The diploma thesis deals with the design process of Formula SAE drivetrain. Different design possibilities were described and after that were the suitable designs chosen to be used in the team car. Then were the design parameters determined. The design of the differential gear mounting was created and it’s stress analysis was done.

Aerodynamic devices, such as wings, are used in higher levels of motorsport (Formula-1 etc.) to increase the contact force between the road and tyres (i.e. to generate downforce). This in turn increases the performance envelope of the race car. However the extra downforce increases aerodynamic drag which (apart from when braking) is generally detrimental to lap-times. The drag acts to slow the vehicle, and hinders the effect of available drive power and reduces fuel economy. Wings, in automotive use, are not constrained by the same parameters as aircraft, and thus higher angles of attack can be safely reached, although at a higher cost in drag. Variable geometry aerodynamic devices have been used in many forms of motorsport in the past offering the ability to change the relative values of downforce and drag. These have invariably been banned, generally due to safety reasons. The use of active aerodynamics is currently legal in both Formula SAE (engineering compet ition for university students to design, build and race an open-wheel race car) and production vehicles. A number of passenger car companies are beginning to incorporate active aerodynamic devices in their designs. In this research the effect of ground proximity on the lift, drag and moment coefficients of inverted, two-dimensional aerofoils was investigated. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect ground proximity on aerofoils post stall, in an effort to evaluate the use of active aerodynamics to increase the performance of a race car. The aerofoils were tested at angles of attack ranging from 0° - 135°. The tests were performed at a Reynolds number of 2.16 x 105 based on chord length. Forces were calculated via the use of pressure taps along the centreline of the aerofoils. The RMIT Industrial Wind Tunnel (IWT) was used for the testing. Normally 3m wide and 2m high, an extra contraction was installed and the section was reduced to form a width of 295mm. The wing was mounted between walls to simulate 2-D flow. The IWT was chosen as it would allow enough height to reduce blockage effect caused by the aerofoils when at high angles of incidence. The walls of the tunnel were pressure tapped to allow monitoring of the pressure gradient along the tunnel. The results show a delay in the stall of the aerofoils tested with reduced ground clearance. Two of the aerofoils tested showed a decrease in Cl with decreasing ground clearance; the third showed an increase. The Cd of the aerofoils post-stall decreased with reduced ground clearance. Decreasing ground clearance was found to reduce pitch moment variation of the aerofoils with varied angle of attack. The results were used in a simulation of a typical Formula SAE race car.

The current body of knowledge concerning Agricultural Education quality in regards to its three components is not consistent and total program quality has not been defined scientifically. The purpose of this study was to determine quality indicators for instruction, SAE, and FFA according to experts (agricultural education teacher educators, state instructional staff, and high school teachers) across the United States. The conceptual framework for this study was the three circle model consisting of the three integral, intra-curricular components of Instruction, FFA, and SAE. This national study was descriptive in nature and utilized the Delphi technique to gather responses from an expert panel and combine the responses into one useful statement (Stitt-Gohdes andamp; Crews, 2004). The initial questionnaire consisted of three open-ended questions and was developed by the researcher while subsequent questionnaires were developed from the experts responses. The expert panel agreed upon 37 quality indicators for Instruction, 19 quality indicators for FFA, and 6 quality indicators for SAE.

Aerodynamic devices, such as wings, are used in higher levels of motorsport (Formula-1 etc.) to increase the contact force between the road and tyres (i.e. to generate downforce). This in turn increases the performance envelope of the race car. However the extra downforce increases aerodynamic drag which (apart from when braking) is generally detrimental to lap-times. The drag acts to slow the vehicle, and hinders the effect of available drive power and reduces fuel economy. Wings, in automotive use, are not constrained by the same parameters as aircraft, and thus higher angles of attack can be safely reached, although at a higher cost in drag. Variable geometry aerodynamic devices have been used in many forms of motorsport in the past offering the ability to change the relative values of downforce and drag. These have invariably been banned, generally due to safety reasons. The use of active aerodynamics is currently legal in both Formula SAE (engineering compet ition for university students to design, build and race an open-wheel race car) and production vehicles. A number of passenger car companies are beginning to incorporate active aerodynamic devices in their designs. In this research the effect of ground proximity on the lift, drag and moment coefficients of inverted, two-dimensional aerofoils was investigated. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect ground proximity on aerofoils post stall, in an effort to evaluate the use of active aerodynamics to increase the performance of a race car. The aerofoils were tested at angles of attack ranging from 0° - 135°. The tests were performed at a Reynolds number of 2.16 x 105 based on chord length. Forces were calculated via the use of pressure taps along the centreline of the aerofoils. The RMIT Industrial Wind Tunnel (IWT) was used for the testing. Normally 3m wide and 2m high, an extra contraction was installed and the section was reduced to form a width of 295mm. The wing was mounted between walls to simulate 2-D flow. The IWT was chosen as it would allow enough height to reduce blockage effect caused by the aerofoils when at high angles of incidence. The walls of the tunnel were pressure tapped to allow monitoring of the pressure gradient along the tunnel. The results show a delay in the stall of the aerofoils tested with reduced ground clearance. Two of the aerofoils tested showed a decrease in Cl with decreasing ground clearance; the third showed an increase. The Cd of the aerofoils post-stall decreased with reduced ground clearance. Decreasing ground clearance was found to reduce pitch moment variation of the aerofoils with varied angle of attack. The results were used in a simulation of a typical Formula SAE race car.

