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Baja SAE UTEP 2014 Design Report- Team Jaabaz,

VIT University

Research · August 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4307.8889

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 VEHICLE NUMBER-21

TEAM JAABAZ BAJA SAE (UTEP 2014) DESIGN REPORT

Debidutta Mishra
Team Captain, VIT University
N.Raghuram
VIT University

Copyright @ 2014 SAE International

ABSTRACT Material selection: Material selection is one of the key

factors in designing the frame of the ATV as it is the
This report tries to summarize the steps taken in measure of safety, reliability, performance and strength
finalizing the design in a nutshell. The requirements of of the roll cage. We conducted a thorough research on
roll cage, front and rear suspension systems, steering the tube materials and compared them in multiple
and drive train are considered here. The objective of the categories.
design team was to satisfy these functions while meeting
the SAE’s rules and regulations with special Material AISI AISI Duplex Duplex
considerations given to safety of the occupant, ease of 1018 4130 2205 2205
manufacturing, cost, weight (dynamic behavior) and steel steel
overall aesthetics and performance.
Outside 2.540 2.540 2.540 2.540
INTRODUCTION diameter cm cm cm cm

This report describes the methodology followed by Team Wall 0.2 cm 0.2 cm 0.2 cm 0.1cm
Jaabaz to design, fabricate and test an all terrain vehicle thickness
that will compete in Mini Baja event in UTEP. The
purpose of this competition is to simulate a “real world” Bending 2791 2791 2171
2 2 2
engineering design project in which collegiate teams stiffness Nm Nm Nm
design and manufacture a prototype of a “rugged, single
seated off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to Bending 390 382 454 Nm 260.4
the non-professional week-end off-road enthusiast”. The strength Nm Nm Nm
design should be durable, safe and easy to maintain and
must be able to negotiate rough terrain in all weather Weight/meter 1.6615 1.2444 1.1475 0.8790
conditions. kg/m kg/m kg/m kg/m

VEHICLE DESIGN
Main design focus – The main design focuses with
the completely new 2014 vehicle are a lighter and more
rigid and ascetics oriented frame, a more robust
suspension design, and a more versatile drive train. With
gained easy access to a tube bender the team was able
to increase the number of bends in the vehicle and in
turn use more continuous members. The weight of the
car was also reduced by switching to 1 mm thick tube in
SIM. Similar robust and durable designs were adopted in
suspension, transmission and brakes system. In addition
to these design focuses the team also wanted to
address the failures that occurred during the 2012
competition.
FRAME DESIGN
Since the Duplex steel(2mm tube) has a higher strength
than 3mm tube of AISI 1018 steel, we opted for this steel
which ensured better weight savings. The overall weight
was further reduced by using 1mm tube as secondary
members.
Welding: The final rollcage was fabricated after making
the pipe model and thereafter making the necessary
modifications Duplex 2205 is a austenitic-ferritic
stainless steel and has good weldability due to presence
of Nitrogen. Duplex 2205 is low carbon content stainless
steel. Considering the compatibility along with cost and
availability, 308L electrode was found to be suitable.
Finite Element Analysis of the Models:
The following tests were used to check the design
Front Impact Test, Rear Impact Test, Front Wheel
Bump, Rear Wheel Bump, Heave and Twisting. The
results are shown in Fig.3,4,5,8,9 and 10.
 SUSPENSION: STEERING SYSTEM

