Suspension Control Arm Design Report 1

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Scarlett

Suspension Control Arm Design Report

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3
Background and Theory 3-4
Systems Overview 4
Detailed Design 5-8
Appendix 9
Control Arm Plug Drawing 9

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during these corners. These forces present
Introduction themselves as Newtonian reaction forces.
For example, a car that is turning left in a
The purpose of a suspension system corner will experience a counterforce
is to connect the chassis with the tires. The pulling it right. The chassis doesn’t have
purpose of the a-arms is to connect all anything providing a direct fricative
necessary components together in a counterforce to this (like wheels) so it has a
suspension system, as well as create the strong desire to roll in the direction of the
desired geometry for optimal suspension counterforce. A well-designed suspension
performance. All forces exerted by the car limits the amount of roll that can occur, as
come from tire contact with the ground; the allowing roll to go unchecked would, at
role of a well designed suspension system is best, see the car lose traction as the wheels
to ensure maximal contact between the tires lose the force of weight pushing them onto
and the asphalt. A suspension system is the road and, at worst, see the car
indispensable in a car as there would be no completely rollover mid-corner. Preventing
way to turn power from the engine to roll does come with tradeoffs, however. It
actionable ground force without a requires stiffening the suspension and doing
suspension system. Furthermore, a well so increases system vibration. Excessive
designed and implemented suspension vibration in a system can lead to an
strikes a middle ground between a smooth uncomfortable driving experience or even
drive and input feel to the driver while render the car practically undrivable for the
ensuring constant tire contact with the road. user. Caster angle prevents vibration via the
The latter of which is essential for allowing “shopping cart” effect as it allows for some
a driver to judge turning and power input. wobble in the system. `
Additionally, a responsive suspension
system allows for a car to handle dynamic Regulation of horizontal movement
track conditions while traveling at high The ball crank of the suspension system
speeds and utilize full grip of the tires. regulates the motion ratio of the car. This is
how much the wheel moves in relation to the
Background and Theory shock. Motion ratio describes, in relation to
the total movement of the system, how much
Suspension and Control Arms of the movement is done by the wheels and
how much is absorbed by the shocks/spring
Regulation of body movement systems. The concept of a “stiff” suspension
system comes from the motion ratio.
Vehicles competing in FSAE races can find
Regardless of the motion ratio, a
themselves entering, traveling through, and
well-designed suspension system will allow
exiting corners at great speeds. The car and
the wheels to move independently so that
driver can undergo incredible lateral g forces

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each wheel maintains constant contact with wheels to move up or down in the vertical
the asphalt. This maximizes the traction of axis depending on road height at their part
the system. of the road. As they move independently of
each other it means that the chassis doesn’t
Force distribution have to experience the force that would
A car on a racetrack is almost constantly come with a sudden rise or drop and
accelerating or decelerating. These changes constant wheel contact with the road can be
create moments. The moments act as forces maintained. While plush suspensions can
on the car. If the moment causes a transfer of prevent damage and ensure a comfortable
momentum too quickly then this can result ride, they detract from the road-feel and
in a great force acting on the car. Increasing responsiveness of input. Thus, finding an
the amount of time for momentum to equitable point between plushness and
transfer decreases the force acting on the road-feel is of great importance.
car. This can prevent wear and tear on the
car's components or prevent damage from Systems Overview
occurring entirely. When a car is traveling
on an FSAE track they will experience The control arm system contains two
uneven surfaces that involve large or small components, the control arms and the
rises and falls in the track. Furthermore, control arm plugs. The plugs are axially
factors such as forces experienced while coincident to anywhere a rod-end must
going up or down a hill can cause a car to thread into, for example, the ends of the
experience forces in the y axis. Forces controls arms, push-rods, and anti-toe bars.
experienced by the car in the vertical axis At the end of the control arms that connect
would create stress on the car's joints if it the suspension to the chassis, there are
had no capacity to move up and down rod-ends and rod end brackets. At the ends
independently. This could, at worst, cause of each end where it does not connect to the
the joints to completely snap if there was no chassis, there is a rod-end that threads into
room for independent vertical movement. the rod.
Furthermore, uneven road surfaces can The a-arm splitters are meant to
create times in which a wheel will drop or serve the function of holding the a-arms at a
rise suddenly owing to imperfections in the predetermined angle such that the a-arms
road’s surfaces such as potholes or bumps. can fulfill their purpose as intended. If this
If the wheel cannot move independently function is not met, then as the car travels
then the entire chassis will react, thus over imperfections in the road, the a-arms
causing the entire system to bear the brunt of position would change as a chaotically
the impact. Consequences of this range dynamical system, being difficult/impossible
from, hurting the driver to significant to predict. In addition, a-arm splitters serve
structural damage to the car's internals as a convenient method for bearing retention
components. Shock absorber systems as a part of the suspension system. They are
compensate for this fact. They allow the a more complicated method of

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accomplishing this goal, but the complexity
is front-loaded to the design/fabrication
stage. Instead of needing to design a jig for
welding/cutting a-arms or mounting
bearings, assembly becomes much simpler.

