SIMULATION AND SHAPE OPTIMIZATION OF THE ABUCARII STEERING SYSTEM USING SOLIDWORKS AND SOLIDTHINKING SOFTWARES

The shell Eco - marathon is an educational project that challenges competing student teams to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient vehicle. The winning vehicle is the one that travels the furthest using the least amount of fuel. It does not consider the time to finish the travel but contestants are required to complete the travel with minimum quantity of fuel. Light weight and low fuel consumption are the two main drives for the competition. Team ABU’s ABUCAR II steering control mechanism uses Front Wheel Drive (FWD) of a conventional steering system arrangement (non- power assisted). The Steering system with its individual components that make it up as one of the critical systems of car, is the main subject in the present study. A lighter weight and optimized steering system is proposed for future participation. First part of this study involves modeling of the Steering components as installed in the ABUCARII, and analysis of the stresses and displacement under actual load conditions. A CAD and FEA software; SolidWorks, is applied for modeling as well as for static analysis studies. Shape optimization is the second part of this study, utilizing solid Thinking inspire software from Altair Engineering packages. The optimized design obtained had achieved 270.3% reduction of mass while meeting the strength requirement.