Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge
FENDER WHEEL ARC
Fender wheel arch is the a arch shaped member attatched on the fender to avoid chipping outside the car.
If your wheel is outside the fender it does chipping and it will throw off the mud particles and stones on the back side which is dangerous for the vehicle comming backside and which is not desirable.
Considering passenger and pedastrain safety we need to position wheel inside the fender. There are few sasety standards followed based on the region and road condition of country where the car is going to be used.
JAPAN REGULATIONS
In Japan's regulation we need to take vertical line from the axis of the wheel and take a point on a wheel's outer surface plane 30 degree leftside and 50 degree right side. Project those point on the wheel arch.
Clearance must be greater than 5mm in all the three points.
If it is not matching the requirements we need to send it to styling team (class A) ask them to change the curvature of the wheel arc and the fender according to the 5mm requirement.
EUROPEAN REGULATIONS
In European regulation we need to take vertical line from the axis of the wheel and take a point on a wheel's outer surface plane 30 degree leftside and 50 degree right side, additionally take a point 150mm fron the 0 degree and take a mid point between SC and SE. Project those point on the wheel arch.
All five sections L value should be greater than 10mm to satisfy European standards.
US REGULATIONS
As per US regulation, the clearance between tyre and fender must be greater than 5mm. The projected points to be measured are at an angle -10 degree to 180 respectively. Thus each position is divided into 10°. Thus the projected distances are measured at around 21 different points.
All values should be greater than 5mm to satisfy the regulations.
WHO CHECKS THE WHEEL ARCH?
1. Drip area and Wheel arch area are these are the two important feedback fender engineer gives to a styling team
3. Baffle mounting, Bumper mounting, pillar mounting, Sill mounting are related with the components respectively.
CONDITION FOR PASSING THE WHEEL ARCH CRITERIA
If we satisfy the 10mm gap it is good go for all the road conditions. so in this case i checked the gap for 10mm gap condition. If this satisfy the European regulation, it will satisfy all the other countries regulations. So i am going to check for European regulations.
SECTION SA
SECTION SB
SECTION SC
SECTION SD
SECTION SE
RESULTS
| SECTIONS | REQUIRED DISTANCE | CALCULATED DISTANCE | RESULT |
| SA | 10mm | 10mm | PASS |
| SB | 10mm | 9.949mm | FAIL |
| SC | 10mm | 0.114mm | FAIL |
| SD | 10mm | 2.888mm | FAIL |
| SE | 10mm | 5.997mm | FAIL |
CONCLUSION
Fender wheel arch area distance check is successfully done. In section SA only passing the criteria. so as a sheet metal design engineer i will ask styling team to change the curvature and the position of arch to satisfy the European regulations.