Computer and Experimental Analysis of the Torsional Stiffness of a Metallic Tubular Structure

摘要

The torsional stiffness can be considered the most important chassis characteristic, so, automotive competitions team's of the State University of Maranhao need to constantly assess this size; since the resources are absent, most of the time becomes an obstacle. Finite elements analysis are frequently used because they represent a cheap and practical method, nevertheless, the method's validation is vital. Considering this background, this project shows the computer's model validation through an experimental attempt, as well as all the prototype's fabrication process and experiment execution. After a literature revision, computer analysis for the prototype have been done, showing the outline's procedures and conditions of the simulations in detail, it is necessary to point out that the other necessary components to the experiment's execution have received the same attention. Then, all the component's fabrication process, the used re-sources and the cares that have been taken to a good reliability have been presented. Lastly, the experiment has been executed and the results have been assessed, it had a relative error of 8,24% between the computer result and the experimental one, concluding that both methods provide a good estimative of the torsional stiffness of the projected structure.