Study of the use of metallic foam in a vehicle for an energyeconomy racing circuit

Abstract

The emphasis of this work is on the use of metal foams in automotive design for weight reduction with the purpose of studying the mechanical behaviour and possible project alternatives, through the modelling and subsequent computer simulation according to the case study - chassis of the "Sabiá 5". The "Sabiás" are hyper-economic vehicles created to compete in an energyeconomy racing circuit (Shell Eco-marathon). For the structural analysis, the finite element software Abaqus/CAE is used. The tests performed are static and dynamic tests simulating the vehicle passing across a rough track and crash test. According to the results of the computational tests, metal foams demonstrated to be a good choice for the studied application, presenting the necessary weight reduction with the expected structural performance. © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.