SAE Baja

SAE Baja is a college engineering competition where teams from across the world come together and compete at a single event. We compete in design, business, technical, and wheel to wheel competitions. I am currently a Team Lead in charge of the Ergonomics of the car. This includes all driving inputs and positioning, ensuring the car is safe and fits a variety of body types. 

One of the key new materials I selected to make the steering wheel out of this year was forged carbon fiber. Forged carbon fiber consists of short strands of carbon fiber randomly meshed together under pressure to form a solid carbon fiber part. To ensure this new material was strong enough to handle the forces on the steering wheel as well as other parts a tensile test was done. The tensile test yielded the results shown on the top right with a max tensile stress of about 38ksi. This was impressive considering the density was half that of 6061 Aluminum. This stress strain curve was then able to be imported into solidworks where it could be simulated using FEA. The FEA concluded with a low stress value on initial design but a high deflection. The part was made and tested to validate the FEA. After manufacturing the part it was found to have considerable deflection which matched the FEA. Most drivers did not like the flexible feel of the wheel therefore a thicker steering wheel shown above was then designed, molds machined and carbon fiber layed and sanded to produce the steering wheel shown below along with another transmission part.