A study on torsional stiffness of the competition go-kart frame

摘要

The construction of the competition go-kart must satisfy the philosophy of extreme simplicity: no redundant part is added and the go-kart frame is similar to the chassis of a sedan. Accordingly, the design of each part on the kart has to contribute to its performance. Due to the absence of a differential gear and suspension system, the frame must be responsible for offering proper rigidity and torsional stiffness to the kart and producing load transfers during cornering. Therefore, how to build a good kart frame is very important to go-kart design. In this paper, the torsional stiffness of the go-kart frame is analyzed in detail by using non-linear, explicit dynamic code LS-DYNA 3D. The kart frame presented by Solazzi is adopted to be the parent model, and two design concepts are investigated to improve the torsional stiffness of the kart frame. The first one is the arrangement of extra members at suitable positions on the frame, and nine different types of frame are studied. The second one is to increase the width between two kingpins, and four different types are studied. The torsional stiffness of each frame type is determined and compared with each other. The result shows that the torsional stiffness of the frames with larger kingpin width is better than those with extra members. Specifically, the one with width of 828 mm is the best type of frame, and the torsional stiffness is 31.03% higher than the original. In addition, among the frames with extra members, the one with a right-inclined member arranged in front of the centre member is the best design, and the torsional stiffness is 20.18% higher than the original. It is believed that the design concepts presented in this research will provide a useful reference for the design and manufacturing of an optimum go-kart frame.