Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

 AIM :-Fender Design - Wheel Arch

OBJECTIVE:- calculate the Wheel Arch gap at required points and check whether the car passes the European standard

INTRODUCTION:- Fender is the American English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the fender underside).

Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire.

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.

 The wheel arch is an arch-shaped cavity in the body of a vehicle, which houses a wheel. It has two important functions.

It serves for the safety of pedestrians and other cars because the wheel is situated in the body of a vehicle.

The second function is to protect the car from the 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.

A horizontal and vertical Axis is drawn from the centre of the wheel.

The vertical axis intersection point is labelled as SA.

Similar references are drawn at 30 degree to the left and 50 degree to the right of the section SA and are named SB and SC respectively.

A line of 150mm is drawn perpendicular to the horizontal axis and the normal from that point on the fender gives us SE.

The midpoint of the arc cut by the sections SC and SE results in a new section SD.

The value of 'L' at each section and the value of 'a' are found out to determine whether the fender satisfies the European standards as shown below. 

As per the European standards, the value of 'L' should be greater than 10mm. But at Section SB, the value of L is equal to 10mm and at other

sections the value of 'L' is less than 10mm. So, it does not satisfy the condition L > 10mm to meet the European standards in any of the sections.

Wheel Guard Requirement:

Value of 'a' at SB:

Value of 'a' at SC:

Wheel Arc Area