Overall Takeaways:

• FEA should not necessarily be a design-driving tool, but rather a validation tool, just verifying the part works as it should and for what it is designed for.

  • Solution:

    • Utilize intuition and hand calculations prior to using FEA, to effectively plan and design without relying on the estimation that FEA results give

      • This means that we need to ensure that everyone that is designing a part that goes through FEA has the proper knowledge basis, whether that means knowing at minimum, a basis level of intuition in Solids, Statics, Materials, etc., as well as an idea of how to conduct hand calculations

• Welding training is a good idea in theory, but needs some sort of tangible way to quantify if someone has been successfully trained or not

  • Solution

    • Set a sort of curriculum to ensure that everyone has a basis level of how welding works

    • Conduct tests/have welds reviewed to check knowledge on welding theory, as well as check integrity and consistency of welds.

    • In addition, encourage members to weld on parts without apprehension, to the point where any mistake or shortcoming can be corrected by a veteran member, and the member-in-training can learn in a realistic environment

Frame Specific

• Compromises will have to be made on the frame in one way or another. We must be able to make those compromises some way some how, in a way that minimally affects or goals/affects how well we can design the frame

  • Solution

    • Think about compromise areas of the frame before designing begins, to essentially have areas marked out that can be easily changed/adapted if need be

      • This makes compromising with other systems easier, while minimizing pushing back our timelines and making it easier to reach weight goals

• Roll Cage size estimate → main blocker for aeroshell (basically they need it really really soon)

  • Solution

    • Create a roll cage bounding box with an idea of what type of person we want to size the car for (goes hand in hand with driver model, but specifically we need to work out the length and height of the roll cage)

• Understand what drives our weight goals

  • Solution

    • Properly take numbers we’ve researched, as well as conduct more research to understand a good weight target for a Solar Car chassis, and account for that goal relative to the weight of the frame last year

    • Set up a proper goal that not only challenges us in our design but is also attainable relative to the weight of solar car chassis

• Egress as a requirement is hard to test for

  • Solution

    • Create a more open roll cage design, that allows for easier egress pathing

    • Create a physical test setup where egress can be practiced, to ensure that sub-10 second egress is possible before frame design is finalized

• VR3 lead time was not necessarily accounted for

  • Solution

    • Evaluate timeline and understand peak times/lead time for VR3

      • Can be a range, minimum ~3 weeks, lots more during peak time

      • Adjust timeline, account for it

• Why are the ANSYS simulations running forever? Beam elements should be employed.

  • Solution

    • Frame simulations are done using beam element analysis to get easy and quick data (essentially iterate iterate iterate quickly quickly)

    • Understand how to properly optimize setup, by reducing complex geometry, setting up good meshing techniques (solid elements), and use beams when applicable

• Need to actually evaluate what material we use (i.e. check weldability)

  • Solution

    • Look into the different types of steel that are commonly used for tubular space frames, and understand what makes each type of steel ideal or un-ideal

      • Think about weldability, ductility, brittleness

      • Even if we are going to continue using chromoly 4130, we should justify it

Ergo Specific

• Carbon Fiber may not be the most efficient/effective in all applications in terms of cost or @(such as for the seat or steering wheel)

  • Solution

    • Investigate what application or situation you will be putting each material in

      • Is it as cost effective as it could be, could you find a material that is just as stiff without the weight? etc. etc.

• In terms of making the steering wheel, what is structural and what is not structural?

  • Solution

    • i.e. if we want to make a carbon fiber steering wheel, are we making it hollow, are we having a core material? We need to actually discern how this design would work.4

• Ergo Jig plans are good → need to be refined to be more accurate and useful to us

  • Solution

    • Need to set some standards to make the data more accurate (take the measurements ourselves, streamline the process for taking the measurements)

    • Narrow down the survey size to be only people interested in driving the car

    • Be more granular in what you measure (not just height or weight, look at torso height, leg length)

• Egress needs to be modeled so we can prepare for it

  • Solution

    • Make some sort of physical jig or setup to try and test egress

• We need to account for adrenaline and overall how hard the driver presses on the pedal

  • Solution

    • Research how much adrenaline amplifies the force a person can exert on a pedal

    • Find a way to empirically test for the amount of force a person can exert on a pedal and add on a factor of adrenaline