Team Members & Role:

• Sairam Umakanth – Team Lead
• Kyle Morisson – Analysis Lead
• Mike Panico – Design Lead
• Conor Cronin – Evaluation Lead
• Samson Morgan – Fabrication Lead

Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to design the front suspension system for Minutemen Racings’ upcoming 2023 car in the FSAE international design competition. One of the most important subsystems of any car is its suspension system. A vehicle’s suspension system’s purpose is to ensure load dissipation and smooth wheel travel while providing the car with a maximum contact patch with the ground. The Minutemen FSAE car needs to deal with different loading scenarios, like braking, accelerating, and cornering, that have to be dealt with using a robust design. This suspension system will be critical to deal with unknown variables such as bumps, droops, and rolls that could be critically damaging the car itself. Although multiple other universities have FSAE teams that have designed their iterations of suspension systems, as it is a design competition, it will be the first of its kind at UMass. Hence, it is revolutionary as the work being done by the team and the club will set the foundation for future Minutemen Racing teams to build on. In order to address the issue, the team researched how different FSAE competitors designed their suspension systems. Through this research, we learned the importance of role center, camber, and caster. These affect the car’s handling characteristics in different ways. A design was created based on geometric and kinematic calculations as well as requirements given to us by the Minutemen Racing Club.