DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF CHASSIS OF STUDENT FORMULA

RACE CAR
Raunak Mishra1,Shubhanandan Dubey 2 , Rahul Jaiswal3, Mustaque Mohammad4.
1, 2, 3
Department of Automobile, Theem College of Engineering, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Abstract—SUPRA SAEINDIA is one of the yearly organised national level competitions by the
Society of Automotive Engineers in India. Teams from all over India from various technical
institutes participate in this event. The teams are supposed to design, analyse and fabricate the F1
type race car in the campus premises itself. The sole focus of this paper is to find out the best and the
most suitable material for the chassis of SAE SUPRA student formula race car of team AVIATORS
in the year 2016. The chassis plays an important role in a race car and it is also considered as the
backbone of the race car. The chassis should be strong enough to withstand the shock loads,
vibration and other induced stresses as it has to sustain the racing environment. In the current work,
greater strength has been taken as the main dominating issue, so the dimensions of an existing space
frame chassis is taken for analysis with materials namely SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI
1020 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel for the same load. The materials will be checked for
their performances in different loading conditions and the results will be compared for them. The
design process is purely based on SUPRA SAEINDIA 2015 rule book and the anthropometrical data
of the specified human (95th percentile male).The CAD software which is used for designing is
SOLIDWORKS 2015.A thorough study of static and dynamic loading conditions were done and
were analytically calculated. The correct boundary conditions were applied during FEA(Finite
Element Analysis)test which was carried out on ANSYS 2015.
Keywords—SAE INDIA, Tubular Space Frame chassis, chassis modelling, structural analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
SUPRA SAEINDIA is one of the yearly organised national level competitions, in this event
the teams are supposed to design, analyse and fabricate the F1 type race car in the campus premises
itself. The number of the teams which participate annually in this competition is more than
185.Different technical inspections are done in two stages i.e. static and dynamic testing. The static
testing includes brake test, tilt test, cost report presentation, engineering design report and business
presentation. The dynamic tests include acceleration test, skid pad test and endurance test. The main
philosophy behind the impact test is that to assure the driver safety in the survival cell. The survival
cell should be strong enough to absorb the force and to distribute the force from front to the back
without large deflection to the chassis. The major tests which are carried out on the chassis to ensure
its safety are front impact test, side impact test and rear impact test.

For optimum performance of the chassis in different racing conditions it should meet
following criteria:
 The material and manufacturing costs should be reasonable
 It should have low centre of gravity
 It should have minimum weight to stiffness ratio

II. PROBLEM STATEMENT

The objective of thesis work is to find out best and most suitable material for the chassis with the
constraints of equivalent stress and deflection of the chassis under maximum load condition. Design

DOI : 10.23883/IJRTER.2017.3060.Q4XBY 156

 International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER)
Volume 03, Issue 03; Month - 2017 [ISSN: 2455-1457]

and Analyze the space frame chassis using suitable CAE software is the main problem to be dealt
with for this work.

III. SOLUTION METHODOLOGY

The solution for the problem can be obtained in three steps - Theoretical Analysis, Creation of the
Solid Model and Finite Element Analysis.

3.1. Theoretical Analysis: Theoretical Analysis is performed by using the basic concepts of
Strength of Materials. The Chassis of this problem is considered as a simply supported beam. Total
load acting on the Chassis is taken as a sum of capacity of the chassis and weight of the body and
engine throughout the span of the beam. By using the available data deflections at different points is
calculated.

3.2. Creating a Solid Model: A Three Dimensional solid model of space frame chassis is created on
the computer using Solidworks. This 3D Model is exported to Ansys for performing Finite Element
Analysis.

3.3. Finite Element Analysis: The steps involved in finite element analysis are: preliminary
processing, problem solving and post processing. In preliminary processing model is defined
according to their geometric structure, material of the model with its properties, geometry of element
including length, height, area and boundary conditions with load acting on the chassis. In problem
solving phase the mathematical equations for elements are derived and are solved simultaneously
with suitable boundary conditions. In post processing stage analysis is done and conclusions are
made according to the results.

