Transportation
The weight of intercity buses has
increased by over 20% in the past 25 years. Recent
surveys have shown that 18% of all busses exceed new
regulatory restrictions.
In this project, Martec Limited worked very closely
with Prévost Car Inc. to identify potential
means of reducing the weight of Prévost intercity
buses. This work is divided into 3 phases: developing
conceptual designs for lightweight buses (Phase 1),
manufacturing and testing prototypes of the concepts
(Phase 2), and developing full-scale bus components
for structural and in-service (road) testing (Phase
3).
Phase 1 is complete; Phase 2 is currently in progress.
In this phase, the major structural components of
the bus (roof, floor, and side truss) were identified
as the areas to be studied for weight reduction concepts.
The determination of lightweight design concepts for
each of the selected bus structural components was
performed through the analysis of a finite element
(FE) model of a typical intercity bus.
State of the art manufacturing concepts and materials were investigated for their weight savings potential. Structural sandwich panels utilizing either lightweight metal skins or composite FRP skins made by pultrusion or resin infusion processes offer high strength to weight ratios. New forms of joining techniques such as structural adhesives and mechanical fastening techniques similar to the Alusuisse system for connection of aluminum extrusions were also investigated.
Reference:
1. Intercity Bus Weight Reduction Phase 1, January
2000, Martec Report: TR-01-04
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