16/12/2025
Implementation of Multibody Systems in a Formula Student Car 🏎️
The 1st Semester students of the Master of Enginnering in Design and Development (DDM) course visited the Rennstall Formula Student garage of Hochschule Esslingen. The visit was organized as a part of the Simulation of Multibody Systems course.
The students are currently involved in simulating a simple suspension of a vehicle as a multibody system in MATLAB Simulink. The goal of the visit to the workshop was to understand and correlate the suspension seen on the Formula Student car to that what is simulated by the students.
The Rennstall team members – Anna Schneider, DDM students and responsible for steering – and Nilo Castro Pérez, Automative Systems student and responsible for vehicle dynamics - introduced us to the current suspension system on the car and the key differences to the simulated model. The complications involved in actual implementation and differences in joints used were also explained by the Professor Mathias Oberhauser and Amit Pandit, DDM Alumnus 2021.
The students also visited the workshop involved in manufacturing the carbon fibre parts for the car, which was a good overview for the Lightweight Design course.
The visit continued to the Suspension Test-bench where the car's suspension is loaded and unloaded based on the simulated amplitudes which can represent different test roads and racing conditions for developing the new racecar. The Wheel test-bench was also looked at where specific wheel loads and wear can be studied based on the suspension geometry settings. (Rohan Aiyappa Karthamada Somaiah)
Hochschule Esslingen
