Challenge: University students participating in the NTNU Revolve team, a contestant in the international Formula Student racing competition, needed a way to design strong, lightweight, and cost-effective vehicle components.
Solution: Using Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA portfolio, including Abaqus FEA, Tosca topology optimization and Isight automation tools, students were able to develop highly competitive but safe component designs.
Benefit: Aside from the tremendous learning experience that came with the project and the use of Dassault Systèmes products, the team is confident they’ve put their best racing foot forward, and eagerly anticipate this year’s event.
Students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology give a whole new meaning to the term “accelerated learning.”
What better way to learn the principles of mechanical engineering than to actually design and build something useful? It might be the next-generation prosthetic hand, a revolutionary solar panel, or…a race car? How about a Formula One-style, four-wheel-drive electric race car, made of carbon fiber and 3D-printed parts and able to accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour (100 km/h) in 2.1 seconds? Take that, Tesla.
And while watching students zoom around a track in a homemade vehicle might not be what their parents had in mind for academic achievement, for those in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s “Revolve NTNU” project, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, made possible in part by software from Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA.
A vision of speed
Sometime during the 2010 spring semester at NTNU, a group of four engineering students met to discuss ways in which they could gain practical, hands-on knowledge. They soon discovered Formula Student, an annual international racing competition hosted by the United Kingdom’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). The program is intended to foster learning and collaboration among university students from around the world who meet for the three-day opening event at the Silverstone Circuit in Northampton, followed by races in Germany and Spain later in the summer.
Formula Student isn’t just about speed. Entrants are judged on six categories, ranging from endurance and fuel economy to vehicle presentation and cost effectiveness. For this they need components that are strong and light, readily manufacturable, and that don’t cost an arm and a leg—just like in the real world. The four students knew the program would be the perfect tool for them and other students to learn the valuable skills required to advance their careers after graduation.
After working with staff members on a project management structure, securing support and some facilities from the University, and garnering sponsorships from various businesses, the team of students applied for and received permission to participate in Formula Student. Revolve NTNU was born. Their first car came two years later, a petrol engine, steel frame, carbon-fiber body vehicle named the KA Borealis. It placed 17th out of more than 100 contestants, a very respectable first effort. The team has since continued to improve its race car designs, culminating in last year’s 190-horsepower all-electric Gnist, which took 6th in acceleration and 5th in handling during the 2016 competition. The race car also received recognition from Jaguar Land Rover for most innovative propulsion system, and best-in-class for high-voltage powertrains from Mercedes Benz.
Want to learn more?
Stay tuned to the next issue of SIMULIA Community News magazine to read the entire case study and discover how the team built optimized component parts.