Objective: A BAJA suspension must be engineered
which will provide the ability to compete in the every
event with practical features like ground clearance and
suspension travel which results in good comfort and
control to the drive allowing proper navigation in a rough
terrain.
Design: The designing process is done where the
parameters like camber gain, motion ratio were analysed
which are required for designing ATV suspension. The
mounting points of the front and rear suspension were
designed in SolidWorks. Then using these mounting
points the analysis was done in Optimum-K to verify the
assumed parameters. Analysis of output is done in terms
of graph between the parameters like wheel travel Vs
camber change etc.
1. Front Suspension:. The front suspension is a short &
long A-arm wishbone arrangement (fig.2). The roll centre
is kept at the optimised height (7.85 inch) to reduce the
body roll. The upright is manufactured by CNC and is
symmetric,has good strength to absorb loads. The
upright also provides a location to mount the brake
calliper (Fig.7). In order to compensate for dive-effects
during aggressive cornering, the camber angle for the
front suspension has been set at 0° at ride height. In
addition to that, the camber angle has been set to
decrease when the shock absorber compresses during
turns. As the suspension is double wishbone, front and
rear arms are made from 1 inch OD MS material. The
length of the front control arms allows for a positive
travel in the front of the car to be 11.81 in& the camber
gain angle varies from -3deg to +0.5deg (fig.15).
2. Rear Suspension:4 link H-arm(fig.13) suspension
was chosen instead of 5 in order to replace the toe-
link and better capability to adjust to various
parameters. Also the loads are shared on the 4
mountings which will reduce the stress
concentration.
As like the front suspension, the rear upright (Fig.8) is
also a single manufactured piece which provides for the
connection of the A-arms and callipers.
3. Shock Absorbers: The front shock absorbers were
mounted on lower arm. These Powersports shock
absorbers have stiffness of 600N/inch.
Because of the uneven distribution of weights, the
stiffness of the rear absorbers is kept high. The rear
shock absorbers were mounted on upper arm. The rear
shock absorbers are stiffer than the front absorbers. The
stiffness is 650N/inch.
Objective-The objective of steering system is to provide
directional control of the vehicle, to withstand high stress
in off terrain conditions, to reduce steering effort and to
provide good response from road to driver.
Design : We chose fast ratio rack and pinion which
travels from one end to other end (5 inches) in 1-1/2
turns of pinion. steering ratio of 4:1 is achieved which
means for every 4 degree rotation of steering wheel tires
will be turned by 1 degree.
1. Adjustable steering column: (fig.14.a)This year we
have come up with adjustable steering which means the
driver can adjust the steering wheel angle according to
his height and comfort. A plunger type mechanism is
used to change the angle of steering column which is
present inside a mounting rod to which a plate is welded.
2. Tie rods : The material we chose is high hardened
steel to which one side ball joint is attached and to other
clevis joint. The lengths of the tie rods for steering
assembly were found to be 15.81 inches using three
instantaneous centre methods.This time by using 15.81
inches tie rods we eliminated bump steer till 160mm
bump. Simulations were done for correct tie rod length
and to study bump steer effects (toe, camber change).
3. Correct steering angle: While taking turns, the
condition of perfect rolling is achieved if the axes of the
front wheels when produced meet the rear axis at one
point. This is the instantaneous centre of the vehicle. the
inner wheel deflects by a greater angle than the outer
wheel. larger the steering angle, smaller is the turning
circle. The steering angle of the inner wheel can have a
maximum value of about 44 degrees. The geometry has
been demonstrated in fig.14.b
Steering specifications
steering ratio 4:1
rack travel 5 inches per 540 deg pinion
rotation
front track width 59.09 inches
wheel base 54 inches
inner lock angle  42 deg
outer lock angle  28 deg
castor 5 deg
SAI 6 deg
camber 0 deg in front and 10 deg in rear
scrub radius 30 mm
toe 0 mm
rack length 15 inches
rack mounting height 3.30 inches
Turning radius 3.30 m
 Therefore Smallest Gear Ratio =
(3.6X(3.14/30)X3800X0.31)/(60) = 7.39
TRANSMISSION
1.3 Piaggio ape mini gear box overall gear ratios
Objective: The main objective of the drive train is to Since the desired range of gear ratios was close enough
vary the torque in the most efficient way possible. This is to that of Piaggio Ape Mini Truck’s gear box, hence we
being done through proper gear reduction for the needs selected Piaggio Ape Mini Truck’s gear box.
of the vehicle in the competition. We picked a manual
transaxle over CVT because of the following reasons
 Wider gear ratios range Clutch gear 2.20
 Gives better acceleration and
 Lighter and economical countershaft
 Slippage losses are less in manual gear box reduction
 Heat generated in manual transmission is less Sprocket 0.9
due to the time gap between the shifts. Reduction
ENGINE: The engine provided by SAE is a 10 hp Briggs 1st gear ratio 5.80
and Stratton make generating a torque of 19 Nm. The
SAE Baja rules state that the maximum rpm of the motor 2nd gear 2.73
for the competition has to be set at 3800 rpm and the ratio
idle speed has to be 1750 rpm. 3rd gear ratio 1.66
Design Methodology: In our previous year’s design we 4th gear ratio 1.12
used direct coupling between the engine and transaxle.
Due to this configuration the length of the rear A-arms Differential 4.17
had significantly reduced which adversely affected our
ratio
ATV’s suspension system. So in order to increase the
length of the rear A- arms without increasing the track Net gear reduction: Gear ratio x clutch gear reduction x
width of the car, the engine was placed over the sprocket reduction x differential gear ratio
transaxle. e.g Net 1st gear reduction: 5.80x2.20x0.9x4.17=47.89
We used a chain and sprocket system (fig.17) to
couple the engine and transaxle .A chain guard was 2. Speed and Acceleration Calculations:
fabricated enclosing the entire chain drive.(fig.20)
 Max Speed of Engine=3800RPM
