Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

Fender

Fender is a part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the fender underside). Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road 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. The main purpose of fenders on cars is that they shield the wheels and they protect the passengers, the pedestrians, and the other vehicles from stones, mud, liquid, and other debris that can fly in the air because of the speeding rotating wheels while the car is running.

Wheel Arch

• It is a curved part of the Fender positioned right above the Wheel.
• The Wheel Arch is designed such that it protects both the pedestrian and car cabin from mud, water rocks and other road spray
• Different countries have different wheel arch regulations in place, and the wheel arch design has to comply with them to be deemed usable in that country.
• For avoiding design alterations of the same vehicle to meet the different regulations in different countries, the maximum values of the concerned regulation parameters are taken into consideration for design purpose.

The Fender Wheel Arch is also a major part of car design, with a view of making the car look aesthetic and in the same line helping in reduction of the total overall weight of vehicle. Hence, making the car more efficient in terms of performance. The Fender is not same in all countries, as the design varies accordingly – with respect to the standard regulations followed in each country, with a view of having safe ride, protecting both the passengers and the pedestrians from accidents

Fender Wheel Arch Regulations

Japan Regulations.

The above figure shows the Japan Regulations, which is a standard to be followed during designing of the Fender of the car.
The Japan Regulation steps for calculating the area of fender wheel arch as follows,
STEP-1: - Creation of Two axis 90 Deg. perpendicular to each other from centre of the wheel and indication of angle dimensions starting from 0 Deg., 90 Deg. and 180 Deg. in anti-clockwise direction on the two axis.
STEP-2: - Creation of a line at an angle of 30 Deg. from centre line axis (at 90 Deg.) in anti-clockwise direction.
STEP-3: - Creation of a line at an angle of 50 Deg. from centre line axis (at 90 Deg.) in clockwise direction.
STEP-4: - Measuring of Clearance “L”, which should be 5 mm or more than 5 mm at the respective positions, where line are created. The Clearance “L” in MM – is the gap between point in the line created in the face of wheel to the point in Fender perpendicular to the line. Wheel Guard Requirement: - The Value of “a” should be more than 5 mm at line 30 Deg. forward and 50 Deg. rearwards from the central vertical axis of the wheel.
STEP-5: - Analysis of the measurements of Clearance ‘L’ and interpreting the same results in table. Feasibility of accepting the design should be indicated as PASS/FAIL.

US Regulations

• Clearance ‘L’ is to be checked at all positions from -100° to 100° and create clearance check chart to validate
• The value of L should be greater than 5mm to satisfy the regulations
• Wheel guard requirement: The value of ‘a’ should be more than 5mm at line 30° forward and 50° rearwards from the central vertical axis of the wheel

European Regulations.

The above figure shows the Europe Regulations, which is a standard to be followed during designing of the Fender of the car. The Europe Regulation steps for calculating the area of fender wheel arch
as follows,
STEP-1: - Creation of Two axis 90 Deg. perpendicular to each other from centre of the wheel and indication of angle dimensions starting from 0 Deg., 90 Deg. and 180 Deg. in anti-clockwise direction on the two axis.
STEP-2: - Creation of a line at an angle of 30 Deg. from centre line axis (at 90 Deg.) in anti-clockwise direction and naming that line as SECTION SB-SB.
STEP-3: - Creation of a line at an angle of 50 Deg. from centre line axis (at 90 Deg.) in clockwise direction and naming that line as SECTION SC-SC.
STEP-4: - Creation of a line passing through a point at a distance of 150 MM from horizontal axis in anti-clockwise direction and naming that line as
SECTION SE-SE.
STEP-5: - Creation of a line in between SECTION SC-SC and SECTION SE-SE at an angle average of the angle between SECTION SC-SC and SECTION SE-SE and naming that line as SECTION SD-SD.
STEP-6: - Measuring of Clearance “L”, which should be 10 mm or more than 10 mm at the respective positions, where lines/Sections are created. The Clearance “L” in MM – is the gap between point in the line created in the face of wheel to the point in Fender perpendicular to the line.

Wheel Guard Requirement: - The Value of “a” should be more than 5 mm at line 30 Deg. forward and 50 Deg. rearwards from the central vertical axis of the wheel.
STEP-7: - Analysis of the measurements of Clearance ‘L’ and interpreting the same results in table. Feasibility of accepting the design should be indicated as PASS/FAIL.

ANAZLYSIS OF CLEARANCE ‘L’ AT SECTIONS.

1) CLEARANCE ‘L’ at Section SA-SA

The Clearance ‘L’ at Section SA-SA is 9.9489mm as shown in the above figure.

2) CLEARANCE ‘L’ at Section SB-SB

The Clearance ‘L’ at Section SB-SB is 10.0000mm as shown in the above figure.

3) CLEARANCE ‘L’ at Section SC-SC.

The Clearance ‘L’ at Section SC-SC is -0.113667mm as shown in the above figure.

4) CLEARANCE ‘L’ at Section SD-SD.

The Clearance ‘L’ at Section SD-SD is -4.7019mm as shown in the above figure.

5) CLEARANCE ‘L’ at Section SE-SE.

The Clearance ‘L’ at Section SE-SE is -10.1248mm as shown in the above figure.

RESULTS OF ANALYSIS OF CLEARANCE ‘L’

SL.NO	SECTIONS	ACTUAL CLEARANCE 'L' (mm)	STANDARD CLEARANCE 'L' (mm)	RESULT
1	SA	9.9489	10	FAIL
2	SB	10	10	PASS
3	SC	-0.1136	10	FAIL
4	SD	-4.7019	10	FAIL
5	SE	-10.1248	10	FAIL

The Results of Clearance ‘L’ at the five sections are shown in the above table. We can see only Section SB has passed, Whereas the leftover sections – SA, SC, SD & SE are failed to comply with the European Standard. Hence, the given Fender doesn’t suit in accordance to the European standard for Clearance 'L' parameter.

FENDER WHEEL ARCH AREA.

The Fender Wheel Arch Area is obtained from Tool-NX CAD 12 as shown in the below figure:

The Fender Wheel Arch Area is found to be 24434.76 mm2

CONCLUSION
The given fender doesn’t pass the EUROPEAN REGULATIONS. The arrival for the conclusion with respect to EUROPEAN REGULATIONS is purely based on the analysis made for Clearance ‘L’, Clearance ‘a’ and the fender wheel arch area.