Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

Aim:

To calculate the wheel arch gap at required points and check whether the fender passes the European standard.

Theory:

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 passenger the pedestrains 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. The image represents the Fender which is mentioned below

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 parameters are taken into consideration for design purpose. The image represents the Wheel Arch which is mentioned below

For the vehicle to has its permit in different countries,the wheel arch of fenders must be compliant with the standards and regulations set by respective countries.They are

• Japan Regulation.
• European Regulation.
• US Regulation

Japan Regulations :

• The clearance "L" for tire, hub, cap and fender is to be measured within area K and create clearance check chart to validate.
• The value of L should be greater than 5mm at all positions.
• Wheel guard requirement: the value a shall be more than 5mm at a line 30*forward and 50*rearward from the central vertical axis of axis of wheel.

European Regulations :

• The clearance "L" should be measured at sections A-A, B-B, C-C, D-D and E-E and create clearance check chart to validate.
• At all the five sections the value of L should be greater than 10mm to satisfy the European Regulations.
• Wheel guard requirement: the value a shall be more than 5mm at a line 30*forward and 50*rearward from the central vertical axis of axis of wheel.

US Regulations :

• Clearance "L" is to be checked at all positions from -100degree to 100degree 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 a shall be more than 5mm at a line 30*forward and 50*rearward from the central vertical axis of axis of wheel.

The given Fender and Wheel Arch for calculate the Wheel Arch gap at required points based on the European standard

Procedure:

• The given part file is open in the NX cad and from the part file they given the fender and the wheel.
• Then we create the datum plane on the outer face of the Wheel to create sketch.The image shown below is creation plane

• After that we create sketch using the created plane.
• A Horizontal and vertical line is drawn from the centre of the wheel.
• The vertical axis intersection point is labelled as B.
• Similar references are drawn at 30 degrees to left and 50 degree to the right and named it as A and C respectively.
• A point is created at 150 mm from horizontal line and then the line is drawn passing the point which gives point E.
• The midpoint of the arc cut by the sections C and E results in a new section D.
• The value of 'L' at each section and the value of 'a 'are found out to detrmine whether the fender satisfies the european standards as shown below.

• Then the point is created on the intersection of line and the Wheel arch area in fender at all five points.
• Then the created point is projected on the surface of the Wheel Arch area in fender.
• Then the distance is measured between the intersection point and the projected point on the Wheel Arch area in fender.

Measured Value at point A:

L = 10.0000 mm.

At this point the L value is equal to 10 mm, so this point passes the European Standard.

Measured Value at point B:

L = 9.9490 mm.

At this point the L value is less than 10 mm, so this point fails the European Standard.

Measured Value at point C:

L = 3.4505 mm.

At this point the L value is less than 10 mm, so this point fails the European Standard.

Measured Value at point D:

L = 0.741455 mm.

At this point the L value is less than 10 mm, so this point fails the European Standard.

Measured Value at point E:

L = 5.9973 mm.

At this point the L value is less than 10 mm, so this point fails the European Standard.

The results are tabulated is shown below

POINT	MEASURED VALUE L IN MM	RESULT
A	10.0000	PASS
B	9.9490	FAIL
C	3.4505	FAIL
D	0.741455	FAIL
E	5.9973	FAIL

Conclusion:

Based on the results we can conclude that the Fender does not pass the European Regulations as the minimum clearance between the fender arch wheel to the outer most wheel is 10 mm and this design does not meet the this minimum clearance so this fender design is fail for the European Regulation standard.