Ladder Chassis / Body on chassis

AC Cobra's chassis.

This is the earliest kind of chassis. From the earliest cars until the early 60s, nearly all cars in the world used it as standard. Even in today, most SUVs still employ it. Its construction, indicated by its name, looks like a ladder - two longitudinal rails interconnected by several lateral and cross braces. The longitude members are the main stress member. They deal with the load and also the longitudinal forces caused by acceleration and braking. The lateral and cross members provide resistance to lateral forces and further increase torsional rigidity.

Tubular Space Frame

TVR Tuscan

Lamborghini Countach

As ladder chassis is not strong enough, motor racing engineers developed a 3 dimensional design Tubular space frame. One of the earliest examples was the post-war Maserati Tipo 61 "Birdcage" racing car. Tubular space frame chassis employs dozens of circular-section tubes (some may use square-section tubes for easier connection to the body panels, though circular section provides the maximum strength), position in different directions to provide mechanical strength against forces from anywhere. These tubes are welded together and forms a very complex structure, as you can see in the above pictures. For higher strength required by high performance sports cars, tubular space frame chassis usually incorporate a strong structure under both doors (see the picture of Lamborghini Countach), hence result in unusually high door sill and difficult access to the cabin. In the early 50s, Mercedes-Benz created a racing car 300SLR using tubular space frame. This also brought the world the first tubular space frame road car, 300SL Gullwing. Since the sill dramatically reduced the accessibility of carbin, Mercedes had to extend the doors to the roof so that created the "Gullwings". Since the mid 60s, many high-end sports cars also adopted tubular space frame to enhance the rigidity / weight ratio. However, many of them actually used space frames for the front and rear structure and made the cabin out of monocoque to cut cost.

Monocoque / Unibody Today, 99% cars produced in this planet are made of steel monocoque chassis, thanks to its low production cost and suitability to robotised production. Monocoque is a one-piece structure which defines the overall shape of the car. While ladder, tubular space frame and backbone chassis provides only the stress members and need to build the body around them, monoque chassis is already incoporated with the body in a single piece, as in the above picture showing a Volvo V70. In fact, the "one-piece" chassis is actually made by welding several pieces together. The floorpan, which is the largest piece, and other pieces are press-made by big stamping machines. They are spot welded together by robot arms (some even use laser welding) in a stream production line. The whole process just takes minutes. After that, some accessories like doors, bonnet, boot lid, side panels and roof are added. Monocoque chassis also benefit crash protection. Because it uses a lot of metal, crumple zone can be built into the structure. Another advantage is space efficiency. The whole structure is actually an outer shell, unlike other kinds of chassis, therefore there is no large transmission tunnel, high door sills, large roll over bar etc. Obviously, this is very attractive to mass production cars. There are many disadvantages as well. It's very heavy, thanks to the amount of metal used. As the shell is shaped to benefit space efficiency rather than strength, and the pressed sheet metal is not as strong as metal tubes or extruded metal, the rigidityto-weight ratio is also the lowest among all kinds of chassis bar the ancient ladder chassis. Moreover, as

the whole monocoque is made of steel, unlike some other chassis which combine steel chassis and a body made of aluminium or glass-fiber, monocoque is hopelessly heavier than others. 1 Backbone Chassis

Kia's version Lotus Elan Mk II

Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, invented backbone chassis in his original Elan roadster. After failed in his experiment of glass-fibre monocoque, Chapman discovered a strong yet cheap chassis which had been existing for millions of years - backbone. Backbone chassis is very simple: a strong tubular backbone (usually in rectangular section) connects the front and rear axle and provides nearly all the mechnical strength. Inside which there is space for the drive shaft in case of front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout like the Elan. The whole drivetrain, engine and suspensions are connected to both ends of the backbone. The body is built on the backbone, usually made of glass-fibre. It's strong enough for smaller sports cars but not up to the job for high-end ones. In fact, the original De Tomaso Mangusta employed chassis supplied by Lotus and experienced chassis flex. TVR's chassis is adapted from this design - instead of a rigid backbone, it uses a lattice backbone made of tubular space frames. That's lighter and stronger (mainly because the transmission tunnel is wider and higher).

