Design, development, and manufacture of an aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel monocoque chassis for Formula Student competition

Abstract

Cardiff University students have used the freedom of the Formula Student rules to create an innovative chassis that combines a high performance with an efficient manufacturing process. All aluminium sandwich panels were pre-cut using computer numerical control routing, which is a rapid low-cost operation that produced highly accurate results. Assembling the monocoque consisted of folding and bonding panels along pre-routed lines and reinforcing the relevant joints. This required no specialist tools or equipment and was a rapid non-labour-intensive operation. The key design features, the manufacturing techniques, and the results of experimental and computational performance testing are presented here. This chassis construction technique is the result of research and development for seven years over six generations of Formula Student race cars.