Material Based FEA Analysis of a Go-Kart Chassis: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The following study involves designing of a go-kart chassis using CAD and CAE tools. The chassis is the supporting base for every automobile and chassis is subjected to various loads due to self-weight, acceleration, braking, bumps and cornering. CATIA Software was used for designing the CAD model of the chassis and ANSYS software was used for the FEA analysis of the chassis under different loading conditions. The calculations of these forces due to impacts are required to design a functional chassis for go-kart and having an adequate stiffness to avoid any vibration or resulting resonance. Ten mode shapes and natural frequencies are studied for vibration characteristics using Modal analysis in ANSYS. For impact analysis the loads in terms of gravitational acceleration are applied for the front, side and rear impact as 4g, 2g and 2g respectively and the results are compared to get the best material among the four selected materials AISI 4130, AISI 1080, AISI 1020 and AISI 1026.