.D steel tube with 3mm wall thickness and 1-1/4” O.D.

SOLID MODELLING

The integral part of the challenge was the solid

modeling of the roll cage. A sequential procedure was
followed as that in real time production. Pro/E
modeling software along with SolidWorks was
adopted for the purpose. These software packages
formed a potent combination in bringing out the final
design efficiently and as visualized by the designers.

Figure 1 – Front View

Figure 5 – Rendered isometric View

Figure 7 – Rendered Front View

The final views of the model have been displayed by

the above figures.

WIREFRAME DESIGN FOR FEA:

The Finite Element Analysis process required a

sound wireframe design on which the appropriate type
of elements could be assigned and used for further
structural analysis by the application of meshing and
loading techniques available in ANSYS software.

Thus, based on the points’ coordinates obtained from

the solid model in Pro/E and SolidWorks, the
wireframe was painstakingly generated from scratch in
the ANSYS modeling interface. All keypoints were
defined and connected with lines and meshed using
BEAM 3 element type.

Figure 6 – Rendered Top view

Figure 4 – Wireframe model in ANSYS

MATERIAL ASSIGNMENT FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The material for the RCM was taken as AISI 1020.
This belongs to the Carbon steel category. This was
preferred due to the following properties:
Density 7.8 ×1000 kg/m3
(IN ANSYS V10.0/11.0)
The roll cage was modeled in the ANSYS v10.0/11.0
interface using the coordinates obtained from the
SolidWorks and Pro/E models. The various cases of
vehicular deformation were categorized into:

Elastic Modulus 210 GPa 1. Frontal Collision

2. Side Impact Collision

Poisson's Ratio 0.32
3. One-wheel (left) impact collision
Carbon (% w/w) 0.18-0.23
Frontal Collision
Tensile strength 395 M Pa In this case, the FBM Nose and LFS Nose were
constrained of all their DOF. The load of 1000N was
Yield strength 295 M Pa applied on four vital points of the RRH and the model
was found to be sufficiently strong and the stress and
deflection values were well within permissible limits
The values taken are as per the standards set forth by and thus rendering the design safe for implementation.
SAE-INDIA for Mini Baja.

PARAMETRIC CALCULATIONS

Once the material properties of the model were

assigned, the next step was to obtain the various
design parameters of the vehicle. This was achieved
using facilities available with the design software.

Some of the parameters calculated are tabulated:

Material AISI 1020

Mass 111836.49 grams

Figure 12 Frontal Collision (DMX = 0.206 mm)

Volume 14156517.52 mm3

Surface Area 5795139.15 mm2

X = 272.96 mm

Center Of Mass Y = 510.96 mm

Z = 9.56 mm

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Analysis of the RC was performed on two platforms:

Figure 13 – Von Mises Stress (SEQV) SMX=13.379.
1. COSMOS (Solid Works)

2. ANSYS V11.0
 Figure 14 – Nodal Solution (UX) SMX=0.069.
Side Impact Collision
For this case it was assumed that the vehicle
underwent a collision on one of its side. The right side
SIM and LFS were arrested completely and a powerful
load of 2500N was applied on the other side. A
preventive LDB was provided in the LFS to ensure
driver’s safety. Further analysis of additional required
members will be performed once the other
components are designed.
Figure 15 – Side Collision (DMX = 7.263 mm)
Figure 16 – Von Mises Stress (SEQV) SMX = 106.5
Figure 17 – Nodal Solution (UZ) SMX = 6.835
One-Wheel sudden impact collision
A quite possible real-world situation was visualized
wherein it was assumed that the Baja undergoes an
impact collision on one on its wheels. The inertial forces
act on the other RCM’s. This was reproduced in ANSYS
by completely arresting the frontal part of the left SIM and
LFS where the suspension links would connect and a force
of 2500 N was applied on four points of the RRH in the
direction of motion.
Figure 18 – One wheel Impact (DMX = 2.205 mm)
Figure 19 – Von mises Stress (SEQV) SMX = 33.8
 CONCLUSION

The end of the analysis evokes positive results in the

roll cage progress. So far we have optimized the
design report with regard to the roll cage in
accordance to SAEINDIA requirements. The design
and analysis validation of the various components
proves the design stability and better manufacturability
of the vehicle.

CONTACT

teammaverix09@gmail.com

LEGEND OF ACRONYMS
Figure 20 – Nodal solution (ROTY) SMX = .002
ATV – All terrain Vehicle.
From these diverse and elaborate FEA efforts, it has
been deduced that the Roll Cage design is structurally
FBM – Front Bracing Member
sound and can be manufactured to perform with a very
high level of reliability and withstand the rigours of RCM – Roll Cage Members
rough terrain maneuvering
RHO – Roll Hoop Overhead
OSM – Overhead Supporting Member
LFS – Lower Frame Side
DOF – Degrees Of Freedom
RRH – Rear Roll Hoop
LDB – Lateral Diagonal Bracing
SMX - Maximum Stress
DMX – Maximum Deflection