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Senior Capstone Project - Suspension and VD - 2021


My senior capstone project focused on the suspension design for the Formula Buckeyes FSAE Team with a side focus on vehicle dynamics and simulation.


*This project is still in progress and will be completed by May 2021. Frequent updates will be made to this page as phases are completed.*


This project is in coordination with the Formula Buckeyes FSAE team and the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. The project includes a group of four, senior mechanical engineering students and a professor to facilitate.


Phase 1: Research and Design


The capstone course is designed to first teach the engineering design process and then implement the requirements developed. The following steps were taken during the research phase.


  1. Problem Definition

  2. Stakeholder Evaluation

  3. Customer Needs and Wants

  4. Concept of Operations

  5. Top Level Requirements

  6. Candidate Solution Selection

  7. Requirements Propagation

    1. Product Breakdown Structure

    2. N^2 Diagram

  8. Project Plan Creation

    1. Burndown and Burnup Graphs


Next was the design phase with included the use of Solidworks for 3D modeling, Ansys for finite element analysis (FEA), and CarSim for simulation and modeling of the full vehicle using design specifications. The following steps were taken in the design phase.


  1. Initial design based on Research and Requirements

  2. Ansys FEA on Critical Components

  3. Evaluation of CarSim Setup

  4. Iterations of Design Based on Steps 2 and 3

  5. Proposed Final Design

  6. DFMEA

  7. Finalized Design



Phase 2: Build and Test


The second phase of the project included building some parts in house, purchasing components such as the dampers and springs, testing individual components, integrating the system with the full vehicle, and performing full vehicle tests.


In the collage below are parts that have been made in house. These parts were made using the manual mill, manual lathe, CNC Mill, CNC Lathe, Waterjet Cutter, and press that are available in the student projects machine shop.




Status update as of March 8th, 2021.


*Data withheld to maintain academic integrity.*

 
 
 

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