World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(4):05-08

ISSN: 2231 2587

Available Online: www.worldjournalofscience.com



_________________________________________________________________
Proceedings of " A National Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (NCAME-2012)
Held at R.C.Patel Institute of Technology, Shirpur, Dist. Dhule,Maharastra,India.
April 21, 2012

Structural analysis of a ladder chassis frame

Vijaykumar V. Patel
1
and R. I. Patel
2

1
Mechanical Department, Government Engineering Collage, Dahod, Gujarat, India.
2
R. I. Patel, Mechanical Department, Government engineering Collage, Dahod, Gujarat, India

Abstract
Automotive chassis is an important part of an automobile. The chassis serves as a frame work for supporting the body and
different parts of the automobile. Also, it should be rigid enough to withstand the shock, twist, vibration and other stresses.
Along with strength, an important consideration in chassis design is to have adequate bending stiffness for better handling
characteristics. So, strength and stiffness are two important criteria for the design of the chassis. This report is the work
performed towards the static structural analysis of the truck chassis. Structural systems like the chassis can be easily
analyzed using the finite element techniques. So a proper finite element model of the chassis is to be developed. The chassis
is modeled in PRO-E. FEA is done on the modeled chassis using the ANSYS Workbench.

Keywords: FEA;Ladder chassis frame; Stress analysis;Finite element method;Truck chassis;structural analysis

INTRODUCTION
Automobile chassis usually refers to the lower body of the
vehicle including the tires, engine, frame, driveline and suspension.
Out of these, the frame provides necessary support to the vehicle
components placed on it. Also the frame should be strong enough to
withstand shock, twist, vibrations and other stresses. The chassis
frame consists of side members attached with a series of cross
members Stress analysis using Finite Element Method (FEM) can be
used to locate the critical point which has the highest stress. This
critical point is one of the factors that may cause the fatigue failure.
The magnitude of the stress can be used to predict the life span of
the truck chassis. The accuracy of prediction life of truck chassis is
depending on the result of its stress analysis.

BASIC CALCULATION FOR CHASSIS FRAME

Model No. = 11.10 (Eicher E2)
Side bar of the chassis are made from C Channels with 210mm x
76 mm x 6 mm
Front Overhang (a) = 935 mm
Rear Overhang (c) = 1620 mm
Wheel Base (b) = 3800 mm
Material of the chassis is St 52
E = 2.10 x 105 N / mm2
Poisson Ratio = 0.31
Radius of Gyration R =
210
2
=105 mm

Capacity of Truck = 8 ton
= 8000 kg
= 78480 N
Capacity of Truck with 1.25% = 78480 N
= 98100 N
Weight of the body and engine = 2 ton
= 2000 kg
= 19620 N
Total load acting on chassis
= Capacity of the Chassis + Weight of body and engine
= 98100 + 19620
= 117720 N
Chassis has two beams. So load acting on each beam is half of the
Total load acting on the chassis.
Load acting on the single frame =
117720
2


= 58860 N / Beam

CALCULATION FOR REACTION

Chassis is simply clamp with Sock Absorber and Leaf Spring.
So Chassis is a Simply Supported Beam with uniformly distributed
load. Load acting on Entire span of the beam is 58860 N. Length of
the Beam is 6355 mm
Uniformly Distributed Load is 58860 / 6355 =9.262 N/mm
Now taking the reaction around the Support A.


*Corresponding Author

Vijaykumar V. Patel
Mechanical Department, Government Engineering Collage, Dahod, Gujarat,
India.

Email:

vibhu9624@gmail.com

Patel and Patel

6

Fig 1. Chassis as a simply supported beam with overhang
RC =
(1 2 )
2
wl c
b

(1)
=
9.262 x 6355 x (6355-2 x 1620)
2x3800

= 24124.85 N
RD =
wl (l - 2a)
2b
(2)
=
9.262 x 6355 x (6355-2 x 935)
2x3800

= 34735.15 N
Calculation for Shear Force and Bending Moment
Shear Force
V1 = wa (3)
= 935 x 9.262
= 8660 N
V2 = Rc V1 (4)
= 24124.85 8660
= 15464.88 N
V3 = Rd V4 (5)
= 34735.15 15004.44
= 19730.71 N
V4 = wc (6)

= 9.262 x 1620
= 15004.44 N
Bending Moment
M1 =
2
2
wa

(7)
=
9.262 x 9352
2

= - 4048536 N-mm
M2 =
2
2
wc

(8)
=
9.262 x 16202
2

= - 12153596.4 N-mm
M3 = RC
2
C R
a
w
| |

|
\
(9)
= 8862418.107 N-mm
Calculation for Stress Generated
Mmax = 12153596.4 N-mm
Moment Of Inertia Around The X X Axis
Ixx =
3 3
1 1 -
12
bh b h
(10)
=
(76x 2103) - (70 x 1983)
12

= 13372380 mm4
Section of Modules Around The X X Axi
Zxx =
3 3
1 1 -
6
bh b h
h
(1)
=
(76x 2103) - (70 x 1983)
6 x 210

