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EV Engineering is a collaboration between numerous Australian automotive suppliers, who are developing a proof of concept electric vehicle (EV) based on the Holden Commodore. Bremar Automotion are proud to have played a small role in the development of the vehicle design, providing a range of engineering simulation tasks to the project. These include a stress analysis on the rear suspension subframe, and a modal analysis of the battery pack structure and mounts. EV Engineering have recently posted some new updates on their website, including video of the car's first drive and photos of various components, including some of those that we've worked on. Follow the link to take you to the EVE website where you can find out more about the project www.evengineering.com.au

Last week saw the launch of the Jet Black world landspeed record campaign at The Cloud in Auckland. The New Zealand led team is aiming to eclipse the current land speed record of 763mph, with an estimated top speed well in excess of 1000mph. This is obviously no easy task, and the challenges involved in such a feat are enormous, but with a combination of the latest design, engineering and manufacturing technology, along with an experienced, dedicated and passionate team from all across the globe, there's a quiet confidence that the records are set to fall. Bremar is proud to have been involved in the Jet Black project for the past year or so, providing a range of CAE analysis tasks, including early conceptual work on the ROPS (roll over protection system) along with suspension and vehicle dynamics simulations. To find out all about the car, the team and the challenge of breaking a world landspeed record, head across to the Jet Black website at www.jetblack.co.nz and show the guys your support!

Bremar Automotion has recently been approved by the National Transport Commission (NTC) as an assessor for the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme for heavy vehicles. You can find more information about the PBS scheme and our assessment capabilities here.

Bremar Automotion has recently become a member of NAFEMS, the National Agency for Finite Element Methods and Standards. NAFEMS is a global, independent, not-for-profit body with the sole aim of promoting the effective use of engineering simulation methods such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Multibody System Dynamics(MBD) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Our membership makes us part of an international engineering analysis community with over 950 members, giving us access to a vast array of specialist knowledge, training, technical papers and other publications. This will help us to continually develop our knowledge, capabilities and processes to ensure we offer our clients world's best practices in our all of our engineering and simulation work.

Revised Design (CAD Supplied 2/2/11) Below is an outline of the analysis performed to date, along with preliminary results. Please note that results presented here are preliminary only and are subject to change. (note: all images can be clicked on to enlarge) Design Revision Summary Images of the revised design are shown below, with notes specifying each component and their material. The main changes made compared to the original design are as follows: all steel material thickness have been increased from 2.0mm to 3.0mm previous 'cover plate' has been replaced with structural 'cover return' as per supplied CAD, which is bolted to the main bracket with 6mm bolts and the main 8mm bolts into the aluminium extrusion an extra bolt location "A" was added to both ends of the lower row of main attachment bolts into the extrusion the main bracket was extended at either end to support the bumper tip, which previously extended past the steel support structure. This extension also includes an additional 8mm bolt into the extrusion at location

Original Design (CAD Supplied 25/1/11) Below is an outline of the analysis performed to date, along with preliminary results. Please note that results presented here are preliminary only and are subject to change. (note: all images can be clicked on to enlarge) Load Summary Four separate loadcases have been run, with a 200kg load applied at the following locations (colours noted reference load locations shown as arrows in pic below): 1. centre of the step (light blue) 2. slightly off centre, above the folded flanges of the 'brace brackets' (red) 3. towards end of step, still supported by main bracket but not brace brackets (darker blue) 4. at end of HDPE bumper, with no steel support structure below (green) The aluminium extrusion was fully constrained at both ends. Stress Results Unless noted otherwise, stress contours are for Von Mises stress and are shown with a maximum of 200MPa, which is a typical yield strength for stainless steel. If the material yield strength is exceeded, the part will remain permanently deformed, which is unsatisfactory. Any areas of red are above 200MPa. No safety factors have been applied to loads or results. Deformed shapes are shown, and have been scaled up for clarity. The cover plate has

This page contains links to various preliminary results for project no. CO-0064 - Tram Step Preliminary Results 4/2/11 Shows stress results for revised design (CAD supplied 2/2/11) http://www.bremarauto.com/co0064-revised-design-020211-cad/ Preliminary Results 31/1/11 Shows initial stress results for original design (CAD supplied 25/1/11) http://www.bremarauto.com/co0064-original-design-250111-cad/

Final Design (02/11/10 CAD) Revised CAD was supplied on the 2/11/10. There were various changes from the previous design, including: - bolted joints changed to welded connections and vice versa - some differences in the gusseting arrangements between the horizontal braces and legs - angle of the diagonal supports for the platform frame was changed - shape of the platform frame was also modified These changes were considered significant enough to warrant remeshing and rerunning of all previous analyses. Additional changes were also made to the FEA modelling techniques, including: - increased rigid element size at footing bolts to better represent area under bolt head - increased rigid element size at crusher mounting bolts to better represent contact area between mounting plate and raised pads on bottom of crusher - refined mesh in areas of high stress, such as footing plates, lower leg and crusher mounting plate Images of the model are shown below (click on all images to enlarge): Frequency Response Results Crusher Imbalance All results presented here are for a worst case damping value of 3%. Increasing the damping will reduce response and stress values. Velocity plots for X and Z directions are

310UC Horizontal Braces The model was modifed as per email from Shane on Friday (29/10/10). Modifications included: - reinstalling all previously deleted gussets between horizontal braces and legs - remodel horizontal braces as UC 310 137 sections Frequency Response Results All results presented here are for a worst case damping value of 3%. Increasing the damping to 5% or 8% will reduce response and stress values. Velocity plots for X and Z directions are shown below for the '3 weights lost' loadcase. (click images to enlarge) The first modal frequency (x sway) is now up to 8.4Hz and the second (z sway) is up to 9.1Hz. Response levels are reduced from previous designs with a velocity response of around 10mm/s at the crusher operating frequency. Velocity was also output at the corner nodes of the platform to determine response levels where the operator is able to access. Corner nodes are shown as dashed/dotted lines: Response at the corner nodes is around 8mm/s at the crusher operating frequency for the '3 weights lost' loadcase. You'll notice a peak for the corner node

3400mm High Model The model was modifed as per email from Mal today (28/10/10). Modifications included: - adding 350mm to previous 'short' design, which gives a deck height of approx 3400mm - retaining 16mm boxing on legs - remove X bracing from sides of frame - remove all triangular gussets between horizontal braces and legs Results Modal analysis showed that the first mode for the model as described dropped to 6.5Hz, which was to be expected due to the increase in height. To determine the effect of removing the gussets, the analysis was rerun with all gussets replaced and only the gussets on the X-Y plane replaced. Frequency sweeps for the three configurations are shown below. Forces in the X and Z directions were applied simultaneously, 90deg out of phase to represent the circular motion of the crusher imbalance. The plots show velocity for the '3 Weights Lost' loadcase. Click to enlarge images. The plots show that the 'No Gussets' configuration has the lowest first modal frequency and the highest velocity response at the crusher operating speed, with a velocity of over 30mm/s in