The students met with Mike Green, Lead Stress Engineer, to learn more about dynamic analysis.
We caught up with Mike to find out more about how we are able to help the students with this specific element of their racing car design.
Hi Mike! Tell us a little bit more about your background?
I’ve been working at Morson Projects since 2006, originally mixing between on-site and off-site as a contractor. More recently I have joined the team in a permanent staff position.
Day-to-day my job entails the engineering analysis of a wide range of products from aircraft wings and engines to submarine structures and tooling assemblies.
How did you get involved in helping the students?
Our Business Development Director, Andy Hassall, contacted me as I’d been doing some Adams dynamic and mechanism analysis for one of Morson Projects’ clients which he was aware of, and he saw an opportunity for us to use our expertise in the software to help the Salford Racing team as a result of this.
Adams is an MSC branded software tool used by many automotive companies to assess suspension design on products ranging from passenger cars and trucks to race motorcycles and Formula 1 cars.
Interestingly, my wife is actually a librarian at the University of Salford and in a previous role she was the Engineering Dept. subject librarian!
What will you / have you been showing the students?
In our initial session I showed the group how the Adams software could be used to model and improve their suspension design, focussing on spring rates and damping characteristics.
As the students continue to develop their design and use the software, we will set up sessions either online or face-to-face to mentor them and help with any queries or issues they may have. The flexibility is there to offer as much support as they need.
How will what you are showing the students help them?
For Formula Student, before a car can take to the track, they have to pass scrutineering, where they need to demonstrate how the car was designed, its safety features, etc. The Adams modelling can help to show that they have a roadworthy vehicle. The software can be used to predict many aspects of a design’s performance, like how changing the suspension can affect the steering response and the magnitudes of forces applied to the chassis.
Below you can see an image from what we discussed in our session. We kept it very simple, but the principles demonstrated can be used to develop a highly accurate simulation of the vehicle performance.
Find out more about our involvement with Salford’s Racing team here >
