ENGINEERING DESIGN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

FORMULA SAE STEERING AND SUSPENSION DESIGN

Kenneth Chan, Ania Romanowski, Sam Steward, Terence Yuen and Ken Brown
Keywords: manufacturing sector, automotive design, Formula SAE, suspension & steering,
upright, stub axle, design, racing, car handling

Problem Definition

Each year, the Society of Automotive Engineers Australia runs a competition in which
university students design and build a formula race car to be manufactured in small quantity
for the consumer market, known as Formula SAE. The teams compete against each other in
design, performance, manufacturability (including cost) and aesthetics. Melbourne University
has joined with Kangan Batman TAFE for the third consecutive year to form MUKB
Motorsports, and together will design and manufacture the 2002 vehicle.
Overall, the MUKB objectives involve producing a vehicle which:

conforms to all SAE-A rules and regulations

will attract and meet the needs of the weekend autocross racer as our consumer target

is light-weight, high in strength and has superior performance in all areas including
acceleration, suspension, handling, fuel economy and safety.

minimises the cost of manufacture, fabrication and assembly

The steering and suspension team is primarily responsible for the dynamic and handling
characteristics of the vehicle. Our goals, whilst reflecting those of the whole team, also
include designing a system which:

provides superior ride, handling and manoeuvrability characteristics

is easily manufacturable and comprises the minimum number of parts possible

is compatible with other vehicle systems and easily integrates all components

provides adjustability for different track situations

is structurally sound, has minimal compliance and will not fail during competition

Solution Proposals

2.1 Dynamics
Suspension type
Independent double wishbone suspension was chosen for the front suspension because of the
versatility available to the designer and its common use in open wheel racing.
The inboard pullrod activation configuration was chosen as it best met the overall suspension
objectives of low C.O.G and light unsprung mass. Having the activation rod (pullrod) in
tension represents a weight-saving advantage.
Configuration
The objectives of the suspension configuration are:

to achieve a roll centre for the front and rear suspension at heights of about 30 and 50 mm
above the ground respectively

to achieve a design in which the roll centres don't migrate vertically or laterally but remain
constant ensuring the car behaves predictably

to achieve a camber change rate of less than 1 / body roll

to achieve a lateral tyre scrub of less than 1mm/G

The resultant design can be seen in figure 1. It makes use of the Short-Long Arm (SLA, short
upper arms and long lower arms) configuration that allows easy adjustment of the roll centre
by the designer. The achieved results of roll centre height, migration, camber change and tyre
scrub were found to meet the objectives of the front view configuration and are shown in table
1.
Table 1. Front view configuration characteristics
Car end

Roll centre
height (mm)

Front
Rear

30
50

Vertical
migration
(mm)
1
1

Lateral
migration
(mm)
50
26

Camber change rate

(deg/deg body roll)

Lateral tyre
scrub (mm)

0.35
0.5

0
0

Final Suspension Geometry design

Figure 1. Final suspension geometry

2.2 Suspension components

A-arm design
The 2001 suspension failure was due to fracture of the rod end in the A-arm. Therefore, in
2002 the arm end has been designed using a rigid arm end instead of an adjustable rod end.
The best solution proved to be a strong bearing house as the arm end.
The A-arm can be divided into different components:
1. A-arm tube
The A-arms are manufactured from circular Chrome-Moly tubing. Two tube sizes were
selected based on yield and buckling analysis:
Table 1. A-arm tube specifications
Diameter

7/8

Wall thickness
35thou
35thou

Application
Upper A-arm
Lower A-arm

The A-arms have a safety factor of 3 in yield and will withstand more than three times the
expected load in buckling. The choice of hollow circular tubing represents a significant
weight saving.
2. Bearings
Spherical bearings were chosen for their ability to withstand large loads and rigidity,
whilst allowing a full range of movement for the arms.
Table 2. Selected spherical bearings
Part No.
GE10C
GEH10C

Outside
diameter
19 mm
22 mm

Bolt size

weight

10 mm
10 mm

0.012kg
0.02kg

3. Bearing housing
Bearing housings were designed from solid steel bars in two sizes for the selected bearings.
The bearings will be connected into them using eutectic brazed joint to provide superior
strength.

