Fender Design

FENDER DESIGN

AIM - To design a front fender of a car by following the given master section as per the design considerations of OEM.

INTRODUCTION - A fender is the part of a car that protects and frames its wheels and keeps mud from splashing it. Most modern vehicles have fenders on their front wheels. When you get into a minor car accident, you can call it a "fender bender," and it's possible that your fenders did get slightly dented.

Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road surface.

Sticky materials, such as mud, may adhere to the smooth outer tire surface, while smooth loose objects, such as stones, can become temporarily embedded in the tread grooves as the tire rolls over the ground. These materials can be ejected from the surface of the tire at high velocity as the tire imparts kinetic energy to the attached objects. For a vehicle moving forward, the top of the tire is rotating upward and forward, and can throw objects into the air at other vehicles or pedestrians in front of the vehicle.

TYPES OF FENDERS

1. FULL BUMPER TYPE: These types of fenders were used in earlier models of vehicles. They contribute to the major increment of the steel weight by just covering the front headlights with respect to the bumper region. The problem associated with this kind of fender is there is a lot of wastage in the blank and every inch of material is a cost to the industry.

2. HALF BUMPER TYPE: These fenders are mainly used for serving the purpose of cost-cutting and reducing enough proportions of the steel wait resulting in a reduction of the weight of the vehicle slightly. They can be economically manufactured, i.e by slightly increasing the blank size, we can produce two fenders at a time.

Purpose of Fender :

Cleanliness : Protect the car, occupants and passers by from items, water, mud, snow, ice, thrown off the tires as you drive.

Safety : Protects pedestrain from the wheel, e.g. its better to be it by a laterally moving fender than a rolling tire, keeps loose, streaming items from being wrapped up in a rolling wheel.

Aerodynamics : Smooths the car profile so you don't get a lot of drag off the uncovered wheels. Some fenders are enclosed on the side for this.

General Appearance : Looks better with fender, gives a finished look, looks more streamlined.

MOUNTING REGIONS ON FENDER :

There are 5 mounting regions on the fender , they are -

• A-pillar mounting
• Body mounting
• Sill mounting
• Bumper mounting
• Drip mounting

Materials :-

Fender flares are often made of fiberglass or ABS plastic to ensure flexibility and light weight; however, some trucks and SUVs come with metal fender flares to ensure better durability.

Front Fender Design

The mastersection is given to create a drip area, silll mount, bumper mount and A-Pillar mount, creating your own design as per engineering standards.

DESIGN OF DRIP AREA MOUNTING :

• It is the important mounting unit of the fender . it is connected with the engine compartment , therefore the lot of design constraints are to be followed while designing the fender
• While designing the drip area we have to initially leave 200-300 mm for cowl top
• For placing the headlamp we have to leave at least 150 mm at the front while designing the fender
• Cowl top part consists pf wiper motor and its instruments
• Two darts are added on the longer side of the drip area in order to provide the stiffness and adds strength to the part . This helps the fender to not to vibrate and impact the forces outside of the fender during motion of the vehicle.
• Embossing are provided on the mounting to strengthen them during fastening.

DESIGN OF SILL MOUNTING AREA :

Sill is the panel directly below the bottom of the door supporting the floor and may be used to combine the floor and the body. The bottom end of the fender is mounted on the sill body for reinforcement of the fender panel, thus the sill mounting position is designed with holes and emboss. M5 fasteners are used to fix the fenders on the sill body.

DESIGN OF BUMPER MOUNTING AREA :

The fender is to be attached to the bumper. The bumper is usually made of plastics which covers the front of the car and protect it fromt the collisions.

DESIGN OF A-PILLAR MOUNTING AREA :

The A -pillar is the structural pillar that combines the body to the roof . this make the sides of the windshield rest . front fenders are fastened to the A -pillar to form a robust structure.

DESIGN OF BAFFLE MOUNTING AREA :

Baffle mounting or mudguard are clip fit type of mounting on the inner side of the fender arch over the Tyre. it protects the car engine compartment and pedestrians from causing injuries from chip out debris on the road when the car is in motion . they are mounted on the fender using a special type of locking clips which are made up of plastics .

APPLYING OF THICKNESS TO THE SURFACE .

The thickness of 0.75 mm inward on the final sewed surface of the fender to the sheet metal parameters.

Commands used from NX CAD to model this fender are:

1. Offset in face
2. Curve on surface
3. Trim sheet
4. Law extension
5. Datum plane
6. Intersection curves
7. Face blend
8. Bridge curve
9. Sketch
10. Projected curve
11. Emboss
12. Edge blend
13. Sew
14. Dart
15. Thicken

DIFFERENT VIEWS OF FENDER :

CONCLUSION :-

The Design a front fender from the given skin data and the master section provided with Drip mounting, A-pillar mounting, Sill mounting, Bumper mounting, and Baffle mounting has been successfully created, considering the design rules as mentioned in the given data.