Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge
Objective of the Project : To calculate the Wheel Arch area and prove that whether the car passes the European standards or not.
About the Project :-
Fender : Fender is the American English term for the 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 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 side of the car is called as the rear fenders.
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 of the Project :
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 of cars.
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° forward of the vertical reference line.
3. 50° backward of the vertical reference line.
4. At the location of the fender which is 150 mm above the horizontal reference line.
5. At the location where an angle bisector line passes in between the 150 mm line and the 50° backward line.
Checklist 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 on the wheel.
The wheel's outer surface is projected using the 2D project curve.
A lines are drawn in the vertical direction which is perpendicular to the horizontal reference line.
Two lines are drawn forward and the rearward direction to the vertical line which is at an angle of 30° and 50° 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 exterior to the Wheel then the clearance value must be positive.
If the Wheel exterior to the Fender then the clearance value must be negative.
Wheel Arch Sketch :
Output extracted from Siemens NX :
Section A Clearance value, L = 9.9490 mm
Section B Clearance value, L = 10.0000 mm
Section C Clearance value, L = -0.113949 mm
Section D Clearance value, L = -2.8875
Section E Clearance value, L = -5.9973 mm
Observation table : The threshold value for L is ≥ 10 mm.
| Section | Clearance (mm) | Remarks |
| SA | 9.9490 | Failed |
| SB | 10.0000 | Passed |
| SC | -0.113949 | Failed |
| SD | -2.8875 | Failed |
| SE | -5.9973 | Failed |
Thus from the above table, we conclude that the given Fender Couldn't pass the European standards.
Determining the Fender's Wheel Arch Area :
The area of Wheel Arch is = 24432.9334 Sq. mm.
Determining the Value of Wheel guard clearance "a".
1. For Section SB, a = 49.6439 mm. 2. For Section SC, a = 43.3599 mm.
The threshold value for "a" is 5 mm.
The above data collected for Wheel guard clearance from sections SB at 30° and SC at 50° from the vertical axis has passed the European Standards.
Conclusion : After Analysing overall data, we conclude that the car doesn't pass the European standards.