Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

Title of the project : Fender design-Wheel Arch Challenge

Objective: to calculate the wheel arch area of the given fender and prove whether the car will pass the European Standards or not.

Introduction: Wheel Arch is the shaped part of the bodywork of a car or other vehicle that allows the wheel to be accessed, and in the case of front wheels, enable them to be steered. It is the semi-circular part that is positioned above the wheel of the vehicle. It should have the sufficient clearance between the tyre and the wheel arch so that it does not touch the wheel arch area.

Wheel arch comes with some standard specifications. When viewed from the front or top side of the vehicle, if the tyre is protruding outside the fender, that would lead to more chipping while driving and compromises pedestrian as well as the vehicle safety. Taking these factors into consideration, the wheel/tyre has to be positioned inside the tyre.

If the wheel arch calculation is not done then it does more chipping which causes a lot of damage to the pedestrian as well as to the car also. The clearance value differ from region to region, according to the road condition. Followings are some standards that are followed by automobile industries.

Japanese Standards:

1. Clearance must be greater than 5 mm in all the three positions.
2. Wheel guard requirement: The value of ‘a’ shall be more than 5 mm at a line 30˚ forward and 50˚ rearward from the central vertical axis of wheel.

European Standards:

1. At all five sections the clearance value should be greater than 10 mm.
2. Wheel guard requirement: The value of ‘a’ shall be more than 10 mm at a line 30˚ forward and 50˚rearward from the central vertical axis of wheel.

Us Standards:

1. All values should be greater than 5 mm.
2. Wheel guard requirement: The value of ‘a’ shall be more than 5 mm 30˚ forward and 50˚ rearward from the central vertical axis of wheel.

Wheel Arch Calculation:

This calculation will be done using European standards as per the instruction in the challenge to be followed.

Procedure: The sketch is drawn on the wheel face and projected on the wheel arch at section SA, SB, SC, SD, and SE and then the clearance value at these section is measured.

Obtaining the clearance value ‘L’ at section SA, SB, SC, SD and SE

1.At Section SA

2.At Section SB

3.At Section SC

3.At Section SD

3. At Section SE

Observation Table:

Sections	Clearance Measured (mm)	Test Result
SA	9.9493	Fail
SB	10	Pass
SC	0.041629	Fail
SD	2.7008	Fail Tyre protruding outside the wheel arch
SE	5.8080	Fail Tyre protruding outside the wheel arch

Conclusion:

The given model is analysed according to the European Standards and from the above table it is clear that the fender does not pass the European standards at all sections except at section SB.

Suggestion:

I suggest that the model should be sent to the styling team and they should modify the curvature of the fender in such a way that there should have a minimum clearance of 10 mm.