Structural design and development of the suspension system of the Formula SAE 2026 hybrid car

This thesis focuses on the calculation of the loads acting through the suspension system of the hybrid Formula SAE car of the University of Padua, followed by the structural design of the front inboard suspension. The work starts with the calculation of ground loads on the tyres, based on the longitudinal and lateral accelerations observed in the telemetry data from previous seasons. The car features a double wishbone suspension with a decoupled push-rod system and, to obtain the loads on every kinematic point, a vehicle model was created in Adams Car. This software performs a dynamic analysis using the previously calculated tyre loads. The second part of the thesis focuses on the structural design of all the components of the front inboard suspension. In particular, the rockers will be designed with topology optimization, and the structural validation of all the designed components will be carried out using the finite element method on Hypermesh.