Racing car design using knowledge aided engineering

CAD systems and related technologies evolution has improved the development of software for automatic configuration of mechanical systems. This happened with the introduction of KAE systems that enable computer to support the designer during the decision making process. This paper presents a knowledge-based application that allows the designer to automatically compute and evaluate mass properties of racing cars (IRL Dallara). The system is made by two main components: the computing core, which determines the car model, and the graphic user interface, which makes the system usable also by non-programmers. The computing core creates the model of the car based on a tree structure, which contains all car subsystems (e.g., suspension and chassis). Different part-subpart relationships define tree model and link an object (e.g., suspension) to its components (e.g., wishbones and wheel). Independent parameters (including design variables) and relationships definition allows the model to configure itself evaluating all properties (dimensional, positional, mass, etc.). The graphic user interface allows the end user to interact with the car model editing independent design parameters. It visualises principal outputs of the model, which consist of numeric data (mass, centre of mass of the car and of its subsystems) and graphic elements (car and subsystems 3D representation).