Structural design of a full-body composite monocoque chassis based on the type of carbon fiber fabrics
2022-01-0444
03/29/2022
- Event
- Content
- The number of stacked layup and orientation of carbon fiber/epoxy in a sandwich panel with the aluminum honeycomb core was optimized using finite element method (FEM) to improve the structural performance of the monocoque chassis for the electric Formula SAE (FSAE) racecar. To establish the selection criteria for fabrics and orientations, the single unidirectional (UD) and woven plies (W) were simulated under tensile and simple shear tests to determine their off and on-axis properties. Simulation results revealed that the unidirectional ply enhances the overall strength of laminate while woven ply is responsible for shear strength. Thus, the combination of unidirectional and woven plies was proposed. The four anisotropic laminates consisting of four plies with different orientations were simulated under three-point bending and plate twist tests to determine the flexural rigidity and twist stiffness (D66), respectively, and their mechanical properties were compared to the quasi-isotropic laminates of four unidirectional plies of [UD0/UD45/UD-45/UD90/core]symmetry and woven plies of [W45/W0/W0/W45/core]symmetry as well as the orthotropic laminates consisting of four unidirectional plies, [4UD0/core/4UD0], and four woven plies, [4W0/core/4W0]. The [4UD0/core/4UD0] exhibited the highest flexural strength of 123 MPa; however, its twist stiffness was 580 Nm, which was smaller than other anisotropic laminates. Besides, the two quasi-isotropic laminates showed higher twist stiffness, 700 Nm for [UD0/UD45/UD-45/UD90/core]symmetry, and 820 Nm for [W45/W0/W0/W45/core]symmetry, than [4W0/core/4W0], which showed 380 Nm. Therefore, woven plies aligned along 45 degree contributed to the overall torsional stiffness of laminate. The weight and strength of the four anisotropic laminates were compared to the laminate containing five different orientations of plies. The torsional stiffness per weight and the flexural rigidity at the side impact zone of composite monocoque chassis were investigated. The orientations, which showed high strength for side impact zone and torsional stiffness while the minimum weight was kept, were proposed.
- Citation
- Sratong-on, P., "Structural design of a full-body composite monocoque chassis based on the type of carbon fiber fabrics," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0444, 2022, .