Challenge

Fender Design Challenge

DD. Humesh8 Aug 2022

Objective:

In this project we are going to design the fender mountings such as drip,pillar,bumper,sill areas as per manufacturing requirements using nxcad

Fender Design

Fender is a part of a vehicle which frames a wheel and prevents from the sticky and hard substance such as mud, sand, rock, etc. 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.
Fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road surface. Instead, flexible mud flaps are used close to the ground where contact may be possible.
I have properly shown the Drip area, Sillmount area, A-pillar mount region and Bumper mount region.

Front fender is a part of the vehicle that frames the wheel . the primary purpose of the fender is to prevent sand , mud , rock etc from being thrown away into the air by rotating tire . fender can be of two types , full bumper type and half bumper type . nowadays half bumper type fender is typically used . the cost of sheet metal blank is reduced as we can produce two half bumper type fender in single blank . this also leads to reduction of scrap .

DESIGN PARAMETERS -

The front fender is manufactured as a separate part , this is then mounted to the body of car , for this the front fender basically has 5 mounting points, but this mounting points can differ from OEm to another OEM .below is the points -

Drip area-

Drip area mounting is the important part in the fender . this mounting is attached to the engine compartment of the car . fender drip area is mounted via weldnuts to the engine compartment .a min of 150mm distance is kept from the front side and a distance 300mm or less can be kept on the rear side . the total length of drip area from the top of fender should be less than 40mm , this is to avoid the springback during the manufacturing . the edge of the mounting should atleast 10mm away from any nearby component in the engine . a rigidity bead is provided at the end to increase the strength of the mounting .

A-pillar area -

The A-pillar area mounting depends upon the A-pillar of the car . the mounting can also be provided with ribs to strengthen the part . this mounting is critical in design as it has to be mounted on A-pillar properly .

Body side area-

Another mounting point is created for the body side on the fender . this mounting is created such that it can be mounted on the body of he car . it may consist of one or two bolting holes .

Sill area -

Sill area mounting is also an important mounting part .this mounting point is basically on the bottom of the fender . the mounting part should be created such that the fender is firmly attached to the sill .

Cowl area -

Sometimes fender is also provided with the cowl area mounting . this mounting is on the top side of the fender .

DESIGN PROCEDURE -

Input - we have the outer skin of fender as our input .

1) Drip area -

The height of drip area mounting should be less than 40mm so that it reduces the springback effect during manufacturing .
The edge of the mounting part should be atleast 10mm away from the nearby components in the engine .
It should be distanced atleast 150mm from the front side ande 200m from the rear side .
Ribs should be provided in order to increase the strength of the mounting part .
Bead is provided at the outeredge to increase the rigidity of part .

2 ) A-pillar -

Ribs are provided in order to increase the strength of A-pillar mounting point .
Other factors for the mounting flange will depend upon the A-pillar design of car .

3) Bumper side -