Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge
WHEEL ARCH
The wheel arch is the semicircular arch shaped cavity of a fender which houses the wheel .
The wheels should be positioned in such that it should be at a certain distance inside the from the outermost edge of the fender., to avoid chipping inside the engine compartment and the pedestrians too.
Wheel Arch Requirement are controlled by three regulations around the globe, they are as follows:
- Japan Standards
- European Standards
- U.S Standards
Japan Standards
According to the Japanese standard , there should be atleast 5 mm clearance (L) at all the sections between the outermost edge of the fender to the outermost edge of the tire when they are projected in the top view.
The value of wheel guard requirement (a) should be more than 5 mm ata line 30 Deg forward and 50 Deg rearward from the central axis of the wheel.
European Standard
According to the European standard , there should be atleast 10 mm clearance (L) at all the sections between the outermost edge of the fender to the outermost edge of the tire when they are projected in the top view.
The value of wheel guard requirement (a) should be more than 5 mm ata line 30 Deg forward and 50 Deg rearward from the central axis of the wheel.
U.S Standards
According to the U.S standard , there should be atleast 5 mm clearance (L) at all the sections (from -20 Deg to 100 Deg ) between the outermost edge of the fender to the outermost edge of the tire when they are projected in the top view.
The value of wheel guard requirement (a) should be more than 5 mm ata line 30 Deg forward and 50 Deg rearward from the central axis of the wheel.
WHEEL ARCH STUDY FOR THE GIVEN MODEL ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN STANDARDS:
Procedure
- Create a datum plane on the outermost edge of the wheel.
- The wheel's vertical center axis represents section SA.
- Make a line 30 Deg forward from the wheel center axis of enough length that to intersect at the outermost edge of the wheel. This line represents section SB.
- Make a line 50 Deg rearward from the wheel center axis of enough length that to intersect at the outermost edge of the wheel. This line represents section SC.
- Section SE is created at a vertical distance 150 mm from the horizontal central axis of the wheel rearwards.
- The line bisecting sections SC and SE , represents the section SD.
Following are the values obtained at each sections:
At Section SB
At sections SA
At Section SC
At Section SD
At Section SE
The clearance value (L) obtained at all the sections is tabulated below:
|
SECTIONS |
CLEARANCE OBTAINED |
CLEARANCE REQUIRED |
REMARKS |
|
SA |
9.9490 |
10 |
FAIL |
|
SB |
10 |
10 |
PASS |
|
SC |
-0.1139 |
10 |
FAIL |
|
SD |
-2.8875 |
10 |
FAIL |
|
SE |
-5.9973 |
10 |
FAIL |
CONCLUSION
The given model is only satisfying the criteria at section SB, and all the other sections are not meeting the requirements, hence the model doesn't satisfy the European standards
The styling team needs to adjust the curvature of the fender in order to meet the 10 mm requirements.