 Max Torque of Engine=19 N.m
1. Transaxle Design Details: We did a market survey with
 Diameter of the wheel=0.635 m
the available transaxles of three vehicles in Indian
market: Mahindra Alfa Passenger, Piaggio Ape Mini  Mass of the vehicle= 380 kg(approx.)
 Considering forward 1 gear
st
Truck and Mahindra Geo Mini Truck.
 Speed = 3800/47.889 = 79.35 rpm=9.44 km/h
1.1 Maximum Gear Ratio = Acceleration calculation-
Radius of tyre, r = 12 inch = 0.31m Torque=19*47.889=909.891N.m
2
A=F/M =T/Mr = 909.891/ 380*0.3175= 7.542 m/s
Mass of vehicle, m = 380 Kg(approx) Chain Configuration
fr = rolling resistance coefficient = 0.035 Considering the standard chain drive calculation
formulae and service factors, the following chain
α = Maximum Angle of Inclination = 45° configuration was adopted.
η = Efficiency of Manual Gear Box = 0.92
Hence, Maximum Gear Ratio = GEAR Net Max Max
(400X9.81X0.31X(0.035Xcos45+sin45))/(19X0.92) = reduction speed acceleration
48.38 (km/h) (m/s2)
1 47.889 9.44 7.542
2 22.54 20.06 3.55
The Smallest gear ratio of the gear box is given by the 3 13.71 32.98 2.167
equation: 9.247 48.90 1.449
4
1.2 Minimum Gear Ratio =
3. CHAIN CONFIGURATIONS:
n = Speed of engine(rpm) = 3800
Type = DR 50 Rolon Chain
v = Speed of vehicle (kmph) = 60
Centre distance = 14” (360mm)
Number of teeth in Engine pinion = 19
 Number of teeth in Gearbox pinion=17 GS 150R bike. Different calipers were chosen for the
Length of chain =38.5 Inch(978mm) right & left front wheel to ensure that the bleeding valve
Pitch diameter of engine sprocket=75mm faces upwards for easy bleeding. Dual piston design was
Pitch diameter of gearbox sprocket=67mm chosen because of increased piston area and more
uniform gradual pad wear. The rear discs are from
Honda CBR 250 & the calipers are from 2013 Safari
BRAKES:
200 ATV from Powersports. These calipers were
chosen due to their small size giving acceptable values
Objective: The purpose of the braking system is to of clearance, whilst maintaining good braking capability.
increase the safety and maneuverability of the vehicle by  All four calipers are floating type because of the fact that
statically and dynamically locking all four tires on both they are very compact and easy to package on vehicles.
paved and unpaved surfaces. In addition to that, they have fewer leak points as
compared to fixed piston types.
Design: The exploded view of rear wheel assembly has  Analysis of the brake system was performed on the
been shown in fig.18 which displays the calipers and vehicle with a velocity of 30 MPH. For an input force of
discs fitted to the hub. 100 lbs on the pedal the resulting deceleration was
around 0.9 g. At this deceleration, it would take the car
Name of the component Description around 1.5 s to stop.
Front Disc diameter (in.) 7.87  The analysis on the rear hubs manufactured from EN08
Rear Disc diameter (in.) 8.6614 material has been shown in Fig.(12)
Front caliper piston diameter 1.063
(in.) caliper piston diameter
Rear 1.496
(in.)
Front master cylinder bore 0.625
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:
diameter(in.) (ABP Racing
master cylinder) Certain electrical components have been installed in the
Rear master cylinder bore 0.75 ATV to ensure its safety. Two kill switches have been
diameter (in.) (Wilwood Master mounted with easy accessibility, which instantly kill the
cylinder) engine. Brake lights, reverse light and reverse alarm
Pedal ratio 6.25 : 1 pertaining to SAE standards have been used. A GPS
Co-efficient of friction of brake 0.4 module has been mounted in the driver’s cockpit area
pad material
Weight of the car with 815 which displays the co-ordinates and speed of the vehicle
driver(lbs.) directly to the driver. A transponder is being used which
Brake biasing 64:36 relays the number of laps completed to a timing device
on the track. All electrical components are powered from
Our hydraulic brake system is controlled by a single
pedal in line with two separate master cylinders. The use safely secured 9V batteries.
of two separate master cylinders is a safety interlock, in
case one fails, the other will still be operable. Another CONCLUSION:
advantage of using dual master cylinders is the ability to
The final product manufactured by Team Jaabaz for
adjust brake bias. The brake circuit we have used is of
BAJA UTEP 2014 is a result of collaborative
the horizontal split type. This was used due to the fact
multidisciplinary team design. Material selection for each
that the tires have positive scrub radius. Hence, one
and every component remained a priority for the team
cylinder will control the front braking system and the
considering an optimum strength to weight ratio,
other the rear system.
durability, cost effectiveness and feasibility. Before
Brake configuration: initiating the actual fabrication, real time conditions were
simulated using various FEA packages like Solidworks,
 By mounting the master cylinders on the top of the nose,
ANSYS, Optimum-K and critical parts of ATV were
we ensured easy maintenance. The pedal & balance bar
are from Wilwood with a pedal ratio of 6.25:1 for analyzed for safety and optimization issues. The parts
were manufactured in techniques which can be
maximum leverage and power multiplication.
considered suitable for mass production of this model, if
 Different master cylinders were chosen for the front &
rear because the front required considerably more introduced in market.
pressure than the rear due to smaller rotors in the front. Apart from manufacturing issues, the team also has to
 Armored steel braided brake lines run through the length focus on other aspects like managing funds and working
of the car and flexible rubber lines at the A-arms in the with a budget plan, achieving targets within deadlines,
rear for suspension travel. These were chosen due to
project management, marketing and sales, making its
their flexibility and their strength and ability to maintain
members competent automobile engineers and tech
high line pressure values. savvy, in short attempting to make the team members
 The reliability of our braking system is improved by ready for real time industry experience.
having separate disk and calipers on each wheel. The
front brakes consists of discs from 2010 Safari 200
ATV from Powersports motorsports, right caliper
from TVS Apache RTR 180 bike & the left from Suzuki
 REFERENCES:

