Application of FRP in a vehicle for Student Formula SAE Competition of Japan

Although it is only from around the late 1970s onwards that researchers have turned their attention to the energy absorption properties of fibre reinforced plastics (FRPs), it is proved that the energy absorption capability of a given FRP can be altered quite significantly by varying its material and geometric parameters. With further investigation into the behaviour with respect to energy absorption, attempts on applying FRPs as the real structure materials typically used for vehicle construction have been made. In Japan, there is a Student Formula SAE Competition of JAPAN that gives students an opportunity to develop skills for object creation ‘Mono-Zukuri’ and contributes to the expansion of the Japanese automotive industry as well. Since 2007, the students and their advisers of Kyoto Institute of Technology formed a team with a hand-made formula car named ‘Grandelfino’ to take part in this competition. Based on more than 20 years of research on the energy management capability of FRP tubes, in 2009, more than 10 wt% FRP was applied into manufacture of members of ‘Grandelfino-4’ for weight reduction and high fuel economy. As a result, in competition, ‘Grandelfino-4’ got the best ranking in the history – 13th among 80 teams, which performed much better than the previous two versions: ‘Grandelfino-3’ (34th in 2008) and ‘Grandelfino-2’ (52nd in 2007). In this paper, the crushing behaviour and energy absorbing mechanism of braided FRP tubes with flexible resin were investigated, and additionally the design of tubular braided composites for the components in ‘Grandelfino-4’, like suspension arm and impact attenuator, were mainly introduced.

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