Title: Design of a lightweight chassis for the land speed record vehicle Buckeye Bullet 2

Authors: Marco Evangelos Biancolini, Fabio Renzi, Giorgio Rizzoni

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome, Tor Vergata Via Politecnico 1, Rome 00133, Italy. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome, Tor Vergata Via Politecnico 1, Rome 00133, Italy. ' The Ohio State University, 930, Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, USA

Abstract: The design of a novel chassis solution for a land speed record streamliner, the Buckeye Bullet 2, which represents an evolution of the vehicle that recently set various records in the electric vehicle classes is addressed in this paper. Various architectures for a lightweight solution are investigated considered. The reference chassis design of the Buckeye Bullet consists of a steel space frame structure, for which alternative candidate solutions are investigated. These include several combinations of aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels and carbon fibre composite skins and a composite monocoque structure. A high-speed streamliner requires a chassis that is stiff in both torsion and bending, especially in transversal direction, in order to avoid undesired vibrations that can compromise vehicle handling. Thus, the various solutions are compared on the basis of mass, stiffness and eigenfrequencies. Finally, this paper investigates chassis strength with respect to torsional and ending loads that produce critical stresses for the reference structure and for operative loads.

Keywords: land speed record; LSR; composite materials; automotive chassis; optimisation; chassis design; vehicle design; composites; electric vehicles; aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels; carbon fibre composite skins; monocoque structures;high-speed streamliners; torsional stiffness; bending; chassis strength.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2007.013650

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2007 Vol.44 No.3/4, pp.379 - 402

Published online: 10 May 2007 *

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