1. SAE International BAJA SAE Rules 2014

http://www.sae.org/students/2014_baja_rule
s_8-2103.pdf
2. Race car Vehicle Dynamics: Milliken and
Milliken
3. Car suspension and Handling: Geoffrey
Donald Bastow
4. Automobile Engineering, Kirpal Sings
5. Engineering Data Book

Fig .1Vehicle Front View

Fig .2- Front Lower A arm- FOS= 1.4

Fig .3- Frame for BAJA UTEP 2014

Fig .4- 2g Side impact analysis- FOS=2.7

Fig .5- Front Impact analysis-8500N at front

FOS=2.686
 Fig.7-Front Upright analysis

Fig.6-Vehicle Top View

Fig.8- Rear Upright analysis

Fig.10- Front Bump Test-Load 1700N on front

Fig.9- Rear Impact analysis- Load wheel,
8500 N at rear FOS=3.77 FOS=6.7
 Fig 13- Rear Upper control arm analysis-
FOS=1.8

Fig.11- Vehicle Side View

Fig 14a- Adjustable steering assembly

Fig 12-Wheel hub analysis- FOS-2.9

Fig.15 Front left wheel camber

curve
Fig 14b- Ackermann Steering geometry
 Fig.19 Oil seal for the gearbox along
with clutch shaft

Fig.16 Isometric View of the Vehicle

Fig.20 Photo of the Chain drive with

the chain cover

Fig.17 Transmission System

Fig.21 Photo of front A-arm fabrication

Fig.18 Wheel Assembly

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