Fender Design - Wheel Arch

FENDER:-

• Fender is the US English term for the part of an automobile (vehicle body) that frames a wheel well (the fender underside).
• Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road sprays from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire.
• When a vehicle is moving, tyres pick up stones and others and hurl them in all directions. Fenders are basically present to prevent any injuries to pedestrians and contain the motion of these particles
• Most passenger automobiles have four fenders, one over each wheel. For vehicles with a narrow car body that exposes the tyres, the fender is an exposed curve over the top of the tyres. For wide body vehicles that cover the tyres, the fender forms the wheel well surrounding the tyres and is not directly visible from above the car body.
• Wheel wells tend to be much larger than the diameter of the tire because they do not move with the tyres suspension and consequently must be large enough to allow the full range of tire motion on the suspension without touching the interior of the wheel well.
• More elaborate designs include fender skirts for enclosing the outside edge of the wheel well and stylized pontoon fenders for exposed fenders.

MATERIAL USED:-

The most commonly used wheel well are of plastic material. In the olden days, the inner fender or wheel well was made of sheet metal. If the vehicle with metal inner fenders is used there is a good chance that winter salt and moisture have caused them to develop some rust in hard-to-spot areas. Improper repairs after an accident can also accelerate corrosion here as well.

FENDER SAFETY:-

• The fender is a part of the car, it is also used a protect the side of the engine compartment.
• Pedestrian safety is also considered while designing a wheel arch in a fender since the debris in the wheel shouldn't hit them in the motion of the car.
• Fender is also reduced pedestrian injury when there is a pedestrian-vehicle crash and prevents the throwing up of debris nearby vehicles.

TYPES OF FENDER:

The type of fender is based upon the area covered

1. Full fender type
2. Half fender type.

Full fender type

The full fender type is the traditional type of fender where more material consumption is observed. This type is used in the old designs of automobiles where it increases the overall weight and thus reduces performance. The maintenance is also relatively more due to more surface

Half fender type

Half fender type is a modern design where less material consumption is observed, so productivity increases by reducing the size of the blank and thus providing more performance. The maintenance is also relatively low compared to the full bumper type.

JAPAN REQUIREMENTS FOR FENDER WHEEL ARC:-

1. Measure clearance L of tire,hub,cap,and fender in three different positions within area K and produce clearance check chart to validate.
2. Clearance must be greater than 5mm in all the three positions.
3. Wheel guard requirement: the value a shall be more than 5mm at a line 30*forward and 50*rearward from the centralvertical axis of axis of wheel.

US STANDARDS REGULATION FOR FENDER WHEEL ARC:-

1. Make clearance check details on all positions from -100* to 100* and make the clearance check table.
2. All values should be greater than 5mm to satisfy the regulation.
3. The value of ‘a’ shall be more than 5mm at line 30* forward and 50*rearward from the central vertical axis of wheel.

EUROPEAN REGULATION:-

Measure CL L at section SA-SA-SB-SB-SC-SC-SD-SD-SE-SE and produce a CL check chart to validate.

1. In all five sections, the CL L value should be greater than 10mm to satisfy European regulations.
2. Wheel guard requirement: the value of ‘a’ shall be more than 5mm at a line 30*forward and 50*rearward from the central vertical axis of the wheel.

WHEEL ARCH:

• The wheel arch is the semicircular part positioned above the wheel of a vehicle.
• The most important body change was that the front wheel arch was cut higher into the fender.
• Corrosion had occurred around the splash plate at the back of the wheel arch.
• The car was large in size, high definition headlights that extend to the wheel arch.

PROCEDURE:

1. According to European standards, the design fender and wheel arc should pass the wheel guard requirement procedures.
2. To start the test, first, create a plane with the face of the wheel Arc.
3. Then sketch using lines along with given dimensions as SA, SB, SC, SD, and SE.
4. After sketching the project the intersection points onto the fender face.
5. Then use the measure distance tool and calculate the clearance between sketch lines and wheel arc.

6. The clearance between the SA line and wheel arc is 9.9490mm also the line SA lies outside the fender so it is a negative value

7. The clearance between SB line and wheel arc is 10mm also the line SB lies inside the fender so it is a positive value.

8. The clearance between the SC line and wheel arc is -0.113949mm also the line SC lies outside the fender so it is a negative value.

9. The clearance between the SD line and wheel arc is -2.8875mm also the line SD lies outside the fender so it is a negative value.

10. The clearance between the SE line and wheel arc is -5.9973 also the line SE lies outside the fender so it is a negative value.

REGION	REQUIRED CLEARANCE	ACTUAL CLEARANCE	RESULT
SA	10MM	9.949MM	FAIL
SB	10MM	10MM	PASS
SC	10MM	0.113949MM	FAIL
SD	10MM	2.8875MM	FAIL
SE	10MM	5.9973MM	FAIL

CONCLUSION:

From the above results we can conclude that the fender does not pass the European regulations,as the minimum clearance L between the fender wheel arch and wheel for vehicle and pedestrian safety is lOmm and this design does not meet the requirement.