Case Study: Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE achieves a 10% increase in wheel stiffness and reduced unsprung mass with Altair HyperWorks

Climbing the Winner’s Podium with HyperWorks

Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE, a student racing team competing in Formula SAE, needed stiffer, lighter carbon fiber wheel shells to improve performance and reduce unsprung mass on their 2015 race car. To design and validate composite laminates they used Altair’s HyperWorks Suite (including the OptiStruct solver) to address geometry, laminate layup, and structural analysis challenges.

Using Altair HyperWorks, the team imported CAD molds, generated surface meshes, defined laminates, ran OptiStruct finite‑element analyses, and iteratively optimized layer count and orientations, then validated results with physical cantilever tests. Altair’s tools helped them increase wheel stiffness by 10%, decrease unsprung mass, move directly from design to production, and gain practical CAE experience with composite development.

Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE

Christopher Nilsen

ME Design Lead