Submitted by Eduardo Barros de Almeida Silva (eduardo.philippe@ufpe.br) on 2015-04-17T13:55:10Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Edkarlla Sousa Dantas de Oliveira.pdf: 1968915 bytes, checksum: ed71108aa4f0a310b1be620e9e616482 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T13:55:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Edkarlla Sousa Dantas de Oliveira.pdf: 1968915 bytes, checksum: ed71108aa4f0a310b1be620e9e616482 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-27 / FACEPE / A Biocorrosão, também denominada Corrosão Microbiologicamente Induzida (CMI) está associada à participação dos micro-organismos e seus metabólitos corrosivos na deterioração de diversos materiais. Estas espécies microbianas podem acelerar reações parciais, favorecer ou modificar mecanismos de corrosão através da formação de biofilmes. Estes biofilmes são causadores de graves danos e prejuízos em sistemas que ficam em contato direto com água, tais como, hidrelétricas, tratamento e transporte de água, indústrias alimentícias e de papel, entre outros. Com base na relevância do tema, foram estabelecidos como objetivos desse trabalho, avaliar a microbiota de amostra de água doce proveniente do complexo hidrelétrico Paulo Afonso - BA, isolando-se e quantificando-se os principais grupos de micro-organismos envolvidos no processo de biocorrosão metálica. O estudo foi realizado por um período de 90 dias, em sistema estático utilizando cupons de aço carbono SAE 1010, submersos em amostras de água do rio. A cada 15 dias foram analisadas as concentrações celulares dos principais grupos microbianos presentes no biofilme, a perda de massa e a taxa de corrosão. A superfície metálica foi avaliada por Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV) e Difração de Raio X (DRX). Os resultados mostraram que as bactérias aeróbias heterotróficas e bactérias precipitantes do ferro foram os grupos microbianos que apresentaram maior concentração celular nos biofilmes formados. Também foram encontradas bactérias heterotróficas anaeróbias, Pseudomonas sp. e fungos filamentosos, nos tubérculos associados à corrosão. A taxa de corrosão dos cupons em contato com água doce “in natura” foi maior em relação aos cupons controle. Os biofilmes foram caracterizados por concentrações crescentes de proteínas, com redução dos carboidratos em 60 dias de experimento. Através da microscopia eletrônica de varredura foram visualizadas bactérias e material de corrosão nos biofilmes formados na superfície dos cupons durante 30 dias de exposição à água doce. Nas análises por difração de raio X, os produtos de corrosão lepidocrocita e pirrotita estavam presentes em todas as amostras analisadas. Através dos resultados obtidos pode-se observar a influencia dos micro-organismos na deterioração dos cupons de aço carbono.

