Composites in the University of Auckland's FSAE Race Car

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Formula SAE is a design and build competition in which teams of university students create a single-seater, petrol powered racecar. There are nine events held worldwide and over 450 tertiary institutes who partake in the competition. The University of Auckland’s team has been competing since 2004 in the Australasian event held in Melbourne each year.
The competition restraints for Formula SAE cars are quite open to encourage students to be innovative in the development of their vehicle. At the Australasian event, the University of Auckland team is one of few teams who run a full carbon fibre monocoque chassis.
Since moving to the carbon fibre monocoque from the steel tube spaceframe used in 2004, composite materials have played a large part in the Auckland team. Nearly all students on the team are involved in the construction of the monocoque and the team is always looking for innovative ways to use composite materials in the creation of light, stiff components that utilise the manufacturing resources available to the team.
The geometry of composite components are designed in Pro Engineer, allowing 3D modelling of complex geometries. These models are transferred to Altair Hyperworks (http://www.altair.com), within which the team performs finite-element analysis and optimisation of the laminate schedule for a specific weight or stiffness. Wet layup and small infusions are performed in-house, while Rivers Carbon (http://www.riverscarbon.com) kindly sponsors the team use of their autoclave for chassis construction and post-curing of various components during the year.

Formula SAE is a design and build competition in which teams of university students create a single-seater, petrol powered racecar. There are nine events held worldwide and over 450 tertiary institutes who partake in the competition. The University of Auckland’s team has been competing since 2004 in the Australasian event held in Melbourne each year.

The competition restraints for Formula SAE cars are quite open to encourage students to be innovative in the development of their vehicle. At the Australasian event, the University of Auckland team is one of few teams who run a full carbon fibre monocoque chassis.

Since moving to the carbon fibre monocoque from the steel tube spaceframe used in 2004, composite materials have played a large part in the Auckland team. Nearly all students on the team are involved in the construction of the monocoque and the team is always looking for innovative ways to use composite materials in the creation of light, stiff components that utilise the manufacturing resources available to the team.

The geometry of composite components are designed in Pro Engineer, allowing 3D modelling of complex geometries. These models are transferred to Altair Hyperworks (http://www.altair.com), within which the team performs finite-element analysis and optimisation of the laminate schedule for a specific weight or stiffness. Wet layup and small infusions are performed in-house, while Rivers Carbon (http://www.riverscarbon.com) kindly sponsors the team use of their autoclave for chassis construction and post-curing of various components during the year.

 

 

 

Clockwise from top: Team members sanding the chassis plugs; Halfway through layup into mould; Removing the monocoque from the mould after curing.

 

A carbon fibre steering wheel with an integrated touchscreen display, fiberglass sidepods, carbon fibre suspension parts and a carbon fibre air intake are among other composite components designed and built by the team. In 2010 the team also ran a gearbox with carbon fibre casing, saving a significant amount of weight from the CNC-milled aluminium gearbox of previous years.

 

The team constantly researches possible new applications for composite materials. Carbon fibre wheels, composite flextures to replace steel A-arms and carbon fibre engine crankcases are a few that have been investigated in the past few years.

 

The team enjoys a good sponsor relationship with Rivers Carbon, Altair Hyperworks, Adhesive Technologies, SP High Modulus and PPG who aid the team through various stages of the composite design and build process. Past sponsors involved with composite manufacture include Jackson Electrical and C-Quip Carbon. The project as a whole is a large undertaking that without the support of our generous sponsors would not be possible.

 

If you would like more information about the team, please see our website: http://www.fsae.co.nz

 

 

 

 

Above: The 2010 car driving at competition in Melbourne, and some of the previous years’ cars at the workshop in St Johns, Auckland.