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STRUCTURAL ANALYSISAND SO SPEED IS “CONIN THE LAST 50 YEARS THE STUDY OF THE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES OF RACE CARS HAS MADEGIANT STEPS FORWARD. TODAY, THE LEVEL OF THE DRIVER’S SAFETY IS VERY HIGH, BUT FORMECHANICS AND ENGINEERS THE PROBLEM OF FINDING SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCEON THE TRACK REMAINS, TOGETHER WITH MAKING THE SOLUTIONS COST EFFECTIVE. AN ALMOSTIMPOSSIBLE SITUATION, WHICH HAS HOWEVER RESULTED IN THE COOPERATION BETWEEN THEFACTORY’S DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIESIn the Formula 1 of the sixties one ineight accidents carried seriousconsequences for the driver, sometimeseven death; today the figure is one infifty. Seeing Kubica coming out unscathedfrom the crash he had in Montreal 2007,gives a good idea of the safety levels incurrent cars. Nowadays, the car acts like aprotective cell around the driver, so muchso that almost every year the FIA modifiesthe rules, demanding that cars pass evermore stringent tests. Such rules are thenextended to the other categories so thatmore drivers are able to benefit.Each part that covers one of the driver’sessential organs is subject to tests: statictests that require a certain load for aspecific amount of time; other active testswhere the chassis is subjected to crashes atvarious speeds and directions. To get anidea of how difficult the tests are to pass,think that the roll bar is subjected to a loadof around 12 tonnes, whilst the forcerecorded in side impact is around 15tonnes. Being able to pass the tests isnecessary in order for a car to race, but forit to win it must also have othercharacteristics: it must be light and rigid;and if the category is a single brand it mustalso be “affordable”. It becomesimmediately obvious that these differentneeds overlap and contradict each other.How can the best configuration be puttogether, to satisfy all these requirements?That is the job of the department forStructural Analysis. In the last year we haveworked a lot, looking at solutions that maysatisfy the various requests. For example wecreated reinforcements for more tests thatalso would have the effect of improving therigidity. We have introduced unbalancedlaminates, so that we could improve therigidity and resistance, without affectingthe weight whilst being able to abandonthe ballistic type of (heavy and expensive)material to absorb energy.But how is it possible to predict thebehaviour of a structure in various complexforms made with materials that behavedifferently according to the direction of thefibre? The instrument that is used is finiteelements’ method of dividing complexgeometries into simple ones(squares and triangles) whosebehaviour mathematicalformulae are able toexplain.Over the last fewyears thecompany hascontinuallyinvested inthis14
TRUCTED”technology, firstly by increasing thenumber of dedicated staff, and thereforeby providing specialist programmes. Evermore complex problems can therefore bestudied, for example the collision of roadcars. There have also been collaborationswith other departments of the company,such as the attempt to define theCalculation Office’s target foroptimized rigidity with regards toperformance and the evermore precise introductionto the study of fatigue’smethodology. Thecollaborations betweencolleagues become evercloser, working togetheron materials, toward theideal performanceevaluation of newcomposites and with thenew aerodynamicsdepartment, inparticular CFD, for thedefinition of distortion instructures subjected toaerodynamic loads.Therefore, what is our work’s objective? Itis the same as everyone who works inDallara: to construct a faster and safercar.Andrea GiubelliniManager Structural Analysis15
Page 1 and 2: 03/2010MAGAZINEPUBLISHEDBY DALLARAG
Page 3 and 4: TEST PASSEDAFTER THE FIRST TESTING
Page 5 and 6: Esteban Gutierrez,the mexican of th
Page 7 and 8: Tony KanaanAN INTERVIEW WITH THE BR
Page 9 and 10: Tony KanaanThis year you’re part
Page 11 and 12: EAR HISTORYThe Scuderia Italia’sD
Page 13: Right, the Honda 199 prototypedesig

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