Detailed Design
For Scarlett, the entire control arm assembly
will use AISI 4130 Carbon Steel with a yield
strength of 470 MPa. While the absence of Figure 2.) Control arm plug model
control arm plugs could have been used, to
be cautionary, the purpose of the control arm
plugs is to thicken and protect the control
arms from failing, due to the sharp threads
needed to screw in the rod-ends into the
control arms.

Figure 3.) Model of control arms,


push-rods, and anti-toe bars. A) Front right
assembly, B) Front left assembly, C) Rear
right assembly, D) Rear left assembly

Figure 1.) Model of control arms without


the plugs

Figure 4.) Zoomed in figure of the front


right assembly

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Where the control arms connect to the
chassis, this assembly is threaded into the
control arm plugs that fit into the control
arms:

Figure 5.) Zoomed in figure of front left


assembly

Figure 7.) Sub-assembly with bracket and


rod-end

Figure 6.) Zoomed in figure of rear right


assembly Figure 8.) A-arm splitter

Validation
To validate our system, we must
determine the component forces on the
suspension arms due to different loading
conditions, so we will use “Suspension
Calculator” by Cristobal Lowery to assist
this process. This program will tell us the
forces on the wishbones, the push-rod and
Figure 7.) Zoomed in figure of rear left rocker during dynamic loading conditions,
assembly as this is where the forces experienced by
the control arms will be the greatest. The

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following diagrams illustrate the locations of
the suspension components and output
forces on each part. The most critical
dynamic loading conditions that the front
control arms will experience is the braking
and cornering loading condition, while the
conditions for the rear control arms is the
acceleration and cornering loading
condition.

In order to simplify the FEA process,


while maintaining the accuracy of the
analyses, some assumptions were made.
First, the push-rod is assumed to be Fig 9.)
connected to the lower joint of the control
arms. The calculated output forces
for the rear wishbones during 1.5g
of cornering and 1g of acceleration
can be seen with the following:

Fig 8.)

The input locations and forces


for the rear wishbones during 1.5g of
cornering and 1g of acceleration in this
Fig 10.)
software are the following:
The input locations for the
front wishbones under 1.5g of
braking and 1g of cornering are the
following:

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The following image shows braking
while cornering (9197 N) for the lower front
wishbone:

Fig 11.)

The output forces for the front Fig 13.) With a max von mises stress of
wishbones under 1.5g of braking and 1g of 272.7 MPa, the factor of safety (FOS) can be
corning can be seen from the following: calculated to be 3.85.

The following image shows


accelerating and cornering (3528 N) of the
lower rear control arms:

Fig 12.)

Through using the output forces, we


can use FEA to validate the designs of our
control arms. Specifically, we can

Fig 14.) With a max von mises stress of


183.2 MPa, the FOS can be calculated to be
2.57.

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Since our designed components are
above a factor of safety of 2, we can safely
deem these components structurally capable
of withstanding the forces of a Formula
Hybrid racing course.

To validate our suspension-chassis


brackets, we use the max force (9197 N) that
the car is assumed to sustain and we conduct
an FEA analysis. These are the results:

Fig 13.) With a max von mises stress of


32.11 MPa, the factor of safety (FOS) can be
calculated to be 14.64.

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Appendix

Figure 1A.) SolidWorks part drawing of the control arm plugs

Figure 2A.) SolidWorks part drawing of the control arm-to-chassis brackets

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Figure 3A.) SolidWorks part drawing of an a-arm splitter

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Certification of Design
By signing below, you certify that, to the best of your knowledge, the described system is safe,
rules compliant, and fit to be manufactured.

__________________________________________________
President: Izzy Nguyen

__________________________________________________
Chief Engineer: William Krska

__________________________________________________
Safety Officer: Spencer Piligian

__________________________________________________
Team Lead: Jonathan Ye

__________________________________________________
Team Lead: Jeffery Li

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