Momentum - October 2021 - 7

STUDENT GENERATION
influenced not only the engine selection but every single
design decision that went into the car. This is because they
designed the 2021 car in an extremely homogeneous fashion.
The suspension team was fully aware of how they were
affecting the aerodynamics team and the powertrain team
was fully aware of how they were affecting the suspension
team and so on. This turned out to be, by far, the team's
biggest strong suit.
Similar to Texas A&M's Farmers Flight, the Texas A&M FSAE
2021 team started with the pressure of upholding the winning
legacy set by the 2017 and 2018 cars. The teams that
designed and built these cars set the standard for how future
teams would approach the design process of an FSAE vehicle.
Winning back-to-back championships at FSAE Lincoln with
two radically different vehicle designs, inspired the 2021 team
to actively fight against design fixation. The team believed
every trade space should be open to inspection rather than
settling with comfortable decisions. The engine selection of
the 2021 FSAE car is a great example of this engineering
discipline.
Although the KTM 690 engine has served Texas A&M FSAE
teams well in the past, the 2021 team did not reuse previous
analytical conclusions which were conducted for different
vehicle designs. The engine selection analysis started with
nothing and finished with the Yamaha YZ450F engine. Coming
to this decision with confidence required numerous hand
calculations, the use of simulation tools like OptimumLap, and
qualitative analyses. Cross team coordination played a pivotal
role in understanding how the engine selection would
influence the vehicle's max performance and weight, the tire
selection, and aerodynamic requirements. Balancing how
these parameters interacted was a big challenge.
Calculations governing the engine selection needed to be
reasonably simplified due to the lack of experience,
knowledge, and time. Weight was the first calculation that was
simplified almost entirely to conceptual logic from Newtonian
equations: (1) objects with a centralized lower weight rotate
easier than heavier objects and (2) the less a vehicle weighs,
the more lateral acceleration that can be harnessed from the
tires. These findings, and others from similar derivations, were
integrated into the decision matrix. The Yamaha YZ450F
engine received the greatest score in the analysis and went on
to propel the 2021 car to first place overall at FSAE Nevada. n
Josue Corleto (left) and Chantz Elliot unloading payload after a successful
flight at SAE Aero Design 2021.
Thumbs up for the 2021 Texas A&M FSAE team in Nevada.
The article was written for MOMENTUM by the following authors:
Josue Corleto (2021-2022 Texas A&M Aero Director), Samantha
Mersman (2020-2021 Texas A&M Formula SAE Team Captain), Jack
Grooms (2021-2021 Texas A&M Formula Powertrain Lead).
Wind tunnel testing for the 24.
MOMENTUM
October 2021 7
Keltan Forrest
Nathaniel Fasolino
John Furtado
Momentum - October 2021

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