Mechanical Design Analysis and Manufacturing Process of Hollow Carbon Steel of Double-Wishbone Front Suspension for Go-Karts

Abstract

One of the main mechanical connections between a vehicle and its wheels is the suspension system. The suspension system serves to distribute vehicle loads, absorb road-induced vibrations, and maintain continuous tyre road contact, thereby improving handling, stability, and ride comfort. Most go-karts lack front suspension, which means a stiff chassis, a rough ride and a tendency to oversteer through corners because the tyres are not all in a consistent contact. Hence, the aim of this research is to design, evaluate, and fabricate a reliable front double-wishbone suspension system for a go-kart to improve its handling, stability, and driver comfort. A morphological evaluation was carried out comparing wishbone, MacPherson strut, and multilink designs, and the double wishbone was selected. Suspension components were designed and analysed for static stress, strain, and displacement using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The physical prototype was fabricated from hollow cast carbon steel by cutting, grinding, drilling, and metal welding. In the computational static stress analysis, the maximum stress in the lower control arm was 8.88 MPa which was well below the yield strength of the material. This is a minimum factor of safety of 27.9. The physical load tests show that the produced suspension system can withstand a maximum load of 833.85 Newtons and a maximum vertical displacement of 7.5 centimetres. In summary, the use of hollow cast carbon steel in a double wishbone layout provides a very robust and effective front suspension. The system effectively absorbs physical shocks and improves the vehicle's alignment. The system is validated in terms of structural safety and performance advantages for kart applications.