IV. SPECIFICATION OF MATERIAL

Property SAE AISI 4130 SAE AISI 1020 SAE AISI 4027

Density 7.8 7.9 7.85

(g/cm3)
Yield strength 440 295 325
(MPa)
Ultimate Tensile 670 395 515
strength (MPa)
Poisons ratio 0.27-0.30 0.290 0.27-0.30

Shear Modulus 80 80 80
(GPa)

Young’s Modulus 190-210 200 190-210

(GPa)
Cost(Rs./Kg) 250 100 62.2

V. DESIGN CALCULATIONS FOR CHASSIS FRAME

Formulae:
For deformation = (PL^3) ⁄48EI
Where
P=force

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 International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER)
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L=length
I=moment of inertia
E= elastic modulus

VI. DESIGN OF CHASSIS FRAME USING SOLIDWORKS

Figure1. SOLIDWORKS model of Space Frame Chassis

VII. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF CHASSIS USING ANSYS WORKBENCH

The model of chassis is created in Solidworks and saved in IGES format so that it can be directly
imported into ANSYS workbench.

7.1. Applied Boundary Conditions:

Chassis frame weight 40 Kg

Total vehicle weight 350 Kg

Force -for front 9G=350*9*9.81=30000N

Force -for front 9G=350*9*9.81=30000N

Mesh size 2.54 mm

Acceleration due to gravity 9.81

7.2. Meshing and Structural Analysis of Chassis

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Figure2. Mesh and Boundary Conditions for Space Frame Chassis

7.3. Structural analysis of Space Frame chassis in Front Impact

Figure3. Deformation contour of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel, SAE
AISI 4027 Carbon steel

Figure4. Von Mises Stress Distribution of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel,
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel

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7.4. Structural analysis of Space Frame chassis in Rear Impact

Figure5. Deformation contour of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel, SAE
AISI 4027 Carbon steel

Figure6. Von Mises Stress Distribution of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel,
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel

7.5. Structural analysis of Space Frame chassis in Side Impact

Figure7. Deformation contour of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel, SAE
AISI 4027 Carbon steel

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 International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER)
Volume 03, Issue 03; Month - 2017 [ISSN: 2455-1457]

Figure8. Von Mises Stress Distribution of SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel,
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon

VIII. RESULTS
VIII.1. Theoretical Results for Front Impact of the Chassis

Material Deformation
(mm)

SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 3.725

SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 3.914
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel 3.82

8.2. Theoretical Results for Rear Impact of the Chassis

Material Deformation
(mm)

SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 3.205

SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 3.28
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel 3.28

8.3. Theoretical Results for Side Impact of the Chassis

Material Deformation
(mm)

SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 3.584

SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 3.752
SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel 3.686

8.4.FEA (Ansys) Results for Front Impact of the Chassis

Material Von Mises Stress (MPa) Deformation (mm)

 SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 470.31 3.588

 SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 471.11 3.6785
 SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel473.86 3.6769

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 International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER)
Volume 03, Issue 03; Month - 2017 [ISSN: 2455-1457]

8.5.FEA (Ansys) Results for Rear Impact of the Chassis

Material Von Mises Stress (MPa) Deformation (mm)

 SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 437 4.191

 SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 436.87 4.2963
 SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel437.04 4.2939

8.6. FEA (Ansys) Results for Side Impact of the Chassis

Material Von Mises Stress (MPa) Deformation (mm)

 SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel 593.03 5.3591

 SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel 591.54 5.4953
 SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel592.43 5.501

IX. CONCLUSIONS
The main aim of the project was to design a car for the SAE Supra 2016.But for designing a
chassis we have to consider it under various parameters to determine whether this chassis can
withstand all the forces acting on it or not. There are two ways of analysis of chassis frame one is
physical mode another is software mode. The physical mode is not economical therefore we have
done the analysis only in software mode. The various analysis is done on Ansys software. The
materials SAE AISI 4130 Carbon steel, SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel, and SAE AISI 4027 Carbon
steel were compared with each other. The results obtained of SAE AISI 1020 and SAE AISI 4130
shows almost same deformation and stresses as of AISI 4130 Carbon steel which is a recommended
material for chassis building by Supra rulebook. So taking this very small change in account we can
say that SAE AISI 1020 Carbon steel or SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel can be used in place of AISI
4130 Carbon steel as they both are cheaper than the first’s. But by taking cost as the dominating
issue we can say that SAE AISI 4027 Carbon steel is the most suitable material for building a SAE
Supra race car space frame chassis.

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