DYNAMICAL MODEL OF A FORMULA SAE PROTOTYPE 2009-36-0146

Race cars, such as the Formula SAE competition prototypes, are high performance vehicles which demands a thorough understanding of their dynamics in order to be adequately designed. Among the critical components the front and rear suspensions play a critical role in driveability and overall performance. This work presents a complete dynamical model of the entire vehicle regarding its dynamical behavior in curves. The tyres are modeled in a simplified way but taking into consideration their rigidity and friction coefficients. Based on the proposed model parameter variations are done, in order to identify optimal values for the suspension geometry but also to provide a better insight in the design process as well. With the built prototype measurements are taken in order to verify the model.