Materials and manufacturing processes of the Superbus

Materials and manufacturing processes of the Superbus

Terzi, A.
Ockels, W.J.

Aerospace Engineering

Aerodynamics & Wind Energy

2008-01-01

The Superbus is a new public transportation non polluting, fast, economic, and appealing vehicle developed in The Netherlands as proof of concept for the implementation of a new transportation system which includes totally new infrastructure and logistics. This new vehicle is sustainable, can transport passengers and goods from point to point and drives at high speed (250 km/h cruising) on dedicated and relatively cheap infrastructures and at conventional speed on existing roads. For the achievement of the structural design targets, the vehicle must be as light as possible. For that, the vehicle uses a composite chassis, HPPC thermoplastic bodywork and Lexan polycarbonate glazing. In this paper the structural design of the Superbus (Figure1) is highlighted, then the materials used and the manufacturing processes of the Superbus are presented. First the overall the best design in terms of achievement of the target torsional stiffness (30 kNm/deg) with respect to lightness and easiness of is described. Then, the manufacturing of the various parts, namely chassis, bodywork and glazing will be described.

design
applications
automotive
vacuum infusion
carbon fiber
composites

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c9857202-3f4d-4aed-829d-7d47cda6be5c

Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2008 Terzi, A.; Ockels, W.J.