Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

WHEEL ARCH :

The wheel arch is semicircular part of the fender positioned above the wheel of a vehicle. The most important body was that the front wheel arch was cut higher into the fender. Corrosion had occurred around the splash plate at the beck of the wheel arch. The wheel arch is designed considering all possible motions the tire undergoes while the vechile is in motion.

There are some standards available for designing the wheel arch. The profile has to pass through these conditions to meet the the expectaions.

1 JAPAN standards

2 US standards

3 EUROPEAN standards.

1. JAPAN REQUIREMENT

• Measure clearance L of tire, hub, cap and fender in three differnet positions within area K and produce clearance chart to validate
• Clearance must be greater than 5mm in all the three positions.
• Tha valure of 'a' shall be more than 5mm at a line 30* degree forward and 50* degree rearward from the center vertical axis of the wheel.

US REQUIREMENT:

• Mkae clearance check on all positions from -100* to 100*
• All values should be greater than 5mm to satisfy the regulations.
• Tha valure of 'a' shall be more than 5mm at a line 30* degree forward and 50* degree rearward from the center vertical axis of the wheel.

EUROPEAN REQUIREMENT :

• At all clearance L value sould be greater than 10mm to satisfy the Eropean Regulations.
• Tha valure of 'a' shall be more than 5mm at a line 30* degree forward and 50* degree rearward from the center vertical axis of the wheel.

PROCEDURE FOR EUROPEAN STANDARDS :

1. The horizontal and vertical axis line is drawn from the center of the wheel.

2. The vertical axis intersection point is named as A.

3. Two references lines are drawn from the vertical line at 30 degrees leftside and 50 degrees right side which is named as B and C.

4. A line of 150mm is drawn perpedicular to the horizontal line and normal frokm the normal point on fender which gives point D.

5. The E section is produced by the mid point of the C and D sections.

6. The clearance L value at each section will find out wehter the given fender is passes or not the european standards.

VALUE OF L AT A SECTION :

VALUE OF L AT B SECTION :

VALUE OF L AT C SECTION :

VALUE OF L AT D SECTION :

VALUE OF L AT E SECTION :

TABLE :

Sections	Clearance Measured in mm	Result
SA	9.9489	FAIL
SB	10.0000	PASS
SC	0.113667	FAIL
SD	5.9751	FAIL
SE	2.9077	FAIL

CONCLUSION- The given design is analysed according to the European Standards. From the above table the given fender is does not passes the European Standards at all sections are SA, SC, SD and SE except SB. I think the styling team shuold be modify the curvature of the fender such as there should have minimum clearance of 10 mm between the fender wheel arch and the tire.