UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Thomas Latimer
MEng Aerospace Engineering
Project Supervisor
Dr Benjamin Drew
Design of a Human Powered Vehicle
Chassis
The chassis shape was decided upon based around
the research that was conducted in the literature
survey.
Modelling
The chassis needed to be analyzed in FEA with the
front forks of the design on to test to see if the
structure would fail under loading.
Final Design
The final design was integrated into one complete
model and then run again through CFD to check
the alterations that were made didn’t impact the
drag value. The values obtained from CFD could
then be used to calculate the final achievable
output velocity.
Project summary
To design a human powered vehicle that is capable of
beating the current land speed record of 83Mph. The
aim was to achieve the theoretical value of 85Mph. In
part A the outer body shell was designed so part B
was focused around the internals and the power
output of the vehicle.
Project Objectives
The objectives for this project were to design the
gearing system, steering system and internal chassis
of the vehicle and then validate these using FEA, CFD
and theoretical calculations to ensure that the
current speed record can be achieved and beaten
Here is the final chassis design that was developed
so that the gear train and steering system could be
designed based around this simple shape.
Steering
The model didn’t fail and displayed a very low
value of deflection meaning that it was sufficient
for the task and that the design process could
continue
Gear Train
In order to achieve the high speeds just through
pedaling alone a sophisticated gear train system
needed to be design to ensure that the RPM input
at the crank could be achieved by the rider.
This drawing below shows how the gear train
configuration was designed.
The values of Cd that came from the analysis was
0.06 and once this was used to calculate the
velocity which came out at 42m/s.
Render
This is the final render of the HPV design which
represents what it will look like once a prototype
of the design has been manufactured
Project Conclusion
The project was successful. All three aspects of the
design were completed and brought together as one
and integrated well. The complete chassis was then
integrated into the initial bodywork design which had
to have slight alteration to ensure the chassis fits
inside. Then this was put through CFD and then the
theoretical output speed calculated which came out
at 42m/s which is above the current land speed
record which means that this is something that is
achievable. The next stage of this project would be to
manufacture a prototype of this and look at testing to
see if the practical data matches up with the
theoretical data.
The steering assembly here shows how the
steering configuration works with the chassis
design and how the movement articulates and
allows the wheels to move.