BULKHEAD You are offered the opportunity of redesigning a bulkhead for the rear of our FSAE
car. This component is bolted to the rear of the tubular frame of the car, to it are attached the rear
lateral suspension arms and spring push rods. The bearing carriers for the differential are also
mounted on this bulkhead. All the forces may be taken to be in the plane of the sketches shown
below, or vertical to that plane. An initial objective is to keep deformation below 0.5 mm and stress
below 50 n/mm2, everywhere.
Immediate below is shown the assembly of the bulkhead, rear suspension components, differential
and drive train, as may be seen from the front, when detached from the car.
A Solidworks model of the
bulkhead assembled with
the differential and parts
of the spring and shock
absorbers, as seen from
the rear of the car.
Shown here are sketches, giving the locations and loads, at the holes required for this
bulkhead. Also shown is the approximate outer boundary for the bulkhead. A Solidworks file
is provided this model.
The four Φ 12 mm holes are fixed (to the frame)
This cut out is for the chain to pass through
The inner four Φ 10 mm holes carry ±3 kN forces, perpendicularly to the plane of the paper.
The six Φ 9 holes are
placed symmetrically
about the CL shown.
These four Φ 9 holes carry
±2 kN forces at 45⁰, in the
plane of the paper
These two Φ 9 holes carry ±3 kN
forces, horizontally, in the plane of
the paper.
CL