Hybrid design The safety cell is made through Monocoque chassis construction. The rest of the chassis is made trough space frame design. Many unibody cars utilize some sort of front and rear sub-frame that bolts to the
1

www.scribd.com/doc/63191014/Different-Types-of-Chassis

chassis. The sub-frames serve as mounting points for the suspension, engine, transmission and other mechanical components -- essentially all of the car's moving components. Sub-frame designs are far more adaptable for use on different chassis, and are especially useful for designs that are identical but for their wheelbase (like coupe and sedan versions of the same car). The only down side to this design is that the chassis itself may twist between the subframes, but this is easily remedied by installing an Xbrace subframe connector under the Car. It has some of the advantages of each one. Another advantage is that is simpler and cheaper to produce than Monocoque alone.

4.3 Design 3

Figure 4.31 Another modification have been made and the back part is removed to fits other department such as power train department. This design is our final design for the one seated vehicle project.

5.3 Analysis Design 3 In the analysis stage, steel round tube and square tube is used as the material of the frame. The force applied is 60 kg that is 588.6N. The analysis consist of the force applied without driver for acceleration loading test, bending test, displacement test, torsion test, estimated error and von misses stress test. Simulation for force of 60kg and without driver For the first simulation of the body chassis, the chassis must be able to withstand the requirement force given which is 588.6N. After the chassis able to achieve the requirement then further simulation can be done. For the first simulation, we analysis the chassis for its deformation, displacement, estimate error, stress principal and von mises stress.

Figure 5.31 From the figure 5.31, we can observe that there is n estimated and local error occurs on the chassis frame.

Figure 5.32 As we observe in the figure 5.32, we can see that the maximum stress principle occur is at the orange region which is -371/m and still below the maximum stress. Thus, the chassis frame is consider to be safe as the material used in the smilulation is not the same with the real chassis. As we know, mild steel is a high strength material which can resist the stress applied.

Figure 5.33

We can see at the figure 5.33 the displacement occur is zero on all the chassis frame. Thus, we can say that the chassis frame is good and safe.

Figure 5.34 As we observe from figure 5.34, we can see that the maximum value of von mises stress analysis obtain is at the green region which is 4.28e+004N/m and this oocured most at the base part. The value obtain is far from exceed the value of ultimate yield strength.Hence, the chassis is safe.

Simulation for force of 120kg and with driver After we done simulation the chassis with all the forces involve, we proceed the simulation with the same force but this time we added the driver weight.

Figure 5.35 From the figure 5.35, we can observe that there is no estimated and local error occurs on the chassis frame.

Figure 5.36 As we observe in the figure 5.36, we can see that the maximum stress principle occur is at the orange region which is -743/m and still below the maximum stress. Thus, the chassis frame is consider to be safe as the material used in the smilulation is not the same with the real chassis. As we know, mild steel is a high strength material which can resist the stress applied.

Figure 5.37 We can see at the figure 5.37 the displacement occur is zero on all the chassis frame. Thus, we can say that the chassis frame is good and safe.

Figure 5.38

As we observe from figure 5.38, we can see that the maximum value of von mises stress analysis obtain is at the green region which is 4.28e+004N/m and this oocured most at the base part. The value obtain is far from exceed the value of ultimate yield strength.Hence, the chassis is safe.

Calculation : In the one seated vehicle chassis frame, there are two sections which has the highest concentration of force that are driver section and engine bay. Below is the calculation for driver section and engine bay:

DRIVER SECTION:
1)The formula deflection in beam is used to calculate the maximum deflection occur when the load is subjected to the driver section's beam:

Table 6 Deflection formula

where: = the maximum deflection of the beam F = force acting on the centre of the beam L = length of the beam between the supports E = modulus of elasticity I = area moment of inertia

I for hollow beam:

Where I is the moment of inertia, F

I=
I=

ho

hi

I = 6.75x10-8-5.122x10-8 I = 1.6279x10
-8

bo

bi

Take the mass of the driver = 50kg and mass of the seat = 10kg Therefore the total mass at the driver section = 50kg + 10kg = 60kg Total weight = 60 x 9.81 = 588.6 kg m/ Take weight = F Therefore, F = 588.6 kg m/ Then use the deflection formula above to calculate the deflection of beam. F= 588.6 N L=1.35 m E= 200 x I=1.6279x10-8

= 0.0093 m To determine the angle of deflection of the beam:

= =0.0235rad @ 1.35o

The value of deflection is too small and therefore we could assume that our chassis frame is rigid enough and can withstand the force from the weight of driver and other external force at this driver section.

