Using Monoque

[Henrique]

Hello,
We're projecting a monocoque chassi, and we would like know any advantages and against about it. I searched any topics about it, its very good, but i need more information.

Thanks,
Henrique.

[Henrique]

Hello,
We're projecting a monocoque chassi, and we would like know any advantages and against about it. I searched any topics about it, its very good, but i need more information.

Thanks,
Henrique.

[Hector]

Search harder.

The pros/cons of using a monocoque have been discussed here many times.

Or better yet, what do you think the pros/cons are?

[Dennis Seichter]

That's a strange order of thoughts. Try this:

1. evaluate concepts, e.g. advantages and disadvantages.
2. make a choice for one concept, e.g. a monocoque.

As for pros and cons, I'm sure you can find all this information all over the forum or could even figure it out by yourself, but what the heck:

Pros: fancy, better packaging possible, can be made lighter than a spaceframe, it's a real challenge.

Cons: expensive raw material, expensive tooling, infrastructure needed (cnc-mill for the moulds, autoclave..), know-how intensive (you definitely need a guy who can teach you how it's done), hard to design, hard (almost impossible) to repair, packaging has to be very good, there are no quick'n'dirty solutions like there are with a spaceframe.

If you are a first year team, don't even think about it...

[Moke]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dennis Seichter:
hard (almost impossible) to repair </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Having worked with both I would say a monocoque is easier to repair. We replaced 1/2 the rear bulkhead overnight a few years back with engine still in place. And in my job I have repaired formula Toyota/Renault chassis's with ease.

Remember that everyday there is a guy who, with no knowledge of composites, will buy a repair kit and fix a crack in his boat. Then he will head out to sea for a fish.

[dazz]

At the end of the day it's just a bunch of fabric and spacer all glued together. It's the way that it's glued together that is important. Equally important is how the suspension and driveline loads are transfered into and through the structure. Wet layup with vac-bagging is not that hard, and moulds can be built by hand without too much trouble if the chassis is designed with this in mind.