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Unbalanced Engineering provides a wide range of chassis development services. Below is a quick discussion of a torsional stiffness study created for a 1985 Mondiale Formula Ford.
Initial Tube configuration
The image above shows the model of the existing mild steel tube frame chassis. Formula F (Formula Ford), rules require a steel tube frame chassis. The challenge is to further optimize the tube selection, and placement to increase torsional stiffness while keeping the weight of vehicle below minimum weight.
Initial Torsional deflection
The inital chassis deflection is shown above. It is clear from this analysis, that significant stiffness improvement are possible. The locations of the peak deflections also illustrate that it can be a major challenge to design a frame efficiently while accounting for open spaces needed for the driver.
All Tube configuration
The image above displays all the tubes explored in the analysis. In many cases there were several tube sizes / cross sections that were studied in each location.
Final Tube configuration
The tubes added to the chassis are highlighted in the above image in red. Several tubes that we would like to have added, directly interfered with the driver envelope and had to be discarded.
Resulting Torsional deflection
The final torsional deflection of the chassis, as shown above, was decreased by 21% for an increase in chassis mass of 8.2 lbs. The additional mass was offset by removing ballast.
Implementation
The new tubes were added, along with a new stainless steel floor, on a table provided by Certiflat welding tables
Please contact us if you have a chassis, tube frame or otherwise, that could benefit from a stiffness optimization. .
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