Date

12-2009

Degree Name

BS in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering Department

Advisor(s)

John Fabijanic

Abstract

This research and design project was proposed by the Cal Poly Supermileage team. They have requested for our team to design an Urban Concept car, a new category of vehicles to compete for fuel efficiency in the Shell Eco-marathon in 2010. The primary focus of our team is in the design and construction of a chassis the Supermileage team can use for the 2010 competition in Fontana, CA. This design must meet dimensional and functional requirements set by Shell while being designed to maximize efficiency in the competition.

There were various chassis concepts under consideration that would possibly work for this competition, but through various design calculations, one chassis was chosen as the best choice for our final design. Our final design of a carbon fiber backbone chassis showed to be the best in minimizing weight while having sufficient strength with a safety factor of over 40, and minimal deflection from various loads and torsional testing of less than 0.1” in our expected worst case scenario.