Suspension Mounting Brackets

The mounting of the suspension arms to the chassis proved to be a challenging design
problem. Due to the difficulty of welding aluminium, the bracket either had to be bolted or
glued. Bolting would require holes in the chassis tubing, weakening the structure and creating
stress concentrations, so a bonded bracket was designed.
The brackets are constructed from a bent sheet of steel with a spacer to increase rigidity. They
are angled toward the suspension arms to reduce bending in the brackets.

Spring and Damper Selection

An analysis of the Fox Vanilla RC shock absorbers used in 2001
found they were:

bump and rebound damping adjustable

lightweight

small

reliable

serviceable

These features were found to meet the requirements of the damper again this year and thus
were selected for the 2002 car. The significant cost of reliable dampers and opportunity to
reuse these was seen a good cost saving.

2.3 Steering
The steering system must work with the suspension to provide good handling characteristics
as well as enabling the driver to:
manoeuvre the car around the tightest hairpins
maintain good control of the vehicle
operate the system without excessive force or work
The 2002 Formula SAE vehicle will have front wheel steering.

Steering rack
The steering rack and pinion is taken from last year's car for the following reasons:
Specifically manufactured for Formula SAE
High quality materials
Lack of unwanted movements
Expensive to replace
Includes steering stops as specified by FSAE rules

Front suspension and steering specifications

The following specifications were chosen to achieve the set aims.
Table 3.Front suspension and steering specifications
Track
Camber
Castor
Steering axis offset
Trail
Steering axis inclination
Scrub radius
Toe in
Steering angle - inner wheel
Steering angle - outer wheel
Steering ratio
Number of turns from lock to lock
Turning circle
Ackerman point

1220 mm
0
2 30
0 mm
11 mm
5
37 mm
4 mm
30
26
5.6
0.89
8.5 m
1823 mm (approx) behind front wheels

The design represents a reduction in steering effort of approximately 40% whilst allowing for
a tighter turning circle of less than 9m.

2.4 Wheel mounting system

Wheels and tyres
It was decided that the 2001 wheel and tyres satisfied the requirements of the 2002 vehicle.

Stub axles and uprights

The wheel mounting assembly must mount the suspension and steering arms in the correct
location, withstand all forces applied through the wheels and suspension members and be a
light as possible.
The wheel assembly comprises of the following components:
1. stub axles
2. uprights
3. hubs
4. wheel bearings
5. brackets for suspension arms
6. calliper and brake rotor mountings (front only)
The number of parts and overall manufacturing effort and cost have been reduced by
designing a single symmetrical system. The assembly involves- front and rear- identical live
stub axles and symmetrical, identical uprights, with the front including a welded bracket for
the calliper and rotor. Hollow shell uprights provide maximum rigidity, while reducing the
unsprung mass by 20% from 2001. Hubs are machined directly onto the hollow stub axle for
greater rigidity, less mass (shaving 40% from 2001) and to simplify assembly. Single row
deep-groove ball bearings allow the stub axle to rotate within the upright. A selection of
removable brackets allows for suspension mounting in any location, and a range is provided
to facilitate camber, toe and castor adjustment.

Current Status

The next step for MUKB Motorsports involves manufacture and assembly of the vehicle.
Whilst our designs are primarily complete, we envisage several minor changes during this
stage to facilitate the manufacturing process.
Testing of the suspension brackets will verify the choice of glue as the bonding method, and
continued FEA on the uprights will ensure their rigidity before final assembly.
The final race meet in December will hopefully prove the superior ride, handling and
manoeuvrability of the 2002 MUKB vehicle and allow the team to showcase our unique and
innovative designs.
The steering and suspension design has enjoyed considerable praise from the other team
members. The significant weight savings to the unsprung mass and the superior strength
properties have led to the expectation that the 2002 MUKB Formula SAE car will exceed all
previous performances.