Ingeniero Civil Eléctrico / En el último tiempo en Chile se ha manifestado un importante crecimiento de proyectos de centrales eólicas, contando a fines del 2012 con más de 3 GW en proyectos aprobados según el Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental. Sin embargo, debido a la naturaleza variable del recurso eólico estas centrales no pueden asegurar energía por un determinado periodo de tiempo, lo cual ha dificultado el concretar contratos en el mercado. Dentro de las medidas que permiten solucionar dicho problema se encuentra la implementación de sistemas de almacenamiento de energía (SAE) en conjunto con los parques eólicos de forma tal de asegurar la inyección de energía durante un cierto periodo de tiempo. El problema de dicha solución son los altos costos de estas tecnologías los cuales no permiten su aplicación en gran envergadura, haciendo del dimensionamiento de estos equipos un problema de suma importancia. En el contexto anterior, el objetivo del presente trabajo es optimizar el tamaño del sistema de almacenamiento asociado a un parque eólico en términos de energía y potencia. La optimización se realiza de forma de maximizar las utilidades del conjunto parque eólico más almacenamiento. La estrategia utilizada consiste en almacenar energía durante periodos de precios bajos en el mercado spot e inyectar dicha energía durante periodos de precios altos. El dimensionamiento óptimo se realiza para un parque eólico hipotético modelado en base a mediciones de viento en la zona de Taltal. La tecnología de almacenamiento seleccionada para las simulaciones es una batería de sodio-azufre (Na-S). La razón para utilizar esta tecnología son sus bajos costos, alta eficiencia, alta capacidad de profundidad de descarga (DoD), elevada vida útil y demostrada aplicación en proyectos de gran capacidad energética enfocados en desplazamiento de carga en parques eólicos. Como resultado se concluye que con los precios actuales de la tecnología Na-S no se logra un proyecto de almacenamiento rentable bajo el esquema de operación propuesto. Debido a este resultado, se calcularon costos (de energía y potencia) tal que un proyecto de almacenamiento Na-S fuese rentable. Los resultados de dicho cálculo muestran que los costos debiesen disminuir en promedio un 50%, e.g. 255 USD/kWh, 500 USD/kW, con respecto a los costos actuales de manera que el proyecto sea rentable. Adicionalmente el análisis de sensibilidad mostró que el parámetro más influyente en el dimensionamiento de baterías es la eficiencia del SAE. Siguiéndole en importancia se encuentran los costos marginales del mercado spot, el límite de DoD del SAE y el costo de inversión por energía.

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A racing vehicle suspension system is a kinematic linkage that supports the vehicle under complex loading scenarios. The suspension also defines the handling characteristics of the vehicle. Understanding the loads that the suspension carries in a variety of loading scenarios is necessary in order to properly design a safe and effective suspension system. In the past, the Formula SAE team at Virginia Tech has used simplified calculations to determine the loads expected in the suspension members. This approach involves several large assumptions. These assumptions have been used for years and the justification for them has been lost. The goal of this research is to determine the validity of each of the assumptions made in the method used for calculating the vehicle suspension loads by hand. These assumptions include modeling the suspension as pinned-pinned truss members to prevent bending, neglecting any steering angle input to the suspension, and neglecting vertical articulation of the system. This thesis presents an approach to modeling the suspension member loads by creating a finite element (FE) model of the entire suspension system. The first stage of this research covers the validation of the current calculation methods. The FE model will replicate the suspension with all of the current assumptions and the member loads will be compared to the hand calculations. This truss-element-based FE model resulted in member loads identical to the hand calculations. The next stage of the FE model development converts the truss model to beam elements. This step is performed to determine if the assumption that bending loads are insignificant is a valid approach to calculating member loads. In addition to changing the elements used from truss to beam element, the suspension linkage was adapted to more accurately model the methods by which each member is attached to the others. This involves welding the members of each control arm together at the outboard point as well as creating a simplified version of the pull rod mounting bracket on the upper control arm. The pull rod is the member that connects the ride spring, damper, and anti-roll bar to the wheel assembly and had previously been mounted on the upright. This model reveals reduced axial components of load but increases in bending moments sizable enough to reduce the resistance to buckling of any member in compression. The third stage of model development incorporates the steer angle that must be present in loading scenarios that involve some level of cornering. An analysis of the vehicle trajectory that includes the effects of slip angle is presented and used to determine the most likely steer angle the vehicle will experience under cornering. The FE model was adapted to include the movement of the steering linkage caused by driver input. This movement changes the angle of the upright and steering linkage as well as the angle at which wheel loads are applied to the suspension. This model results in a dramatic change in member loads for loading cases that involve a component of steering input. Finally, the FE model was further enhanced to account for vertical movement of the suspension as allowed by the spring and damper assembly. The quasi-static loading scenarios are used to determine any member loading change due to vertical movement. The FE model is also used to predict the amount of vertical movement expected at the wheel center. This data can be used by the suspension designer to determine if changes to the spring rate or anti-roll bar stiffness will result in a more desirable amount of wheel movement for a given loading condition. This model shows that there is no change in the member loads due to the vertical movement of the wheel. This thesis concludes by presenting the most important changes that must occur in member load calculations to determine the proper suspension loading under a variety of loading scenarios. Finally, a discussion of future research is offered including the importance of each area in determining suspension loads and recommendations on how to perform this research. / Master of Science