Automotive Vehicles

Lecture 4
Chapter 2
Body and Chassis (Frame)

Dr. Kiran D. Mali

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Body and Chassis

2
Body and Chassis Frame
Chassis and Frame (structure) supports various
components and body of the vehicle in addition to
loads, it is supposed to carry.
2 principle types of auto body construction
1. Unibody or Integral Construction
2. Body and Chassis Construction
Dead Weight Pay Load
Power units Occupants
Transmission Goods
Suspension
Support system 3
Body Work
Terminology

4
Terminologies
Purpose of the body structure

To provide the mounting points for the vehicles rear

suspension and final drive, front suspension and steering,
engine and gear box, tank for fuel and seats for occupants.

It requires rigidity to maintain accurate handling, lightness to

reduce inertia, toughness to sustain fatigue loads from road,
power unit and drive.

Design is based on deflection basis rather than the stress

basis.

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Body structure
The car structure classification is as follows

1. Integral: Main loads are carried by the members making up

the structures. All body work, except doors and hatches.

2. Semi integral: Separate chassis frame but the remainder of

the structure contributes substantially to the overall stiffness.
3. Punt structures: Floor is a box section with adequate torsional stiffness so
that open sports or light weight body work can be fitted. This is usually of sheet
metal construction, in which the floor members (cross-members,etc.) are of large
closed section, with good joints between members. It is thus a grillage structure of
members with high torsion and bending properties locally. In many cases (but not
all), the upper body is treated as structurally insignificant. The punt structure is
often used for low production volume vehicles, for which different body styles, or
rapid model changes are required. 7
Body Work
Requirements

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Body structure
Dynamic measurements on test vehicle have shown peak
acceleration of 3g recorded in the vertical direction

Horizontal plane, transverse cornering forces and longitudinal

braking forces are limited by the adhesion of tyre to the road and
limiting retardation of 1g has become acceptable.

Garret suggests multiplying these accelerations by 1.5 as a factor of

safety in design to arrive at the corresponding maximum load. Thus
maximum accelerations are
1) 4.5g vertical
2) 1.5g fore (Braking and accelerating)
3) 1.5g cornering LH or RH 10
Integral body construction

Around 1934, the all steel body construction was introduced so

that a separate frame could be eliminated.

This frame less construction provides a stiff, light construction,

which is specifically suitable for mass produced vehicles.

When suitably designed the body shell is capable of withstanding

the various stresses.

Floor and roof panels resist the sagging effect caused by the
weight of the occupants.

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Unibody or Integral Construction
Individual metal parts are welded together to make up
the body assembly and provide overall body rigidity
trough an integral all steel welded Construction.
In a fully integrated body structure, the entire car is a
load-carrying unit that handles all the loads experienced
by the vehicle
This is sometimes also referred to as a monocoque
structure, because the car's outer skin and panels are
made load-bearing
This design provides weight savings, improved space
utilisation, and ease of manufacture.

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Body- Integral Construction
2. Body and Chassis Construction

Unibody or Integral Construction

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Integral construction
Integral Body construction

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Integral body construction
Sheet metal thickness
0.915 mm for large area parts
0.765 0.66 mm for curved contours
1.00 1.25 mm cross members, pillars, rails, sills
1.00 1.65 mm Local reinforcements

A body shell is normally fabricated either by spot welding

the panels, pillars and pressings together to form a strong
box, or by building a skeleton or space frame.

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Integral body construction
Car front end section
Figure demonstrates
the triangulation in
elevation and plan
designed to provide
rigid connection
between front
suspension and
bulkhead.

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Integral body construction
Crumple zone
1. Vibrations of the panels,
which produces an unwanted
noise called drumming, is
avoided by fixing a sound
damping material on inside of
the panels.
2. Front and rear end of the rigid compartment are designed to
concertina on impact.
3. Crumple zones of the body absorb the shock of a collision so that
the rate of deceleration experienced by the occupants is reduced

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Chassis

Chassis frame supports the various components and the body,

and keeps them in correct positions.

The frame must be light and sufficiently strong to withstand

the weight and rated load of the vehicle without having
distortion

Chassis design includes the selection of suitable shapes and

cross section of chassis members.

Materials: Cold rolled open hearth steel, treated alloy steels.

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Chassis

Chassis are classified based on controls

Conventional chassis- In which engine is mounted in front of the drivers
cabin. This arrangement avoids full utilization of space.

Semi forward chassis- In which engine is so mounted that half of it is in

drivers cabin whereas the other half is in front, outside the drivers cabin.

Full forward chassis- In which the engine is mounted completely inside the
drivers cabin. Obviously maximum utilization of space is achieved in this
type of arrangement,

Materials: Cold rolled open hearth steel, treated alloy steels.

