Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge
Report on FENDER REGULATIONS
Aim : Prepare a report explaining the different fender regulations and Calculate the Wheel Arch gap at required points and check whether the car passes the European standard.
Standards of wheel arch area requirements :
Different countries follow different regulations based upon the country's road conditions, government regulations, geography, climate, and various other factors.
Therefore in our case, i.e. for the wheel arch area calculation, we will have a look at three different standards.
The main purpose of the wheel arch area regulation is that seeing the front fender and tire from the top, the tire must be inside the fender by a certain distance.
1. JAPANESE STANDARDS
- Measure L clearance of the tire. Hub, cap fender in three different positions within area K and produce clearance chart to validate.
- Clearance must be greater than 5mm in all 3 positions.
- Wheel guard requirement : the value of a shall be more than 5mm at a line 30 degree forward and 50 degrees reward from the axis of wheel.
2. EUROPEAN STANDARDS
- Measure clearance L at sections SA, SB, SC, SD, SE and produce clearance check chart to validate.
- At all five sections the clearance value L should be more than 10mm to satisfy European regulations.
- Wheel guard requirements : the value of 'a' shall we more than 5mm at line 30 degree forward and 50 degrees reward from central access of wheel.
3. US STANDARDS
- Make clearance angle check details of all positions from -20 degree to 180 degree and make clearance check table.
- All values should be greater than 5 mm to satisfy regulations.
- The value of 'a' shall be more than 5 mm at a line 30 degree forward and 50 degree reward from central axis of wheel.
Wheel Arch Gap according to European Standards
- To calculate the distance L i create a plane on the edge of a wheel
- Then as shown in the fig. Draw all the lines at particular angle and distance
- Then project the fender edge on the sketch
- Create points at the intersection of arc and lines
- Project that points and lines on the surface so we can measure the distance between tyre edge and wheel guard.
Sketch
Distance At AA-Aa
Distance At BB-Bb
Distance At CC-Cc
Distance at DD-Dd
Distance at EE-Ee
Wheel Guard Clearance
At BB-Bb a : 44.7577 mm
At CC-Cc a : 38.3597
Fender wheel Arch area : 24432.9334 mm^2
The below chart shows the Actual value of clearance between tire and wheel arch/wheel well
|
Measurement of point |
SA |
SB |
SC |
SD |
SE |
|
Required length |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
Actual Length |
9.9490 |
10 |
0.1139 |
2.8875 |
5.9937 |
|
Remark |
FAIL |
PASS |
FAIL |
FAIL |
FAIL |
Conclusion:
AS per European regulation requirements the clearance at a given point should be a minimum of 10mm, more than 10mm can be accepted but at only one point there is a 10mm clearance and at the other point clearance value is less than 10mm so the car will not pass the standards.
The design of the fender needs to modify Out of the 5 lengths the front fender failed to meet requirements in 4 naming SA, SC, SD, and SE, and meet the requirement in only one length SB.
Hence we conclude the model don't fit to European Standards and so the styling team should adjust the curve of the Wheel Arch to meet the requirement.