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M. Tech. Mechanical Engineering / In order to increase the vehicle crashworthiness and decrease the weight of the vehicle in today’s automotive industries, composite materials have been replacing the conventional high strength steel material. The main advantage of composite material is the very high weight to strength ratio that will result in lighter automobiles, which will improve fuel efficiency and reduce exhaust emissions. In this research, the optimal orientation of fiber within the matrix was explored. It was found that different orientation of the fiber in the different matrix resulted in different mechanical properties and energy absorption rate.

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This research studied the tractive performance of integrated steering-drive systems by investigating a two-wheel-drive vehicle having two independent rear drive wheels and non-driven steerable front wheels. The feasibility of integrating the steering and drive systems and the performance advantages that may be obtained was investigated. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, the steering system and the drive system of a test vehicle were integrated using a computer with a specially-developed program. The software algorithm developed for the program used the mathematical relationship between the rear drive wheel speeds and the steer angles of the non-driven front wheels to set the steer angles. A test-bed vehicle was fitted with instrumentation to implement the computer-integrated system. The circuitry of the hydraulic lines of the hydraulically-driven test vehicle was modified to allow changes in drive configuration. These changes are not possible with conventional vehicles. The test vehicle could be configured for the following steering-drive configurations: open differential rear drive with steerable front wheels, independent rear drive wheels with front castors, locked differential rear drive with steerable front wheels and the computer-integrated steering-drive system developed. The sensors on the vehicle allowed data collection for characterising the vehicle and wheels. omputer models were developed for the various steering-drive configurations from the force relationships, longitudinal slip relationships, vehicle geometry and turning geometry. Characteristics of the test vehicle's wheels for use in the models were measured experimentally. he models were used to simulate the behaviour, and calculate the tractive performance, of the four steering-drive configurations in various situations but actual tests were not able to be conducted with the available resources. Unlike previous models, the models of this research used force and longitudinal slip information rather than power input and power output to produce values for drawbar efficiency. theoretical analysis was conducted into the optimal slip conditions for maximum tractive efficiency. The analysis was conducted using a more rigorous mathematical analysis than previous researchers and used a thorough graphical analysis to substantiate the mathematical analysis. Previous studies concluded that under all traction conditions the efficiency of slip will be a maximum when the slip of each wheel is equal. This research revealed that, contrary to the previous literature, efficiency of slip will not be a maximum when the slip of each wheel is equal under non-uniform traction conditions. The simulations were focussed on turning situations, non-uniform traction conditions and traversing slopes. The optimal slip conditions and steer angles for turning situations were also investigated and analysed. The computer-integrated steering-drive system achieved a drawbar pull 50% higher than that for a conventional open differential when undertaking a 10 m radius turn with non-uniform traction conditions. Under these conditions, the drawbar efficiency of the computer-integrated steering-drive system was 5% greater than that for the open differential at the lower drawbar pull. It was concluded that it is feasible and beneficial to use a computer-integrated steering system. Vehicles using such a system would operate more effectively and efficiently when turning under load, moving across slopes and in non-uniform traction conditions. More effectiveness was provided through greater drawbar pull and higher drawbar efficiency. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.) --Murdoch University, 2004. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Science and Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 300-336).