Normal Stress
A normal stress is a stress that occurs when a member is loaded by an axial force. The value of the normal force for any prismatic section is simply the force divided by the cross sectional area.

Ultimate stress (44 967 psi @ 310 MPa)

Figure 37 Stress-Strain curve for Aluminium alloy 6061

Factor of Safety
To properly design a structural member or mechanical element it is necessary to restrict the stress in a material to a level that will be safe. To ensure this safety, it is necessary to choose an allowable stress that restrict the applied load to one that is less than the load that member can support. There are many reasons for doing this. For example, the load for which the member is designed may be different from actual loading on it. The measurement of structure or machine may not be exact, due to error in fabrication or in assembly. Unknown vibration, impact or accidental loadings can occur that may not be accounted in design. So one method of specifying the allowable load for a member is to use a number called the Factor of Safety. It is ratio of the failure load to the allowable load. The factor of safety must be greater than 1 in order to avoid the potential of failure. In our case, we apply a factor of safety of 2 against normal stress. Therefore when the value of allowable stress is 2 times its value. It will failed because it will exceed the ultimate stress. Factor of safety=stress fail/stress allowable 2 = fail/ allowable

From the table UTS or ultimate tensile stress for steel is : 2 = X = = 200 x 1 mPa mPa mPa

To ensure the safety value of the stress, the beam must not exceed 200 x 1

mPa.

At the driver section, after we have calculated the value of stress including the mass of driver

= = 5.07 MPa At the driver section the value of normal stress is only about 5MPa. So our chassis have an enough strength and toughness to support the driver and also the driver's seat. It will not buckle or fail based on our theoretical calculation.

ENGINE BAY: At engine bay section, the calculation of the deflection of beam is almost the same with the driver section. It only differ in the length of beam.

where: = maximum deflection of the beam F = force acting on the centre of the beam L = length of the beam between the supports E = modulus of elasticity I = area moment of inertia I(area moment of inertia) for beam at engine bay:

I=
I=

I = 6.75x10-8-5.122x10-8 I = 1.6279x10-8 We assume that the weight of engine, chain, sprocket, shaft and brake are 25kg = 20x9.81ms-2 So F equal to 245.25 N. Then use the deflection formula above to calculate the deflection of beam. L = 0.45m E = 200 x 1 I = 1.6279x10-8 = = 0.0007 m To determine the angle of deflection of engine bay's beam:

= 0.055rad @ 0.00095o The maximum deflection and angle of deflection of beam at engine bay is much smaller than engine section. So our selection of material for the beam of the chassis can be exactly accepted. Stress calculation

P= 245.35N A=(0.03x0.03)-(0.028)(0.028) =2114224.138 / 2.11 Mpa We apply a factor of safety of 2 Factor of safety=stress fail/stress allowable 2 = fail/ allowable

allowable = allowable =

allowable = 200 x 1 The value of normal stress at engine bay is only about 2MPa. So it is tough enough to withstand the force from engine, shaft and rear brake. Based on our analysis and calculation, we can prevent our chassis from being break by the excess load from engine, brake, driver and axle shaft. We take the modulus of elasticity of aluminium alloy 6061 because of its properties that will be briefly discussed in material selection part.

Figure 7.23 After some modification have been made, we proceed to full welding using gas metal arc welding.

Figure 7.24

The resulting surfaces may not be as smooth as desired and may include burned area, oxide, etc. Therefore, we proceed with grinding process to clean all the cracks and defects from the welding process.