Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

FENDER - WHEEL ARCH

AIM :

Calculate the Wheel Arch gap at required points and check whether the car passes the European standard.

WHEEL ARCH :

• It is the semicircular portion of the fender that is attached to the car and is located above the wheel.
• The purpose of the wheel arch's design is to shield wheels, pedestrians, and the passenger compartment from the splashing of water, dirt, and stones.
• There are rules for maintaining wheel arch proportions in each location. Therefore, if an OEM intends to create a car that will require international distribution, they must present a design that meets with all regulations.

• For our challenge, we are determining if the wheel arch's dimension complies with European standards. Here, the graphic below demonstrates the design that adheres to European standards.

• As shown in the figure the clearance "L" at all points like SB-SB, SA-SA, SC-SC, SD-SD, SE-SE should maintain a distance of 10mm or more.
• Also there is a value "a" which is vertical distance from the outermost wheel surface to the outer most point on the wheel arch curve should maintain a distance of 5mm or more.

Sketching the curve over the design

• As per the European regulation the required sketch is drawn on the outermost surface of the wheel by projecting a plane.
• Each lines are drawn as per the dimensions.
• The required points are marked on the curve and are projected on the wheel arch face.
• Thereby measuring the distance between the points which gives the value of "L' and are checked for knowing whether it's meeting the regulation or not.

Checking for "L"

• The distance "L" between SB-SB is found 10mm, which meets the requirement of the European standard.

• SA-SA found to be 9.490 mm which violates European standard.

• SC-SC found to be 0.113949 mm which violates European standard.

• SD-SD found to be 2.8875 mm which violates European standard.

• SE-SE found to be 5.9973 mm which violates European standard.

TABLE SHOWING "L" VALUES AT DIFFERENT SECTION

SECTION	CLEARANCE "L" (L>=10 mm)	REMARKS
SB-SB	10 mm	PASS
SA-SA	9.490 mm	VIOLATE
SC-SC	0.113949 mm	VIOLATE
SD-SD	2.8875 mm	VIOLATE
SE-SE	5.9973 mm	VIOLATE

Checking for fender wheel guard requirement "a"

• The distance "a" in 30 degree line is found to be 44.7577 mm which meets the European standard.

• Also the distance "a" in the 50 degree line is found to be 38.599 mm which meets the European standard.

SECTION	ANGLE (degree)	CLEARANCE "a" (a>=5mm)	REMARKS
SB-SB	30	44.7577 mm	PASS
SC-SC	50	38.3599 mm	PASS

Fender wheel arch area

• Found a fender wheel arch area of about 24432.9334 mm^2

Conclusion: The above fender do not meet the European standard as some of the "L" values are violating the standard like in SA-SA, SC-SC, SD-SD and SE-SE.

Suggession to styling team : The fender wheel arch styling surface should be modified as the distance "L" at section SA-SA, SC-SC, SD-SD and SE-SE do not meet European standard. The curvature radius should be increased inorder to achieve atleast 10mm length.