2003 Car

2002/2003 saw a great increase in the number of members on the team with the addition of Adam Ballard, Chris Siemicki, Evan Martin, Luca Simoneto, Rob Szybalski, Vladimir Surducki, and Sarah Hardacre. The new car was to be a carbon fiber monococque with a detachable cromoly rear spaceframe, which allowed detachement of the drivetrain and rear suspension for maintenance in less than 15 minutes. Features of this car also included a carbon fiber intake that was designed using CFD analysis, a stainless steel 4-2-1 exhaust system, tilt steering column, and Dynamic brand dampers. Due to to the lengthy development time needed with a successful carbon fiber chassis, it was decided that the car would not be campaigned until the 2003 competition.

New additions to the team in 2003 included Dave Demarchi and Bien Pham, both of whom would quickly become important members of the team. With a great deal of the car already complete in 2003, the 2002/2003 car was completed and in testing by early March, well before most teams had a running vehicle. Through extensive testing, including Dyno tuning, the car was developed into a reliable and durable racecar. The extra time adjusting the dynamics allowed the handling of the car to be well sorted for the competition.

The event was a big success for the team, as we suffered no failures, and the car exhibited perfect reliability and good speed. In the autocross event, Brad Moase was able to turn out a very quick lap, finishing 17th fastest for the day. In the endurance event, Daryl Bear drove consistently and quickly learned the track, picking up time continually and passing several cars. These strong showings allowed the team to finish 23rd overall worldwide out of 140 teams, which was also good enough for 2nd in Canada and the top Ontario university.

RFSAE 2002-2003

Chassis

The 2003 chassis was designed using Solid Edge. The completed design was then analyzed and a male mould was CNC machined from a solid piece of high-density foam at Webber Manufacturing. The male plugs were then used to create female fibreglass moulds. Both the plugs and the fibreglass female moulds were then taken to Multimatic, where the composite monocoque was created.

The process of laying up the pre-pregnated carbon-fibre was tedious due to the various hard points and the need to ensure a strong structure. The cross-section of the monocoque was composed of 3 outside layers of pre-pregnated carbon-fibre, a ½” sheet of nomex or aluminium honeycomb (depending on location) and 3 inside layers of pre-pregnated carbon-fibre.

CAD Renderings of RF-03
Fabrication of RF-03 Chassis

Engine

For three consecutive years the Ryerson University Formula SAE Team has used the YZF-R6 sport bike engine. The engine has proven to be extremely competitive both through its reliability and its strong performance. The engine is restricted by a 20mm restrictor as mandated by the Formula SAE body. This forces our team to design an intake, fuel system and exhaust package which would maximize the performance of the engine while restricted. This year, major advancements in both the intake plenum and the exhaust system increased our horsepower to 75 horses at the rear wheels.

A big thank you goes to Yamaha Canada for their ongoing support of the team and our efforts.

The engine has the following specifications:

Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, DOHC

600cm3 (36.61 cu.in)

Forward inclined parallel 4-cylinders

Wet sump lubrication system

Chain driven

Electric start

Constant mesh, 6-speed transmission

Engine work on RF-03

Modular Rear-End

The modular rear-end was designed using Solid Edge and CadKEY. During the design of the modular rear-end, emphasis was placed on the axial and torsional rigidity of the structure. The need for a detachable engine compartment also dictated various design characteristics of the modular rear-end. Placement of hard points within the chassis during lay-up needed careful attention in order to assure proper design geometry and proper assembly.

The modular rear-end was constructed using high strength cromoly steel tubing (1” outside diameter). Assembly was performed with the aid of a jig. Individual tubes were welded using a TIG welder, provided by Lincoln Electric.

Modular Rear-End

Suspension

By using ADAMS simulation software, our team was able to save approximately 2 weeks of abstract testing time and about $5000. If time and funding allows we will use these extra 2 weeks to fine tune our vehicle using the settings found throughout the ADAMS simulation software as our basis. The analyzed system comprised of outboard and vertically mounted push-rod actuated dampers with unequal-length A-arms. The model used was a simple tube representation of our chassis. The chassis shown is only a visual representation; our 2003 chassis is actually a carbon fibre monocoque.

Simulation on the Ryerson FSAE car entailed static suspension analysis which monitored roll center migration, camber/caster movement, etc. Using these results, we were able to investigate what changes should be made for next years suspension design. The suspension was already built at the time of simulation so we could not modify the 2003 hard-points.

Dynamic testing of the vehicle told us what spring rates to use, damper settings, ride height, camber and caster settings, as well as toe angle. Of course we don’t expect to set up our car exactly like the simulation data shows (because of track surface, temperature etc), but it will make an extremely decent starting point to test. As mentioned; rather than beginning testing from an abstract set-up we will begin with settings proposed by the ADAMS simulation.

Another advantage to using software is that we have a large collection of data telling us what the vehicle will do when a change is made. Again, this will not be 100% accurate, but the changes will have a drastically higher probability of correctness.

Simulation is the next step in engineering development. Our team strongly recommends performing ADAMS analysis on any FSAE vehicles before hitting the track, and if possible, integrate the analysis into the design process (this is where the capabilities of ADAMS are most advantageous). The analysis helped change tire forces to a more even left-right weight distribution during cornering which will help maximize cornering speeds and reduce tire wear. Simple analysis was done on static parameters such as roll center (results are shown below).

Adams Graphs (click to see larger version)