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Chassis Frame construction

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Chassis operating conditions
Chassis generally experiences four major loading
situations that include.

1. Vertical bending

2. Lateral bending

3. Longitudinal torsion

4. Horizontal lozenging

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Chassis operating conditions
Vertical bending
Considering a chassis frame is
supported at its ends by the wheel
axles and a weight equivalent to
the vehicles equipment,
passengers and luggage is
concentrated around the middle if
its wheelbase, then the side
members are subjected to vertical
bending causing them to sag in the
central region. 23
Chassis operating conditions
Longitudinal torsion
When diagonally opposite
front and rear road wheels roll
over bumps simultaneously,
the two ends of the chassis
are twisted in opposite
directions so that both side
and cross members are
subjected to longitudinal
torsion
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Chassis operating conditions
Lateral bending
Chassis is exposed to lateral force
that may be due to camber of the
road, side wind, centrifugal force
while turning a corner or collision
with some object.

The adhesion reaction of the road wheel tyres opposes these lateral
forces.

As a net result, bending moment acts on the chassis side members

so that the chassis frame tends to bow in the direction of the force.
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Chassis operating conditions
Obstacle Reaction lozenging

A chassis frame, if driven forward or backward, continuously

subjected to wheel impact with road obstacles such as pot holes,
road joints, surface humps and curbs while other wheels produce
the propelling thrust. These conditions cause chassis frame to distort
to parallelogram shape, known as lozenzing 26
Chassis frame design

A frame suitable for a light truck is shown

Frame uses a non independent suspension system and is consisted
of 2 channel shaped side members, which are joined together by
cross members
These cross members are placed at points of high stress.
Made up of low carbon steel
Since the load varies at each point of the frame, so to reduce its
weight either the depth of channel is decreased or a series of holes
will be drilled along the neutral axis in the regions where the load is
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relatively less.
Chassis frame design
Frame tapers from rear to
front to permit adequate
movement of the steering
wheel.
Longitudinal members, by
sweeping upwards at the
rear end , allows for vertical
movement of the vehicle
Torsional rigidity of the
frame is increased by
providing tubular or box
section cross section.

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Chassis frame design
Frame shown in
figure does not
have sufficient
rigidity against
torsion.
Back bone frame
1. Two longitudinal box
section members are
welded together at
the center and
separated at the front
and rear to 2. A series of rigger frame members are
accommodate the welded to the spine to support the
main components floor of the body 29
Chassis frame design
Chassis in older designs were
made very stiff in order to
improve safety for the
occupants of a car when Energy absorbing frame
involved in collision.
Modern frames are
manufactured as front and rear
end of the frame in a manner so
that it crumples in a concertina
manner during collision and
absorb the main shock of the
impact.

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Body shapes

A carbody with the aerodynamic shape passes

with least resistance through the air, as a
consequence fuel economy is improved.

For a vehicle without aerodynamic shape of the

body, a lot of engine power is required to drive
through the air.

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 Air flow and pressure distribution
Body shapes around a typical saloon car

Fig. shows a profile of a car

assumed to have not front air
intake.
As air approaches the body, it
has to divide to flow around
it.
Point of diversion is termed
as stagnation point, where
the dynamic head is (1/2)V2
When the air flows around
the body, pressure
distribution is developed as
indicated
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Body shapes
When the air flows around the body, pressure distribution is
developed as indicated.

As the air velocity is increased, over the roof pressure drop

occurs to cause a suction zone.

At the stagnation point, as the air moves around the curved

nose it speeds up and pressure falls until at B atmospheric
pressure is reached.

Drag force is the summation of horizontal components of the

arrows around pressure distribution.
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Body shapes

Aerodynamic resistance of the vehicle is obtained from

3 sources.

1. From drag, caused by the turbulence in the wake of the

vehicle. This depends on shape of the vehicle body.

2. Skin friction, caused by the shear force exerted on the

vehicle surface by the air stream.

3. Resistance due to air flow through the radiator system,

interior cooling and ventilating system.

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 Force required
for overcoming
air resistance

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 Aerodynamic lift RL acting on a vehicle
To reduce drag
1. Recessing of protruding items such as door handles and the shaping
of the body below the front bumper to form an air dam.
2. Air flow control devices are sometimes fitted in to the rear of the
vehicle. These devices smooth out the air flow to reduce the
disturbances or act as a spoiler to deflect the air upwards so that
the adhesive force acting on the rear wheels are increased.
 Aerodynamic pitching moment Ma

CM Coefficient of pitching moment

Lc Characteristic length of the vehicle
Different types of bodies for various models
Chassis Types
Sedan Cars
Convertibles
Lift back
Station Wagon
(Sumo, Qualis type)

Pickups
Vans
Sport utility vehicles
Crossover vehicles