Browsing by Author "Hylton, Pete"

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    Advanced Dynamic Vehicle Simulation
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Hylton, Pete; Russomanno, David; Lawrence, Christopher
    The Motorsports Engineering Program within the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) has partnered with Dallara Automobili to conduct basic and applied research involving dynamic vehicle simulation to advance motorsports engineering techniques and motorsports related economic development opportunities for the State of Indiana and beyond. The project includes completion and operation of the world’s most advanced vehicle dynamic simulator at Dallara’s IndyCar facility in Speedway, Indiana. This facility supports assembly of the racecars used for the IZOD IndyCar series, America’s foremost open-wheel racing series. The basic and applied research to be conducted by IUPUI using the advanced vehicle dynamic simulator at Dallara, includes the following aims: i) Correlation of empirical simulator data to both track-test empirical data and driver qualitative feedback; ii) Correlation of driver head and chest acceleration data between corresponding simulator and track-test situations; and iii) Extend simulator capabilities to other applications, including short track stock cars, sprint cars, etc., by developing new physics models to simulate appropriate track conditions.
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    Comparison of Engineering Education in the United States versus the United Kingdom
    (American Society for Engineering Education, 2016-06) Hylton, Pete; Otoupal-Hylton, Wendy; Department of Engineering Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
    There is debate within history books as to exactly who first made the assertion that "America and Britain are two countries divided by a common language." However, no matter who said it first, the statement is an acknowledgement that despite centuries of common goals and aspirations, as well as historic and cultural ties, the two countries have some very distinctive differences. A recent opportunity to teach for two terms at a major university in the United Kingdom, as part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Exchange program, provided an opportunity for one U.S. engineering faculty member to examine not only the gaps in our common language, but also the major differences in our university educational systems. Opportunities to associate with four different campuses in Scotland and England provided an excellent chance to compare and contrast how engineering higher education is conducted within these two English-speaking countries on opposite sides of the Atlantic. This paper will examine significant differences which were found in the areas of course conduct, projects, assignments, exams, expectations of student work, coursework assessment and program assessment. Additionally, differences in campus life, pre-collegiate education and general work-life philosophy of both faculty and students will be discussed.
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    Improving Safety Structures on Sprint and Midget Race Cars
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Hankins, Grant; Krajnik, Kenny; Galedrige, Brad; Sakha, Shahab; Hylton, Pete; Otoupal, Wendy
    A number of performance and safety related aspects of motorsports have begun to receive increased attention in recent years, using the types of engineering analysis common to other industries such as aerospace engineering. As these new engineering approaches have begun to play a larger role in the motorsports industry, there has been an increase in the use of engineering tools in motorsports design and an increase in the inclusion of motorsports in the engineering education process. The design, modeling, and analysis aspects of roll cages for American short-track open-wheel racing cars is the objective of this project. Roll cage structures were initially integrated into cars of this type in the 1960s. Countless lives have been saved and serious injuries prevented since the introduction of cages into these types of cars. However, the general configuration of these cages has not seen significant change or improvement in the four decades since their introduction. Crash tests conducted in the past two years have demonstrated the potential for the driver’s helmet to impact an external barrier and also indicated that some tubes and joints in the cage structure may be excessively loaded in certain crash scenarios. Recent innovations in engineering design techniques involving the utilization of Three Dimensional (3D) Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) have opened opportunities for engineering analysis which could improve the design of these roll cages. This project utilizes research, modeling, and analysis approaches from academia to assist in the design of new aspects of competition vehicles aimed at increasing safety.