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Formula SAE® is one of several student design competitions organized by SAE International. In the Formula SAE events undergraduate and graduate students are required to conceive, design, fabricate and compete with a small, formula-style, race car. Formula SAE safety rules dictate a 7 m/s (or approximately 15.65 mph) frontal crash test for nose-mounted impact attenuators. These rules are outlined in section B3.21 of the Formula SAE rule book. Development and testing methods of these energy-absorbing devices have varied widely among teams. This paper uses real-world crash sled results to research methods for predicting the performance of aluminum honeycomb impact attenuators that will comply with the Formula SAE standards. However, the resulting models used to predict attenuator performance may also have a variety of useful applications outside of Formula SAE. In this paper, various energy absorbers were mounted to a free rolling trolley sitting on top of a crash sled.

Currently, a majority of the ‘gasoline’ sold at the pumps in the United States is a nominal blend of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol. This mixture is commonly referred to as E10. This paper reports on a study conducted to determine the effects of E10 on the fuel system performance of vintage automobiles. The study focused on the potential degradation in performance of the carburetors and fuel pumps due to exposure to E10. Six fuel systems were selected for study including the 1948 Flathead Ford, 1958 Volkswagen Beetle, 1962 Ford Falcon, 1969 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1970 Chrysler New Yorker. The components tested were either rebuilt original equipment or new aftermarket replacement parts, depending on availability. Although the components tested were not all original equipment parts, they represent a reasonable sample of the types of parts likely to be found in vintage vehicles currently on the road. The fuel system components were tested under both dynamic and static conditions.

Electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles are two major innovations that are currently available to the general public or under development. While they can be separate products, it is also likely that many autonomous vehicles, if not all, will be electric vehicles as well. This is seen in the SAE/GM AutoDrive Challenge and its successor, the SAE/GM AutoDrive Challenge II; in both competitions, an electric vehicle, the Chevy Bolt, is provided to the collegiate teams, which they then work to turn into an autonomous vehicle. The combination of electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles creates certain challenges, among them the issue of powering sensors and the consequent impact on the vehicle’s electric powertrain, and in particular on the vehicle’s range.