Finite Element Investigation on Chassis Design for Agricultural Vehicle

Abstract

In the agro-industrial sector, production transportation is essential in today's trade economy for developing countries like Thailand. The use of trucks in the agricultural region has increased significantly. In the assembly of truck chassis and utility vehicles, many features exist, including the choice of building material and strength-to-weight ratio. This article uses finite element method analysis to study the stress, strain, and deflection and determine the safety factor of the multipurpose agricultural vehicle chassis. The results showed that when expending AISI 1035 steel, the highest Von Mises stress occurring at the center of the chassis was 170.7 MPa, the maximum strain was 5.3´10^-4, the maximum displacement was 2.819 mm, and the minimum safety factor was 1.2. When selecting SUS 400, the highest Von Mises stress arising at the center of the chassis was 169.6 MPa, the maximum strain was 5.058´10^-4, the maximum displacement was 2.681 mm, and the minimum safety factor was 1.42. For multipurpose agriculture vehicles designed by verifying two types of these materials, it was found that the chassis was strong enough to be used in normal conditions.