Designing Space Frame Race Car Chassis Structure Using Natural Frequencies Data from Ansys Mode Shape Analysis

Designing and fabricating space frame chassis structure requires a certain set of knowledge especially in design, material selection and metal joining and fabrication which will result in rigid, sturdy and competitive chassis design. The outcome of the design will reflect the success of chassis especially if the chassis design is used for racing competition. This study focuses on the analysing the initial chassis design using mode shape analysis and the mode shape frequencies and characteristic produced from the analysis are studied. The modelling and the finite element model of the chassis structure are carried out using coordinate system in ANSYS Design Modeller and ANSYS APDL Version 13 respectively. The main objective of this analysis is to establish the natural frequency and mode shape characteristic corresponds to the natural frequency from the chassis structure to ensure that the ride comfort is beyond the unhealthy frequency range. Result from the study can be used to study the dynamic behaviour and to improvise the overall dynamic response of the chassis structure