The design process of the chassis of a prototype vehicle for Shell Eco-marathon

Abstract This paper presents the design, modelling, and fabrication procedures for the chassis of a prototype car with the aim of achieving the objectives: rigid and high strength chassis, reduced vehicle weight, driver safety, and an energy efficient vehicle. The novelty of this work is that it demonstrates how aluminium alloy could be used to construct non-integrated chassis for super mileage vehicles through a load-stress calculation model. Furthermore, a method of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was presented which achieves the same result as the analytical calculation. The work also presents a method of fabricating aluminium square tube for the chassis by joining two angle bars. The results show that the FEA approach agrees with the analytical design model thereby reducing the time consumed in conceptual design process. The fabricated chassis was found to show no cracks and it was able to resist bending and shear from the loads acting on the vehicle in line with the design data. The energy efficiency recorded from the first test-run of the vehicle was 250 km/L of gasoline. The methods presented could be characterized as accurate and reliable for manufacturers of super mileage racing cars for Shell Eco-marathon events.