Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

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

Fender is the part of a vehicle that surrounds the wheel. Apart from being the exterior aesthetic part of the vehicle, its important function is to prevent debris such as mud, gravel, rocks, fluids and other street particles from entering the engine compartment or being tossed into the air by the high-speed rotating wheel as this can cause damage to the engine components, nearby vehicles, or pedestrian nearby the moving vehicle.

Fig 1. Front Fender of an automobile

There are two types of fenders, full bumper type, and half bumper type.

Fig 2. Fender types

There are many factors that need to be considered during designing the fenders of the vehicle. One of them is the wheel arch area.

In a fender, the wheel arch is the semicircular part that is positioned above the wheel of the vehicle. While designing the fender care must be taken that the wheel arch of the fender meets the required standards.

Fig 2. Wheel arch area considerations in a fender design

In this report, we will study about:

1. Different standards of the front wheel arch area requirements.
   1. Japanese Standards
   2. European Standards
   3. American Standards
2. Examining the given part considering the European Standards.
3. Checking whether the front fender wheel arch meets the standards.

1. Different standards of the wheel arch area requirements

Different countries follow different regulations based upon the country's road conditions, government regulations, geography, climate, and various other factors.

Therefore in our case, i.e. for the wheel arch area calculation, we will have a look at three different standards.

The main purpose of the wheel arch area regulation is that seeing the front fender and tire from the top, the tire must be inside the fender by a certain distance

a. Japanese Standards

Measure clearance L of the tire, hub, cap, and fender in three different positions within area K and produce a clearance check chart to validate.

Clearance must be greater than 5 mm in all the three positions (i.e., at A, B, C from fender curvature)

Wheel guard requirement: The value of 'a' shall be more than 5 mm at line 30* forward and 50* rearward from the central vertical axis of the wheel.

Fig 3. Japanese Standards

b. European Standards

Measure Clearance L at sections SA-SA, SB-SB, SC-SC, SD-SD, SE-SE and produce CL check chart to validate.

In all five sections, the Clearance L value should be greater than 10 mm to satisfy the European regulations.

Wheel guard requirement: The value of 'a' shall be more than 5 mm at line 30* forward and 50* rearward from the central vertical axis of the wheel.

Fig 4. European Standards

c. American Standards

Make clearance check details on all positions from -100* to 100* and make the clearance check table.

All values should be greater than 5 mm to satisfy the regulations.

The value of 'a' shall be more than 5 mm at line 30* forward and 50* rearward from the central vertical axis of the wheel.

Fig 5. American Standards

3. Examining the given part considering the European Standards

We will examine the given fender design as per the European standards mentioned below

Fig 5. European Standards

We will start by constructing the points of measurements for the wheel arch area.

Next, we will note down the clearance values

1. Clearance for SB = 10 mm

2.Clearance for SA = 9.9490mm

3. Clearance for SC = 0.1139 mm

4. Clearance of SD = 9.654mm

5. Clearance of SE = 22.628 mm

4. Checking whether the front fender wheel arch meets the standards

Position	Observed Clearance value(mm)	Required Clearance value(mm)	Conforms the Requirement?
SA	9.9490	10	No
SB	10	10	Yes
SC	0.1139	10	No
SD	9.654	10	No
SE	22.628	10	Yes

Here we know that even if a one position doesn't show required clearance it means we need to tell surface team to imrpove their design only then we can proceed further. Here we can see two of the points show positive result. All the other are not suitable.

So, the given wheel arch area doesn't passes the criteria of european standards.