Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

AIM:

To calclate the wheel arc gap at required points and to check whether the car passes the european standards

FENDER:

• Fender is an American english term for the part of the automobile that frames a wheel well (the fender underside).
• its primary purpose is to prevent sand,mud,rocks and other road liquid spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire.
• fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road surface.

fig1: fender

• Most passenger automobiles have four fenders, one over each wheel. for vehicles with a narrow car body that exposes the tires, the fender is an exposed curve over the top of the tyre. For wide body vehicles that cover the tyre, the fender forms the wheel well surrounding the tyres and is not visible from above the car body
• The most commonly used wheel well are of plastic material

Types of Fender:

1) Full fender type:

• this type is used in old design of automobiles and incerase the overall weight of the car.

fig2: full fender type

2) Half fender type:

• in modern design half fender type is used as it results in less material consumption there by improving performance and reduction of weight.

fig3: half fender type

WHEEL ARCH:

• It is a curved part of the fender positioned right above the wheel.It is designed in such a way that it protect the pdestrian as well as the car cabin from mud, derbies etc. Different countries have different wheel arc regulations in place and the wheel arch design has to comply with them tobe deemed usable in that country.

Fender wheel arc regulations:

European regulations:

• The clearence L should be measured at sections SA-SA, SB-SB, SC-SC,SD-SD and SE-SE and create clearance check chart to validate
• The value of L should be greater than 10mm
• The value of "a" should be more than 5mm at line 30degree rearwards from the central vertical axis of the wheel.

fig4: europen standard

US regulations:

fig5: US standards

• For US regulation the ‘a’ value must be greater than 5mm. The clearance table must be checked from 100 degree to -100 degree on all positions.

Calculating wheel arc area using European regulations:

The clearence L should be measured at sections SA-SA, SB-SB, SC-SC,SD-SD and SE-S

The value of L should be greater than 10mm

L AT SA: 9.949 L AT SB = 10.00

L AT C = 0.113

SL NO	SECTION	VALUE OF L (mm)	RESULT
1	SA	9.949	FAIL
2	SB	10.000	PASS
3	SC	0.113	FAIL
4	SD	2.88	FAIL
5	SE	5.99	FAIL

CONCLIUSION:

The fender does not pass the European standards since the value of L in SA,SC,SD,SE sections are less than 10mm