Two Approaches to Optimize Formula SAE Chassis Design Using Finite Element Analysis

This paper documents two approaches used by undergraduate students to design and optimize a steel space frame chassis using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Formula SAE (FSAE) collegiate design competition. Junior level students in Vehicle Design I used CATIA V5’s Generative Structural Analysis workbench to analyze their individual FSAE chassis designs. A tutorial is presented that allows a quickly modeled CAD wireframe to be analyzed within CATIA using FEA with beam elements. Senior vehicle design students in a course titled Introduction to Finite Element Analysis studied FEA using ANSYS Mechanical APDL. Five teams of senior students each performed a different type of optimization on the FSAE chassis design as the final course project. In both courses, students record predicted torsional rigidity and predicted chassis weight for their respective designs. The junior Vehicle Design I students measured torsional rigidity of two completed FSAE vehicles. Assessment of relevant student learning outcomes for each course and student feedback are presented.