Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

FENDER:

Fenders is just the shortening of the word for defenders.It is just a structure hung over the side of the ship or any oter hull.

Fenders are the shaped part of the car body work which allows the wheel to be accessed or steered

The car has four fenders which covers the wheels. Two are called as the front fenders and the ones in the rear of the car is called as the rear fender.

Fenders are designed to protect the pedestrians as well as the car from the stones, mud and other particles which are hurled in all directions from the wheel when it is in motion.

The distance from the wheel outer surface and the fender outer surface when viewing the car from the top view is called as the clearance.

This clearance value is postive if the fender is the outer surface and negative if the car acts as the outer surface.

Requirement:

Fenders are expected to protect the car wheel so they must protrude farther than the wheel.

So higher values of clearance is preferable and required for creating high quality and safety cars.

JAPAN REQUIREMENT

As per the Japaneses car regulations, there should be a clearance of atleast 5 mm between the wheel's side surface and the fender's side outer surface.Clearance values are usually checked in three different positions namely:

At the location 50 degrees rear to the vertical line

At the location 30 degrees forward to the vertical line

And at the vertical line.

US Regulation requirements:

Clearance check is made on all positions from -100 to 100. And the clearance value is expected to be greater than 5mm

European regulations

As per the european regulation standards, the clearance values between the fender as well the wheel is measured in five different locations

1.At the vertical location

2.30 degrees forward of the vertical reference line

3.50 degrees backward of the vertical reference line

4.At the location of the fender which is 150 mm above the horizontal reference ine

5.At the location where a angle bisector line passes between the 150 mm line and the 50 degrees backward line

Check points:

The wheel arch and the wheel is provided in the challenge section

A datum plane is created in the outer part of the wheel using the point and the curve method.

The horizontal reference line is drawn in the wheel

The wheel's outer surface is projected using the project curve.

A Line are drawn in the vertical direction which is perpendicular to the horizontal reference line.

Two lines are drawin the forward and the rearward direction to the vertical line which is at an angle of 30 degrees and 50 degrees to the vertical reference line.

Then a line 150 mm from the horizontal reference line is drawn which meets the circle at a point . The line is drawn from the center to the respective point.

A line which is the angle bisector of the 150 mm reference line and the rearward line is drawn

Points are marked at the respectice points on the wheel.

The same points are projected onto the fender.

The clearance value is measured between the points on the wheel and the fender

If the fender is exterior to the wheel then the clearance value is positive

If the wheel is exterior to the fender then the clearance value is negative

Sketch:

Section B: Clearance value 10 mm

Section A: Clearance value 9.9490 mm

Section C: Clearance value 0.11349mm

Section D: Clearance value -2.8875 mm

Sectrion E: Clearance value -5.9973 mm

Whole Fender wheel arch section

Section	Required Clearance Value	Actual clearance value measured	Pass/Fail
A	> or = 10 mm	9.94900 mm	Pass
B	> or = 10 mm	10 mm	Fail
C	> or = 10 mm	0.11349 mm	Fail
D	> or = 10 mm	-2.88750 mm	Fail
E	> or = 10 mm	-5.99730 mm	Fail

As per the European regulations , the ditance between the fender and the wheel should be greater than or equal to 10 mm.At section SB, the clearance value is exactly 10 mm. the clearance value as per the European regulations is satisfied only at one point out of the five points taken into consideration

It can be clearly seen that the wheel protrudes outer than the fender , hence the clearance value is negative in those areas.

In conclusion, this fender does not pass the European safety regulations.Hence the fender data will be reported back to the styling team to make modifications in the fender design in such a way that the clearance value is greater than or equal to 10 mm at all the five points atleast.