= 127356 mm3

Stress produced on the beam is as under
=
max M
Z
(12)
= 95.43 N / mm2

Check The Deflection of The Beam With All Assembly of
Chassis
Moment of inertia of side bars
Ib1 = 13372380 mm4
Ib2 = 13372380 mm4
Moment of inertia of cross bar
Ib3 = 10023948 mm4
Total mass moment of inertia
= [(13372380x 2) + (10023948x 6)]
= 86888448 mm4
World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(4):05-08

7
Deflection of chassis
( )
( )
{ }
- 2
2 2 2 2 2
- - 2( ) - ( - )
24
wx b x
Y x b x b c a c x a b x
EI b
(
= + + +
(

= 2.85 mm
That is within safe limit according deflection span ratio.
FE ANALYSIS OF EXISTING CHASSIS FRAME

For carrying out the FE Analysis of chassis as per standard
procedure first it requires to create merge part for assembly to
achieve the connectivity and loading and constraining is required to
be applied also idealization of parts is done on structure this will lead
to faster analysis since the connected structure will not be physical
but it will be a sketch with mechanical properties of mechanical
structure. Procedure is followed in this section.
Cross Section of Main Frame
h = 210 mm, b = 76 mm, t = 6 mm

Fig 2. Existing main frame cross section
CAD Model Of Existing Chassis Frame
Simplified CAD model of existing chassis frame is created
using Pro/Engineer and it is imported in ANSYS as a external
geometry file. The model is depicted in Figure.

Fig 3. CAD model of chassis frame
Loading and Boundary condition

The truck chassis model is loaded by static forces from the
truck body and load. For this model, the maximum loaded weight of
truck plus body is 10.000 kg. The load is assumed as a uniform
distributed obtained from the maximum loaded weight divided by the
total length of chassis frame. Detail loading of model is shown in
Figure. The magnitude of force on the upper side of chassis is
117720 N. Earth gravity is also considered for the chassis frame as a
part of loading.
There are 4 boundary conditions of model; the first two
boundary conditions are applied in front of the chassis, the second
and the third boundary conditions are applied in rear of chassis,
there are shown in Figure.


Fig 4. Structural load and boundary condition for chassis frame

Element and Nodes

The meshed truck chassis model has 24840 elements and
48762 nodes. The element is tetrahedral. In order to get a better
result, locally finer meshing applied in the region which is suspected
to have the highest stress.



Fig 5. Meshing of chassis frame

RESULTS

The location of maximum Von Misses stress and maximum
shear stress are at corner of side bar which in Figure. The Von
Misses stress magnitude of critical point is 190.38 MPa and the
maximum shear stress magnitude is 106.08 MPa.
Patel and Patel

8


Fig 6. Equivalent stress in chassis frame



Fig 7. Maximum shear stress in chassis frame

DISPLACEMENT

The displacement of chassis and location of maximum
displacement is shown in Figure. The magnitude of maximum
displacement is 3.0294 mm.



Fig 8. Displacement in chassis frame

CONCLUSION

The highest stress occurred is 106.08 MPa by FE analysis.
The calculated maximum shear stress is 95. 43 Mpa. The result of
FE analysis is bigger 10 % than the result of analytical calculation.
The maximum displacement of numerical simulation result is
3.0294 mm. The result of numerical simulation is bigger 5.92 % than
the result of analytical calculation which is 2.85 mm.
The difference is caused by simplification of model and
uncertainties of numerical calculation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I express my deep sense of gratitude to my guide Shri R. I.
Patel of mechanical engineering department GEC-Dahod, for his
constant support, guidance and encouragement Special thanks to
Eicher Co. Ltd. authorized show-room & service center Apco Motors
India Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad, for giving me training and required data.

REFERENCES

[1] Stress analysis of a truck chassis with riveted joints by Cicek
Karaoglu*, N. Sefa Kuralay, 2002.Department of Mechanical
Engineering, DEU Faculty of Engineering, 35100 Bornova,
Izmir, Turkey ,Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 38
11151130
[2] The effect of connection plat thickness on stress of truck chassis
with riveted and welded joint under dynamic loads is carried
out by M. zehsaz, Vakili Tahami and Esmaeili. Asian Journal
of applied Science 2(1): 22-35, ISSN 1996-3343.
[3] Dynamic Analysis of a Modified Truck Chassis by Mohammad
Reza Forouzan., Majlesi Journal of Mechanical Engineering,
Vol. 3/ No. 4/ Summer
[4] Analysis of Torsional Stiffness and design improvement study of
a Kit Car Chassis Prototype, by Wesley Linton, M.Sc. thesis,
Cranfield University, School Of Industrial And Manufacturing
Science Motor sport Engineering And Management
[5] PSG Design Data Book for Standard Data-M/s Kalaikathir
Achchagam, Coimbatore2004
[6] Beam formula with shear and moment diagram, American forest
and paper associatiom, Inc.
[7] Shi C Q, Ding H M, Yang S M. Finite element analysis of truck
frame and effects of cargo body on frame performance.
Automobile Technology