MEE 3006

AUTOMOBILE
ENGINEERING

Dr. Ponnusamy P
VIT, Vellore
 MODULE – I
INTRODUCTION TO VEHICLE STRUCTURE AND ENGINE
COMPONENTS

Automotive components, subsystems and their

positions- Chassis, frame and body, front, rear and
four wheel drives, Operation and performance,
Traction force and traction resistance, Power
required for automobile - Rolling, air and gradient
resistance
 CHASSIS
Chassis is a French term which is now denotes the whole vehicle
except body.

“Chassis consists of engine, power train, brakes, steering system and

wheels mounted on a frame”.
 steering
Chassis Layout and sub systems

Engine Frames

Differential

Suspension
Wheel and Tyre

Frames Steering's
Driveline Suspension
Brake Axles 4
Wheels/ Tyres
Major Vehicle Systems
CHASSIS AND FRAMES
 FRA ME

• A frame is the main structure of the chassis

of a motor vehicle. All other components
fasten to it.
FUNCTIONS OF THE CHASSIS

1. To carry load of the passengers or goods carried in

the body.
2. To support the load of the body, engine, gear box
etc.,
3. To withstand the forces caused due to the sudden
braking or acceleration
4. To withstand the stresses caused due to the bad
road condition.
5. To withstand centrifugal force while cornering
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REQUIREMENTS OF FRAMES
CONSTRUCTION OF AFRAME
CLASSIFICATION OF FRAMES
1. Conventional frame

2. Integral frame

3. Semi-integral frame
CONVENTIONALFRAME
INTEGRAL (OR) UNITIZED FRAME
SEMI-INTEGRAL
FRAME
 TYPES OF FRAMES
1. Ladder Frame
2. Backbone Frame
3. X-frame
4. Perimeter Frame
5. Platform Frame
6. Sub Frame
 LADDER FRAME
The ladder frame is the simplest and oldest of all designs.

It consists of two symmetrical rails, or beams, and cross member

connecting them.

Originally seen on almost all vehicles, the ladder frame was gradually
phased out on cars around the 1940s and is now seen mainly on trucks.

This design offers good beam resistance because of its continuous rails
from front to rear, but poor resistance to torsion.
 BACKBONE FRAME
Backbone frame is a type of an automobile construction frame that is
similar to the body-on-frame design.

Instead of a two-dimensional ladder type structure, it consists of a

strong tubular back bone (usually rectangular in cross section) that
connects the front and rear suspension attachment areas.

A body is then placed on this structure.

 X-FRAME
This is the design used for the full-size American models of General Motors.

In which the rails from alongside the engine seemed to cross in the passenger
compartment, each continuing to the opposite end of the cross member at the
extreme rear of the vehicle.

It was specifically chosen to decrease the overall height of the vehicles, and
to increase in the space for transmission.

The X-frame was claimed to improve on previous designs, but it lacked side
rails and thus did not provide adequate side-impact and collision protection.

So This design was replaced by perimeter frames.

 PERIMETER FRAME
Similar to a ladder frame, but the middle sections of the frame rails sit
outboard of the front and rear rails.

This was done to allow for a lower floor pan, and therefore lower overall
vehicle in passenger cars.

In addition to the perimeter frame allows lower seating positions when that
is desirable, and offers better safety in the event of a side impact.

However, the design lacks stiffness, because the transition areas from front to
center and center to rear reduce beam and torsional resistance.
 PLATFORM FRAME
This is a modification of the perimeter frame in which the passenger
compartment floor and often the luggage compartment floor were
permanently attached to the frame, for extra strength.

Neither floor pieces were sheet metal straight off the roll, but had been
stamped with ridges and hollows for extra strength.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MITS
Puthencruz
 SUB FRAME
A subframe is a structural component of a vehicle.

Such as an automobile or an aircraft, that uses a separate structure within

a larger body-on-frame or unit body to carry certain components, such as
the engine, drivetrain, or suspension.

The sub frame is bolted and/or welded to the vehicle.

When bolted, it is sometimes equipped with rubber bushings or springs to

dampen vibration.

For example, in an automobile with its power train contained in a subframe,

forces generated by the engine and transmission can be damped enough
that they will not disturb passengers.

As a natural development from a car with a full chassis, separate front and
rear subframes are used in modern vehicles to reduce the overall weight
and cost.
 VARIOUS LOADS ACTING ON THE FRAME

1. Short duration Load – While crossing a broken patch.

2. Momentary duration Load – While taking a curve.

3. Impact Loads – Due to the collision of the vehicle.

4. Inertia Load – While applying brakes.

5. Static Loads – Loads due to chassis parts.

6. Over Loads – Beyond Design capacity.

MATERIALS FOR FRAME
BODY

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FRONT, REAR AND FOUR WHEEL DRIVES

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 FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE (FWD)
• Front-wheel drive (FWD) is the most common form of
engine/transmission layout used in modern automobiles where the
engine drives the front wheels only.
• The most popular layout used in cars today is Front-engine
transversely mounted/ Front-wheel drive.
• The vast majority of rear-wheel-drive vehicles use a longitudinally-
mounted
engine in the front of the vehicle.
THE SYSTEM
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REAR-WHEEL DRIVE (RWD)

• Rear-wheel drive (RWD) typically places the engine in the front of

the vehicle and the driven wheels are located at the rear, a
configuration known as front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout (FR
layout).

• The front mid-engine, rear mid-engine and rear engine layouts are also
used.
THE SYSTEM
ALL-WHEEL DRIVE (AWD)
• All wheel drive (AWD) is adrivetrain configuration engineered to
direct power to all four wheels of acarsimultaneously.

• All wheel drive (AWD) train system includes adifferential between the front and
rear drive shafts.
THE SYSTEM
RWD V/S FWD V/S AWD
RWD V/S FWD V/S AWD
 Traction force

Friction between a drive wheel and the surface it moves upon.

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Air resistance/ Aerodynamic drag:
When a body travels within a dense medium, the molecules of the
medium collide with the moving object and thereby absorb some of the
energy. This is felt as a resistance to the moving object. If the medium is
denser, then the resistance is more

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 ROLLING RESISTANCE

• When a vehicle rolls, it rolls with its tires in contact with the road surface

• Relative motion of two hard surfaces produces a friction.

• Further, neither the road, nor the tire are perfectly rigid. Hence, both
flex under the load slightly.

• As there is a gradual deformation at the contact between the road

and the tire, greatest at the bottom most point and least at the entry
and exit points, the slip of the tire w.r.t. the road produces another
type of loss of energy which results in a resistance.
• Tire Rolling resistance: FR,T
• Road rolling resistance: FR,Tr
• Resistance due to tire slip angle:FR,α
• Resistance due to bearing friction and residual
braking: FR,fr
 GRADIENT RESISTANCE

• When the vehicle travels uphill, a component of its weight

works in a direction opposite to its motion.

• If some energy is not supplied to overcome this backward

force, then the vehicle would slow down, stall and roll
backwards.

θ
• If the vehicle is trading uphill at a slope of θ, then
the weight of the vehicle, W has two components:
one perpendicular to the road surface (with a
value W·Cos θ) and the other along the road
surface (with a value W·Sin θ).
• The component along the road surface is the one
that tries to restrict the motion
The gradient resistance is given by: FG = W·Sin θ
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